The three most reliable auto manufacturers within the U.S. are actually Lexus, Porsche and Kia, in line with a brand new J.D. Energy research. The three least reliable are Jaguar, Alfa Romeo and Land Rover.

Tesla, which was profiled for the primary time on this 12 months’s automobile dependability research, got here in thirtieth out of 33 automakers. It landed one place behind Chrysler and one forward of Jaguar.

J.D. Energy research function an trade benchmark, and its outcomes can drive gross sales and influence insurance coverage premiums for house owners. The 2021 U.S. Car Dependability Research analyzed responses from 33,251 verified house owners of 2018 model-year autos offered within the U.S. The research assessed round 150 totally different fashions together with automobiles, vehicles and SUVs.

Tesla’s rating within the 32-year-old annual research this 12 months is taken into account unofficial, stated Dave Sargent, J.D. Energy’s vp of automotive high quality. That is as a result of Elon Musk‘s electrical automobile enterprise does not grant J.D. Energy permission to survey its house owners in 15 states that require this.

One of many excluded states is California, Tesla’s house base and a large marketplace for the corporate. Nonetheless, the J.D. Energy research included 756 Tesla respondents from 35 totally different states together with main markets with comparably heat climate like Florida and Texas.

Whereas Tesla rated unofficially low on the dependability survey, it unofficially topped J.D. Power’s 2020 APEAL survey, which charges automobile manufacturers by house owners’ emotional attachment and stage of pleasure with their new autos.

The dependability survey asks drivers what number of and how much issues their automobiles, vehicles or SUVs skilled previously 12 months and assigns a rating primarily based on issues reported per 100 autos. The decrease the rating, the extra reliable the automaker.

The best variety of issues reported by automobile house owners throughout all makes and fashions involved audio, communication, leisure and navigation methods.

“With smartphone apps more and more giving house owners an alternate, some will surrender on the automobile’s built-in methods that triggered that preliminary frustration. That is problematic for automakers, as a whole lot of the automobile’s worth is tied up in these methods they usually do not wish to hand this enterprise over to 3rd events,” stated Sargent.

The Porsche 911 was the highest-ranked mannequin within the 2021 research.

Toyota-owned Lexus topped the checklist amongst all manufacturers, with a rating of 81 issues per 100 autos.

Kia autos have notably risen from among the many least reliable auto manufacturers within the U.S. to most reliable in only a decade, with 97 issues per 100 autos on common. Toyota was close to the highest of the checklist with 98 issues per 100 autos.

Volkswagen, which launched two new fashions in 2018, slid within the dependability rankings. Sargent famous: “Outcomes might be affected by whether or not a producer has simply launched a bunch of latest merchandise. They are usually essentially the most problematic their first 12 months out.”

Homeowners of 3-year-old Teslas reported 176 issues per 100 autos, in contrast with the trade common within the U.S. of 121 issues per 100 autos. Tesla house owners reported extra issues with their exterior and inside than with different methods like propulsion, battery or infotainment and navigation. Nonetheless, some did complain about troubles with Tesla’s in-vehicle voice recognition.

General, automobile dependability improved by about 10% 12 months over 12 months, J.D. Energy discovered. A part of this was on account of decrease use and abuse of autos amid a Covid pandemic that has restricted commuting and journey in 2020 stateside.

“We all know the extra folks use a automobile the extra issues they are going to have,” Sargent stated. Final 12 months, on common customers had pushed about 32,000 miles over three years of latest automobile possession. This 12 months, they’d pushed 29,000 miles — representing a ten% discount over a three-year interval, and an implied 30% discount within the final 12 months.

— CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.