Kia, Hyundai and Genesis take top spots in US vehicle dependability study

Korean manufacturers Kia, Hyundai and Genesis have taken home top gongs from American automotive analytics brand J.D. Power.

The trio of Hyundai-owned brands came home first, third and fourth in J.D. Power's U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, with Kia taking overall honours – while Genesis was rated as the top premium marque.

J.D. Power's survey ranks brands on their product's problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), with all the brands scoring well below the average of 192 PP100. Kia ended up with a score of 145 ahead of Buick in second on 147, Hyundai third with 148 and Genesis fourth on 155.

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This year's study was based on responses from 29,487 original owners of 2019 model year vehicles, looking at how the cars stand up after three years on the road – fielded between July and November 2021.

Individual models such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento won awards in their segments (mid-size SUV and upper mid-size SUV respectively), while the overall award for the most dependable model was given to the Porsche 911.

Each of the brands enjoyed a strong 2021 in Australia, beating their 2020 sales comprehensively, with Hyundai leading on 72,872 units sold (vs. 64,807 in 2020), Kia just under 5000 units behind with 67,964 vehicles delivered (vs. 56,076 in 2020) and Genesis setting the bar for its best-ever year, recording 734 sales (vs. 229 in 2020).

The lowest-ranked manufacturer in the survey was Land Rover with 284 PP100, finishing behind Ram (226), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) in the bottom five places.

2022 J.D. Power Dependability Study

Top 10 brands

Bottom 10 brands