Key car quality study ranks software bugs as most common complaint, knocks Ford again
New
cars and trucks have fewer quality problems today than ever before -- but when
they do, the most common complaint isn't mechanical, but a failure to
communicate.
According
to J.D. Power & Associates annual Initial Quality Survey of new-vehicle
owners, problems with 2011 models after three months on the road fell 5 percent
from the previous year. But complaints about in-car electronics systems,
especially voice controls, surged -- knocking Ford, which has pushed
its MyFord Touch screen and Sync into about 4 million vehicles, to 27th out of
34 brands rated, down from fifth two years ago and 23rd last year.
Source:
J.D. Power and Assoc. 2012 U.S. Initial Quality StudyAnticipating
the results, Ford said on Tuesday that a recent update of the software
developed with Microsoft and sent to 377,000 customers would improve its scores
next year. Ford says the technology that replaces radio and air conditioning
knobs with a touch screen draws in new customers, and has even held training
classes at dealerships -- but it hedged when adding the system to its key F-Series pickups by keeping some switches in addition to
the screen, and it's too soon to know if the updates eliminate glitches like
random rebooting.
Many
other automakers have similar systems either already in production or arriving
soon, in part because selling software can be more profitable than hardware,
and also as a method for keeping drivers from distractions. J.D. Power says
those changes are reflected in its results, with the most common complaint that
hands-free voice recognition doesn't work.
For
the second year in a row, Lexus
owners reported fewer problems than any other brand, with 73 per 100 vehicles.
The surprise winner in this year's results is Jaguar, which jumped
from 20th to second, tying Porsche with 75 problems per 100. Honda and Cadillac rounded the
top five.
The
worst performers: Fiat
and Smart, each of
which sell just one model of minicar, and whose owners reported 151 problems
per 100. The industry as a whole averaged 107 problems; Toyota, Honda and Nissan all rated above
average, while GMC,
Ram and Chevrolet were the
only Detroit brands to do so.
Ford's
woes didn't keep the Ford Mustang and the Ford Taurus from
winning top quality honors in their classes. Toyota and Lexus each had two
class victors as well -- the Yaris and Corolla for Toyota, and the ES 350 and LS sedans for
Lexus. Other class winners included the Mazda MX-5, the Volvo C70, the Infiniti
M-Series and the Chevrolet Malibu.
As
mechanical defects have become rarer in new vehicles, the J.D. Power survey of
74,000 buyers has become more focused on subjective complaints; for more than a
decade, the number one gripe from owners was wind noise. That approach does
capture what makes people unhappy with their purchase, but can stumble because
every buyer has their own definition of a problem. The Porsche 911
wasn't designed to hush wind noise and has no touchscreen entertainment system,
but with just 44 problems per 100 cars, no vehicle in the survey had happier
owners. Is it any wonder that several automakers want to let Apple's Siri
system into their vehicles -- and take some of the burden of technology off
themselves.
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