For the first time in four years, the reliability of conventionally powered cars has shown a lasting improvement. However, the annual authoritative Vehicle Dependability Study by the J.D. Power agency shows an interesting change in the nature of defects=
While traditional assembly and mechanical components are becoming more robust, modern displays and digital assistants are becoming the new Achilles heel for owners.
The PP100 indicator (number of registered problems per 100 cars for vehicles aged 13 to 48 months) falls to an average of 192 points for the market – a 5.3-point improvement over the previous period.
The premium segment reported an average score of 183 PP100, while mass brands achieved 191 PP100. Chinese manufacturers also made progress, but remained with a slightly higher failure rate - an average of 201 problems per 100 cars.
The big news from the report is the lasting victory over mechanical childhood diseases: engine and gearbox complaints have dropped from 9.5% in 2022 to just 6% this year. At the same time, for the third consecutive year, infotainment multimedia systems generated the most headaches, accounting for 15.9% of all failures, while problems with electronic driving assistants increased to 8.6%.
The study also revealed that after the third year of operation, the number of defects jumped sharply by as much as 47 points, with the most common complaints related to wind and tire noise, parasitic sounds in the cabin and multimedia bugs.