Once-dominant Japanese brands like Toyota, Nissan and Honda have taken a mighty fall on the quality charts, toppled on J.D. Power's closely followed Initial Quality Study by two of the Big Three in Detroit as well as South Korea's top carmarkers.

Widely seen as an arbiter of automotive quality, J.D. Power's IQS report released Wednesday delivered several for 2019.

Korean automakers Genesis, Kia and Hyundai led the industry with the top three highest marks and widened their gap in the rankings with brands like Toyota and Lexus that had long held the lead in the annual study. Not a single European brand, including the vaunted Mercedes-Benz and BMW, earned marks above the industry average this year.

Ford, its Lincoln brand and General Motor's Chevrolet ranked Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively, followed by Nissan and and Fiat Chrysler's Dodge.

A decade of quality improvements came to a screeching halt last year, according to J.D. Power. While most manufacturers were able to solve nagging issues with the infotainment systems that had dragged down their results in recent years, there was an unexpected surge in classic, mechanical problems with engines, brakes, suspension and paint.

Long known as quality laggards, Korean carmakers have made major improvements over the past few years, according to Dave Sargent, J.D. Power's head of automotive research. That was apparent not only in the overall scores for the three brands but the fact that the Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Genesis and Kia, as well as Hyundai, had six individual segment winners, more than any other manufacturer.