Surprise! New Tech Is Making Cars Less Dependable: J.D. Power
The biggest factors to blame for the low dependability scores include software-related defects and smartphone integration issues. The post Surprise! New Tech Is Making Cars Less Dependable: J.D. Power appeared first on The Drive.
Automaker recalls and consumer complaints are a regular occurrence. However, a new study found our car troubles to be more frequent than we thought, with new vehicle dependability reaching new lows. And to probably no one’s surprise, you can put the blame on tech.
The J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) measures vehicle problems through three years of ownership. The newly released 2025 results reflect 2022 model-year vehicles and are based on responses from 34,175 original owners collected from August through November 2024. Automakers are scored based on problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). For the dependability study, the lower the score, the higher the vehicle quality.
Lexus snagged a three-peat with its highest overall ranking (140 PP100). Buick (143 PP100) jumped a spot to second overall, but J.D. Power named the self-proclaimed premium brand first among mass-market automakers. Volkswagen ranked last with 285 PP100. From a model standpoint, the top vehicle overall was the Toyota Avalon.
That’s the good news. Unfortunately, reported problems increased year-over-year by 6%, or another 12 PP100. The industry average is 202 PP100, which is the highest since 2009. Although a dozen automakers nabbed above-average scores, 18 fell below the average. Tesla scored 209 PP100 but is not included in the final rankings because the brand “did not meet [the] study award criteria,” said J.D. Power.
The COVID pandemic is partly at fault for the poor dependability scores. After all, 2022 models were built during peak pandemonium months. Plants didn’t have enough workers or microchips or windshields. Supply chain issues were rampant, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. The shortage of inventory also meant new- and used-car prices skyrocketed.
Sharing the blame is in-car technology. I’m not even talking about the AI assistants automakers like to auto-friend for us (only MySpace Tom can do that). Nope, basic Bluetooth and connectivity are just as frustrating, apparently.
A key finding of the J.D. Power study is that half of the top 10 problems are related to our devices, from integration to usage. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, for example, continue to fluster vehicle owners. Smartphone connectivity was the number one tech problem for the second straight year, with an increased score of 8.4 PP100 (from 6.3). Bluetooth (4.6 PP100) and Wi-Fi (2.4 PP100) were listed as the most significant concerns when it came to software defects.
Those PP100 numbers may seem small now, and software only accounts for 9% of the total number of problems overall, but with more screens, infotainment menus, and other things consumers reportedly don’t want, that figure will likely grow. You can add over-the-air updates to that problematic list, too, as 56% of owners who performed one saw zero software improvement. Is this yet another argument for buttons?
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The post Surprise! New Tech Is Making Cars Less Dependable: J.D. Power appeared first on The Drive.
