Cadillac once again ranked well in the annual J.D. Power 2023 Vehicle Dependability Survey, earning a score that placed it above the industry average.
The J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study takes into account 184 specific “problem areas” across nine major vehicle categories: climate, driving experience, exterior, features/controls/displays, infotainment, interior, powertrain, seats, and driving assistance. The study is performed annually, and takes into account customer satisfaction in the aforementioned areas over a period of three years of ownership. Models are graded on a Problems Per 100 Vehicles scale (PP100), with a higher score indicative of a large amount of problems, and a smaller score representing fewer problems and therefore higher levels of dependability. This year’s study was fielded between August and November 2022, collecting responses from owners of 2020 model year vehicles.
Cadillac earned a PP100 score of 173, ranking the luxury marque 12th among all brands. By comparison, the average score was 186. Cadillac outperformed Mazda’s score of 174, and also that of its corporate cousin, GMC, which scored 175 points. By comparison, in last year’s study, Cadillac earned 168 points, meaning that it performed better.
Focusing only on premium brands, Cadillac was one of the highest-ranking in this space this year, behind another GM corporate sibling, Buick, with 159 points, Genesis with 144 points and Lexus with a score of 133 points as the only luxury automakers to rank above average. Lincoln, meanwhile, earned a poor score of 259, placing it almost last, while Mercedes-Benz accumulated a score of 240. Land Rover was ranked dead last, at 273 PP100.
The study found that infotainment systems continued to be the category under which the most problems were reported. Its score of 49.9 PP100 was almost double that of the next-worst problem area, which was exterior. Customers called out built-in voice recognition, Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity, Bluetooth and touchscreen usability as being some of the least dependable features in their vehicles.
However, the average PP100 score improved by six points across the board compared to the results of the 2022 Vehicle Dependability study, indicating a nominal improvement in vehicle quality.
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