Ford’s Ranking Improves Drastically In 2018 J.D. Power Dependability Study

J.D. Power on Wednesday released the results of its 2018 US Vehicle Dependability Study – the company’s 29^th. Out of all 31 brands observed in the study, Ford ranked 16^th for dependability with 152 reported problems per 100 (“PP100) cars, putting it just behind the industry average of 142 PP100.

To conduct the study, J.D. Power surveyed original owners of 2015-model-year vehicles from each brand and tallied the number of problems those owners reported experienced over the past 12 months. Ford, which came in at 26^th in last year’s study with 31 more reported problems per 100 vehicles, wasn’t alone in its drastic improvement; Infiniti surged from 29^th to 4^th, with 106 fewer PP100, while Nissan went from 23^rd to 10^th, shedding 37 PP100. The industry-wide dependability average also improved some, ticking upward for the first time since 2013 with a 9% improvement.

Lincoln Motor Company also improved relative to last year, shedding 17 reported problems per 100 to end up with a score of 133 – enough to come in 10^th out of 31 brands.

Ford’s performance in this year’s J.D. Power US Vehicle Dependability Study was still far shy of crosstown rival Chevrolet, which ranked 6^th with 124 PP100. However, it faired substantially better than Cadillac, Jeep, Fiat, and Chrysler, all of which ranked toward the bottom.