By CHERYL JENSENFEB. 12, 2014  For the first time since 1998, vehicle dependability has declined, according to the 2014 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study released today. Most of the problems are with engines and transmissions, the report said.  Over all, the study found 133 problems for each 100 vehicles, compared with 126 a year ago.  David Sargent, global automotive vice president of J.D. Power, called the results a “step backward” and characterized the 6 percent increase in the number of problems as “very significant.”  “In hindsight, we can see why it happened,” he said. “But what we weren’t anticipating is that at the same time a couple of things got worse, pretty much nothing much got better.”  The study, now in its 25th year, measures problems experienced by the original owners of three-year-old vehicles over the previous 12 months. This year’s study is based on responses of more than 41,000 owners of vehicles from the 2011 model year.  Not all automakers suffered a decline, however. Fifteen had fewer problems than in the last study, one automaker stayed the same and 15 had more problems. But the brands that fared worse this year, including Ford, Hyundai and Nissan, sold a lot more vehicles than the brands whose scores improved, like Jaguar and Land Rover, Mr. Sargent said.  Topping the list for the third consecutive year is Lexus, which had three fewer problems than in 2013. Although Lexus lost the top ranking in 2009-11, it had been on top of the survey for 14 years before that.  The study covers some 200 problem areas in eight major categories including exterior, seats, engine and transmission. J.D. Power then ranks brands by the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles; the lower the number of problems, the higher the ranking.  After Lexus (68 problems per 100), the brands that round out the top 10 are Mercedes-Benz (104), Cadillac (107), Acura (109), Buick (112), Honda (114), Lincoln (114), Toyota (114), Porsche (125) and Infiniti (128).  Among individual vehicles, two are tied as the industry’s most dependable 2011 model, with only 62 problems per 100 vehicles: the Cadillac DTS and the Lexus LS.  Engine and transmission problems increased by nearly 6 problems per 100 vehicles over last year, which accounts for the majority of the overall increase in problems reported, of 7 per 100.  For vehicles with 4-cylinder engines, problems increased by nearly 10 per 100 vehicles, partly a result of the shift by many manufacturers to build more cars with these smaller engines.  “If you spend your life driving a V6 or V8 and suddenly jump into a 4, it isn’t going to feel right,” Mr. Sargent said. “It feels different and it sounds different.” He said automakers’ efforts to improve fuel economy had resulted in negative customers’ perceptions of how their engines were working.  “A lot of the root cause is software,” Mr. Sargent added. “The engine and transmission are programmed to respond in a certain way to customer input. But it manifests itself as a mechanical problem.”  Owners, in turn, often complain that the engines hesitate or feel underpowered, and that the transmission shifts roughly or too quickly.  “Customers are saying, ‘We don’t like this,’ and they perceive it as a problem,” Mr. Sargent said.  So are these issues a matter of perception, or are they real problems?  “It’s both,” Mr. Sargent said. “They are all real problems: In the consumer’s mind, there is something wrong with the vehicle. Some of them are defects; others are characteristics of the vehicle that the customer doesn’t like. An engineer might argue it’s not a defect, it’s how it was designed. But the consumer is saying, ‘I don’t like the way you designed it, and that’s a problem for me.’ ”  The engine and transmission problems are the same issues that Ford had with the PowerShift dual-clutch automatic transmission in the Fiesta and Focus that contributed to Ford’s poor showing in the 2011 Consumer Reports Reliability Survey. Auto reviewers and owners complained that the transmission stumbled at low speeds and in stop-and-go traffic.  In this year’s survey, Ford had 140 problems per 100 vehicles, which is 13 more than last year. The automaker ranked 17th this year, just below the industry average of 133 problems per 100 vehicles – down from 13th place in last year’s study.  Other findings of the study include:  ■ The increase in problems affected both domestic and foreign automakers. The domestic brands were at 138 problems per 100 vehicles, and the imports were at 130, meaning the dependability gap continued to narrow between the American and foreign automakers. The difference last year was 10 problems per 100 vehicles. However, “it’s as much because the imports got worse than it is that the domestics got better,” Mr. Sargent said.  ■ Land Rover was the most improved brand, with 41 fewer problems than last year. It ranks 29th. Jaguar’s improvement was second-best, with 32 fewer problems than last year, ranking 13th. Following that was Cadillac, with 21 fewer problems and a third-place ranking.  ■ Ram had 43 more problems than last year, making it the brand with the largest increase in problems, taking it from ninth to 25th place. Mr. Sargent attributed this partly to a change in the sales mix. Ram went from selling more light-duty trucks in last year’s study, to selling more heavy-duty trucks. Heavy-duty trucks tend to have more problems.  ■ Mini ranked last – in 31st place – with 185 problems per 100 vehicles. That is 35 more problems than last year.  ■ Porsche, with 125 problems per 100 vehicles, had 31 more than last year, but still managed to rank ninth.  ■ Out of the 172 vehicles included in the study, six of the 12 highest-scoring models were made by Lexus.
In its annual study, J.D. Power found that engine and transmission problems topped the list of reliability concerns.