Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen had the lowest engine failure light in the past year, according to a study conducted on the American market by the website CarMD.com. This study is only representative to a limited extent for the European market.
In any case, CarMD has done a thorough job, because the company examined data from 19.5 million cars for the ‘Vehicle Health Index’. They looked at how often the engine failure light went on in the cars examined in the past year and based on this, a ranking with index figures was drawn up. This shows that the engine failure light at Mitsubishi lights up the least often, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. The list is slightly different for the individual models: the Toyota Tacoma (2018), which is not available from us, has the least trouble with the malfunction indicator, followed by the Honda CR-V (2015) and the Toyota Camry (2018).
If the light does switch on, it is better to drive a Kia, Chrysler or Mazda according to the research. The average repair costs per brand come out at € 264.47, € 273 and € 278.35 respectively. For each model, the average lowest costs have been converted for the Hyundai Tucson (€ 27.20), Subaru Impreza (€ 30.96) and the Mercedes-Benz GLE (€ 32.64). Since the engine failure light can in principle mean anything, the costs per repair can generally also vary considerably.
For the European market, however, this research should be taken with a good grain of salt. The cars on the American market can differ on several points from the versions on the market here. In some cases the cars are locally produced, but often it is also the case that the available engines and versions are completely different than on our continent. The Toyota Camry, for example, is only available as a hybrid in the Netherlands, while in America you can also opt for a conventional 2.5-liter four-cylinder. As far as is known, no comparable research has yet been carried out in Europe.