South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller sibling Kia Motors Corp. claimed sixth and 11th in this year’s survey on vehicle dependability by U.S.-based J.D. Power and Associates Inc., respectively - their best-ever win in confidence from American consumers.

The global marketing information services company surveyed 35,186 owners of 2014 model-year vehicles in the last three months of last year to find out any problems they have encountered throughout the whole year of 2016. Overall dependability was determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality. The study covers 177 specific problems grouped into eight major vehicle categories.

In the 2017 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) whose result was announced on Tuesday (local time), Hyundai Motor ranked sixth of 19 general brands, with a score of 133 PP100. The Korean automaker became the most improved nameplate in the study, improving by 25 PP100, or up 13 notches, from 2016, marking the best-ever ranking in the study that is now in its 28th year, the company said in a statement.

Kia Motors came in 11th scoring 148 PP100, also the best-ever ranking for the automaker.

Both Korean automakers well outperformed the industry average of 156 PP100 with reports of fewer problems.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s stand-alone luxury brand Lexus and Porsche AG tied for the top spot. Lexus has topped the survey for six consecutive years. Toyota, Buick and Mercedes-Benz filled up the top five most dependable brands.

By category, Toyota was the biggest gainer topping 10 of 18 total segments.

Hyundai Motor’s popular sedan Sonata took the second place in the midsize car segment, while its sport utility vehicle (SUV) Tucson ix came in third in the compact SUV segment. Kia Motors’ Soul ranked second in compact multi-purpose segment, the K7 third in the large car segment.

The VDS is considered one of the two J.D. Power key quality studies along with the Initial Quality Study (IQS), and achieving good results in these studies would help to boost an automaker’s image and revenue.

Kia Motors became the first from the non-premium league to top the IQS last year, while its bigger affiliate Hyundai Motor came in third.

By Park Chang-young

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