Kia obtains the primacy of reliability in the United States, conquering the absolute first place in the special ranking drawn up by JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) following the lower number of negative reports received from Kia owners in the United States, compared to the other 31 brands involved in the analysis. This is the second consecutive year in which Kia conquers the first place among mass market brands but it is the first time in the history of the survey that a generalist brand is ranked in first place overall.
Kia took first position in the ranking “problems per 100 vehicles” ahead of all the mass-market and premium brands, thanks to the score of 145, exceeding the average by a margin of 47 points (PP100). Kia Sorento took first place in the midsize SUV category for the second consecutive year. Kia is one of three brands of Hyundai Motor Group, which overall achieved excellent PP100 scores. In the 2021 edition, Kia was ranked third overall among the mass-market and premium brands while this year it took the first position. Genesis won in its category among premium brands and finished fourth overall, just one place behind sister brand Hyundai Motor, which finished third in the overall standings.
For the 2022 VDS edition, JD Power surveyed 29,487 customers of over 30 automotive brands in the United States. Only owners of cars and light trucks registered in 2019 for personal use were selected for the survey. This year, new stricter criteria were introduced in reporting defects which increased the data by 59% compared to the 2021 ranking and increased the PP100 averages from 121 to 192.
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