J.D. Power's Most Dependable CarsJ.D. Power's Most Dependable Cars

Research firm J.D. Power & Co. surveys owners of three-year-old cars and has named the most dependable 2018 model in each category.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

March 8, 2021

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General Motors Co., Toyota, BMW, Nissan, Kia, Lexus

Survey company J.D. Power & Co. has released its annual survey of the most dependable cars for 2021. To determine this, the company polls owners of three-year-old cars to learn what problems they may have had. This means that the 2021 list is for cars that were built in the 2018 model year. An artifact of this is that some models included on the "most dependable" list have since been discontinued, so they don't provide an opportunity for anyone to go out and buy a new one hoping to benefit from this dependability.

Nevertheless, there are obvious trends. For example, vehicles built by Toyota and its Lexus brand and by Hyundai's Kia and Genesis brands account for fully half of the 18 category winners on J.D. Power's 2021 list. Additionally, domestic brands scored a number of wins and filled out the top-three scores respectably. The survey produces winners in different categories, plus one best-of-the-best overall winner, rather than simply providing a ranking of the top vehicles in order.

This is helpful, because potentially some vehicles, like mid-size pickup trucks, might be technically simpler than others, so the whole top ten could potentially all be small trucks. Which would do no one any good who wasn't shopping for such a vehicle. J.D. Power provides the best-scoring vehicle in each category, so shoppers can know what the best choices are in the class of vehicles they do want to buy. They also provide second-and third-place finishers, to provide some reliable options. In some cases, there is no third-place finisher that scored above-average on dependability, so in those cases, there is only a runner-up. The Large SUV category sees variations of one manufacturer's vehicle sweep the entire podium.

Related:10 Worst Car Brands for Dependability

This year's "most dependable" winner is plenty desirable for other reasons, but dependability is a nice bonus to discover.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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