Lexus scores

Lexus had the lowest number of faults of the 32 vehicle brands involved, and recorded almost half the industry average. The premium brand took honours in four vehicle segments of the study, which is conducted by US information services company McGraw Hill.

Lexus ES 350, GS, LS and RX all received the highest scores for dependability and quality in the survey.

The JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study measures problems experienced during the past 12 months by the original owners of three-year-old vehicles (cars built in 2011) across 202 different areas of the vehicle. A vehicle’s overall reliability is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles, with the lowest score indicating the greatest reliability.

JD Power global automotive vice president Dave Sargent said Lexus is leading the industry in reliability by a substantial margin.

“Vehicle dependability has been a strength of Lexus since it came on to the market, and this year is no exception,” Sargent said.

And, the results in 2014 are significant; Lexus had 34% fewer issues than its nearest rival – the biggest lead of any brand in the survey. Lexus also scored over 48% better than the industry average. Lexus’ score of 68 problems per 100 vehicles is 36 points lower than the next most reliable brand, 65 points lower than the industry average, and 117 points lower than the least reliable recorded in the study.

JD Power claims that the Vehicle Dependability Study is used extensively by manufacturers to help produce better vehicles, which often translates to higher resale values and customer loyalty.