Porsche The 2013 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition. Porsche received top marks in J.D. Power’s revised Initial Quality Study.J.D. Power released the results of a new version of its Initial Quality Study on Wednesday at a news conference with the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. The 2013 study was redesigned to measure better the quality of new technology that is becoming common in vehicles – including features like voice-recognition, blind-spot-monitoring, lane-departure-warning and self-parking systems.
The study scores automakers by brand and by model on the number of problems per 100 vehicles, or “pp 100.” A lower number signifies a better rating, indicating that owners have reported fewer problems for that brand or model.
The top scorers in the brand rankings were Porsche at No. 1 with a score of 80 problems per 100 vehicles, followed by GMC (90), Lexus (94), Infiniti (95), Chevrolet (97), Acura and Toyota (tied at 102), Honda (103), Jaguar (104), Hyundai, Kia and Mercedes Benz (all tied at 106). Because of the changes in the study’s methodology and content, the pp 100 scores cannot be directly compared with scores from previous years. But it is still possible to compare the brands’ relative rankings.
The redesigned study found that nearly two-thirds of the problems that owners experience with their new vehicles in the first 90 days are related to design and not manufacturing. In some cases, a component may be working as it was designed to, but can still pose a problem for the owner because it is difficult to understand or operate.
While this may seem like good news – because it involves fewer breakdowns – it is actually bad news because design-related problems are more difficult, if not impossible, to resolve.
Because design problems are not the result of breakdowns or malfunctions, the study found that just 9 percent of the problems are taken to a dealership within the first 90 days of ownership. And when they are, the problem is fixed only 13 percent of the time, whereas in the case of an actual defect or malfunction, the problem is fixed 42 percent of the time.
Many of the problems owners had with a vehicle were related to the driver’s interactions with it. These interface problems often involve voice recognition or hands-free technology, Bluetooth pairing for mobile phones and navigation systems.
What was J.D. Power’s takeaway message for consumers? When test-driving a vehicle you intend to purchase, spend as much time evaluating the technology and how easily you interact with it as you spend evaluating how well the vehicle drives, David Sargent, vice president for global automotive at J.D. Power, said in a telephone interview.
The study also found that initial quality had decreased from last year and that the decline was due mostly to technology design issues, Mr. Sargent said.
General Motors made a strong showing in this year’s survey. “GMC is second; they haven’t been anywhere near that before,” Mr. Sargent said. “Chevrolet is fifth; they’ve not been near that before. Buick and Cadillac were above the industry average.” Mr. Sargent added that they G.M. had worked “incredibly hard” to overcome its problems, noting that its recently introduced models included some, like the Buick Encore and Chevrolet Malibu, that score well on quality.
Indeed, at the news conference Mr. Sargent said that if the rated brands were combined under their parent corporations, G.M. would have a better score than any other company in this year’s study. G.M.’s trucks scored particularly well, he said.
Conversely, Nissan fell conspicuously and is now 30th out of 33 brands because of problems with three major new models — the Altima, Pathfinder and Sentra. “The competition is so tough these days, you don’t have to get much wrong to fall down in the rankings a long, long way,” Mr. Sargent said.
Ford remained in relatively the same position it has occupied for the last two years when it was hit hard with complaints about its MyFord Touch driver interface. Ford was 27th out of the 33 rated brands. Even though the interface is improving as Ford brings out updates, Mr. Sargent its inclusion in more vehicles has resulted in continued complaints.
As in years past, the Initial Quality Study surveys the owners and lessees of new vehicles after the first 90 days of ownership. This year it was based on responses from more than 83,000 owners of new 2013 passenger vehicles. Owners were asked whether they had any of 233 possible problems, which included mechanical defects and malfunctions, as well as design issues.
In this year’s redesigned study, design problems accounted for two-thirds of the total number of questions. Previously, design issues accounted for about half of the survey. For the first time, the study is conducted online, which allowed J.D. Power to get more detailed feedback on each of the problem areas.
This is the fourth generation of the study, which was begun in 1987. It was also updated in 1998 and 2006.
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