‘Dependability Has Degraded’ J.D. Power Publishes Disappointing 2026 Reliability Rankings
Owners of three-year-old vehicles surveyed by JD Power reported major problems with their cars than any previous year of the same study. But the findings are a bit more nuanced: it turns out that powertrains themselves still grow more reliable every year. Meanwhile, shiny new features—such as the 1.3 million digital dashboards currently recalled by 12 automakers—are being rolled out before they’re ready.
The JD Power study questions drivers of recent vehicles about problems in nine categories: Climate, driver assistance, the driving experience, exterior, features/controls/displays, infotainment, interior, powertrain, and seats. Simply scanning this list, you may be able to guess a couple of reasons “dependability has dropped.” The complex and problematic components in many of these systems simply didn’t exist a few short years ago. In fact, JD Power massively revamped its reliability study in 2022. The number of overall problems reported by owners has still been increasing since that revamp.
New powertrains are in an awkward growth spurt
You could break these increased problems into two categories. The first is all-new powertrains. With both internal combustion and EV powertrains, complex plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are predictably the most problematic of any powertrain. Owners report 39 more problems per 100 vehicles on the road year-over-year, for a grand total of 281 per 100 vehicles. Those aren’t great reliability odds.
Pure battery electric vehicles rose 14 this year, but are holding at 237/100, lower than PHEVs. Traditional hybrids come in at 213/100.
All that said, automakers are steadily working out the bugs in brand-new powertrains. Consumer Reports concluded that hybrids are now more reliable than traditional internal combustion cars. How? The electric motor/generator, which will likely outlast the rest of the vehicle, saves wear on the traditional brakes and traditional engine. Meanwhile, JD Power admits that the problems per capita for traditional internal combustion powertrains dropped again in 2025, by two/100. The result is 198/100 for ICE vehicles.
Electric vehicles only need a fraction of the moving parts traditional ICE vehicles require. They could potentially prove much more reliable. But it will take some time to fine-tune the technology. And automakers must resist adding extra bells and whistles.
Feature creep makes cars less reliable
The second category causing problems in nearly-new vehicles is the proliferation of tech features that, frankly, we didn’t need in the first place. JD Power called out several technologies by name: wireless phone chargers, OEM app connectivity, Bluetooth systems, and the top issue for three years running: Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity. JD Power added, “Of the nine problem categories that comprise the study, infotainment remains the most problematic.” And the biggest infotainment issue is connectivity: “Of the top five industry problems, four are directly related to owner integration of mobile phones to their vehicles.”
Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t mind getting in a vehicle and plugging my phone into a physical cable. It charges up faster, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto works flawlessly. Automakers are convinced they need to beat the other guy to wireless charging and wireless connectivity. But owners are testifying that the technology is still unreliable.
Over-the-air software updates, once a promising solution to these persistent problems, are making things worse with “spotty performance.” Here are the details: “More than half (63%) of the software updates were performed OTA and resulted in a nearly 14% increase in problems this year (2.5 PP100).”
The result is that the most feature-laden cars—those in the premium category—are less reliable. “The gap between premium and mass market vehicles has widened to 17 PP100.” And you guessed it, premium brands underperform in features/controls/displays.
Shiny new features look great on the showroom floor. But a three-year-old vehicle should work as intended. It may be time for automakers to slow down, focus on engineering new powertrains with bulletproof reliability, and only include deluxe new infotainment features the companies can guarantee they won’t glitch out.
