New car quality at all-time high, J.D. Power survey says
Customer satisfaction with new-car quality is the highest it has been in the 30 years of the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, according to the 2017 results. The survey results are based on the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.
The industry has improved significantly in each of the past three years, said Dave Sargent, vice president, global automotive at J.D. Power. Todayês vehicles have more things that could go wrong, but fewer things that actually do go wrong.
Audio/communication/entertainment/navigation systems continue to be the biggest problem areas, but they are also the most improved categories since 2016. Features, controls and displays make up other categories with many problems reported. The biggest increases in problems are all for semi-autonomous features: Cruise control (primarily adaptive cruise); the lane departure warning; collision avoidance/alert systems; and blind spot warning.
The Detroit Three outperform imports for the second year in a row, but only for the third time since the study was started in 1987. Kia ranks highest in overall initial quality for the second year running, followed by Genesis, Porsche, and Ford/Ram (tied).
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