The market research firm publishes a Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), too, letting us compare its IQS winners with its VDS losers
- J.D. Power yesterday released it 2024 Initial Quality Study (IQS), based on owners’ first 90 days with a new car
- Do cars with a high IQS ranking end up being dependable down the road? We did some digging
- The J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study suggests some models may see quality flag over time
If, as human on this green Earth, you’ve ever tried to attract a romantic partner, then you know the pitfall a great first date could pose. Everything could go swimmingly at first, but sometimes the relationship starts to go awry as time progresses. It’s the same with cars — just with fewer trips to the therapist.
Back in 2021, in its Initial Quality rankings, J.D. Power found the number of problems that owners experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) improved from the year prior, sitting at 162 PP100; it found, too, that 20 of 32 brands in the survey were deemed more reliable than the annum before. The top three brands for initial quality then were Ram (128 PP100), Dodge (139 PP100), and Lexus (144 PP100). (Keep in mind a lower score is better, as it means fewer problems per 100 vehicles.)
Flash-forward to 2024, and we find that only Lexus had retained its spot in the top three as measured via the longer-term Vehicle Dependability Study. In fact, that brand sat atop the heap with 135 PP100, followed by Toyota and Buick at 147 and 149, respectively. Interestingly, those two brands were also side by each in 2021’s Initial Quality Study, with scores of 156 and 157.
As an important aside, a total of 30,595 owners participated in the 2024 Vehicle Dependability Study; while 110,827 owners responded to the 2021 Initial Quality Study. These numbers seem to be par for the course for each study, but are indeed wildly different sample sizes.
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