According to a study conducted by J.D. Power and Associates the dependability of vehicles across the industry improved 4.6 percent in 2008.

The survey looked at 38 brands, which averaged 206 problems per 100 units during the third year of ownership, down 10 problems from 2007.

Lexus remained the leader in vehicle dependability, a position it has held for 14 years, with 120 problems per Lexus sold. Fifty-two thousand original owners of 2005 models were interviewed for the study.

The vice president of automotive research at Power, David Sargent said, "There is an overwhelming relationship between dependability and satisfaction," adding that because problems typically arise in the third year of ownership, "The ability of the manufacturer to minimize that quality deterioration has a profound effect. The love of the vehicle actually blossoms over time."

The top performers after Lexus were, in ascending order of problems detected: Mercury (151), Cadillac (155), Toyota (159) and Acura (160.)

The five worst performs in ascending order of problems detected were: Saab (254), Isuzu (274), Kia (278), Suzuki (302) and Land Rover (344.)

The industry-wide average according to the study results was a 74.5 percent increase in problems per 100 sold. Mercury and Acura had the lowest increase in detected problems with the Acura MDX, Mercury Monterey, and Mercury Sable being the highest performing models by those makers.