Does Japan really make the most reliable cars? – Jalopnik

There has long been a belief that Japan builds the most reliable cars in the automotive industry, and many modern studies continue to confirm that. For example, in Consumer Reports’ 2025 Honor Roll of Best Reliability Brands, the top six names were all Japanese: Subaru, Lexus, Toyota, Honda, Acura and Mazda led the way, in that order. The results were particularly impressive for that first company, as we discovered when we looked at the data on how reliable Subarus are. This year’s JD Power Vehicle Dependability results spread the top honor further geographically, but Lexus was number one here too, with Mazda and Toyota in third and fourth. (As for the number two brand, you might be surprised at how reliable the new Buicks are.)

Many people attribute this success to a Japanese manufacturing philosophy known as “kaizen,” which became popular with automakers like Toyota in the years after World War II. The word means ‘continuous improvement’ and here refers to the idea that everyone in the company works together to continually make small improvements to their vehicles with the aim of having a big overall impact on quality.

But the thing is, while many vehicles from Japan-based automakers perform well according to today’s reliability studies, so do those from brands from other countries. So it might be better to say that, overall, Japan still makes the most reliable cars in most classes, but the leaders in some different segments now come from different countries.

Consider the pickup segment, where the Toyota Tundra finished near the bottom of the predicted reliability rankings, behind the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford F-150, GMC Sierra 1500 and Ram 1500. The Nissan Titan is dead, remember, and the company said in 2024 that it would focus on electric vehicles instead. Meanwhile, in the Vehicle Dependability Study — which takes into account three years of data and this time includes 2022 vehicles — the only full-size pickups to even qualify for “Most Reliable” status were the Silverado/Sierra siblings.

In the mid-range segment, the Ford Ranger checked in with the best predicted reliability. And just to be clear, the Ranger more than doubled the reliability scores of the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier, which also trailed the South Korean Hyundai Santa Cruz. The Honda Ridgeline is the only featured truck in its class, but it also lagged behind the Ranger. Note that the Tacoma was considered the most reliable mid-size pickup by the JD Power team. JD Power also takes heavy-duty pickups into account, unlike both CR and the Japanese brands. In this class, the company once again chose the Silverado/Sierra series as the segment leader in reliability.

The CR results show that there are a few other vehicle classes where Japan trails the rest of the world in reliability, starting with luxury cars that open above $40,000. The leader in this segment was perhaps unexpected, and it shows yet another area where the Japanese brands have not yet found their place. We are talking about the fully electric BMW i4, which led both electric and gas cars – including from Lexus – in terms of reliability. The i4 also won the best luxury EV segment, where a Japanese presence is sorely lacking. At the same time, CR predicted that the Audi A4 would have the highest reliability of any luxury compact car, with its fastback version, the Audi A5, close behind – and both ahead of competitors like the Lexus IS and Acura TLX.

CR’s most reliable minivan didn’t come from a Japanese automaker either. After updates to make what we called the best minivan even better, the Kia Carnival has also risen to the top of the leaderboard in predicted reliability. Additionally, CR tested both the standard Carnival and hybrid versions separately, and both configurations scored better predicted reliability scores than the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna.

If you’re looking for a vehicle that truly exudes Japanese car reliability, look no further than the Subaru Forester and Forester Hybrid. Listed separately, but with the same reliability figures, the Foresters not only topped their segments, they achieved some of the highest scores even possible in CR’s own tests.

Amazingly, when CR tried to identify potential trouble spots for the Forester, owners couldn’t find any. Based on their survey responses, the Forester earned perfect marks in every category, from car electronics to engine/transmission to the kind of simple noises and leaks that can drive owners crazy. Five flavors of the RAV4 – which will become hybrid-only for Toyota in 2026 – and two of the Mazda CX5, were the second and third nameplates for predicted reliability among compact SUVs.

The Japanese brands also showed particularly strong predicted reliability in subcompact and mid-size SUVs. As for subcompacts, four of the five highest-ranked rides in terms of reliability were Japanese, with the Subaru Crosstrek at number one and the third-place Chevy Trax as the only non-Japanese model in the mix. The Toyota Crown Signia turned out to be the best-ranked mid-size car, followed by seven more models from brands from Japan.

Japan started finding success in the US with its small cars, and they are still known as great choices, backed by impressive reliability. This year, for example, Japanese brands were responsible for eight of the top 10 compact models, ranked by CR’s predicted reliability score. The Subaru Impreza achieved the highest rating, with the Toyota Corolla and Corolla hatchback finishing in second place – and the Corolla as a whole receiving honors for reliability in its class from JD Power. The Hyundai Elentra hybrid retained CR’s fourth place, but was followed by a new range of seven Japanese models, including the Toyota Prius, Mazda3, Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic.

While Hyundai – which ranked 10th on CR’s Most Reliable Brands list – finally showed up in the midsize segment, where the Hyundai Sonata/Sonata Hybrid scored highest, Japan filled out the top five with the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry holding down places three through five. (Which is further proof that it’s time the Altima gets some respect.) Second place? That went to the Subaru Legacy, which is now in its final year. But you can be sure that this won’t be the last time Japan scores well in predicted reliability.