#dependability

Consumer Reports just released its Annual Auto Reliability Survey, which predicts the dependability of every new vehicle on sale today.

You rely on your car to get you through the day, so why wouldn’t you want a dependable one?

Shopping for a crossover, SUV, minivan of pickup truck? Find out which ones are the most dependable.

High-tech features are proving more problematic than beneficial for some new car owners.

The J.D. Power 2016 Vehicle Dependability Study results have been released, and there aren’t too many surprises.

J.D. Power just released the results of its 2015 Vehicle Dependability Study. Plenty of automakers deserve praise, but others, well, not so much…

There’s cloudy news on the horizon if you’re thinking about buying a new car.

Since its founding in 1936, Consumer Reports has become the go-to source for shoppers. From new refrigerators to bottles of wine, Blue-ray players to homeowner’s insurance, if it’s on the market it’s likely the non-profit organization has scientifically tested it. Of course the consumer watchdog is probably most famous for its vehicle reliability ratings.

Quality is an ever-moving target; it’s something automakers have to constantly monitor. And like the Mongol hordes conquering vast swaths of Asia in the 13th century, problems can easily overwhelm an unsuspecting company’s defenses. Like arrows toppling a mighty war elephant, just a few small issues can devastate even the most reliable vehicle on the road. To keep these nomadic defects at bay, engineers and product planners must remain vigilant.

Sometimes it’s pretty difficult to determine what makes a vehicle reliable. But one sound way is to look back and see how much the average repair cost was for a vehicle over three to five years, and seeing which ones suffered the least breakdowns.

With Toyota vehicles dominating their segments in the latest J. D. Power and Associates 2012 Dependability Study, as a brand, Lexus claimed the top spot as the overall most dependable brand.