New JD Power Rankings for 2013 Dependability

[Scarpozzi]

http://www.freep.com/story/money/ca.../24/jd-power-dependability-rankings/80806718/

I was checking my yahoo mail and noticed this report was just released.

I like this report from JD Power because it's far more accurate than the initial quality report they give the year these vehicles come out. If you're in the market, it's good to look at vehicles that are on the same Gen as ones that were for sale in 2013 and know that you're buying sound engineering and steering away from the models that are at the bottom of the list.

 

[Homerboy]

GM wins in EIGHT categories?
I would have never won that bet...

 

[Scarpozzi]

GM wins in EIGHT categories?
I would have never won that bet...

I know....but this is from 2013 models.

 

[Homerboy]

I know....but this is from 2013 models.

Yeah, but as you said in your OP: "it's good to look at vehicles that are on the same Gen as ones that were for sale in 2013 and know that you're buying sound engineering"

For the most part, these 2013 models are still for sale as 2016 models.
And GM is leading the pack?!?

I do admit, the Malibu looks nice.

 

[Jimzz]

There so many groups its a junk ratings system almost as bad as Consumer Reports.

Fiat is near dead last with 171 problem per 100cars yet the Fiat 500 won in the City Car group.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Compact Premium Car: Lexus ES

Lexus ES is a compact?

The ES is bigger than the GS.

 

[LTC8K6]

But what were the complaints?

I suspect Ford suffered from Sync complaints.

 

[LTC8K6]

The industry average of problems per 100 vehicles rose to 152 from 147 last year, and many were related to the controls, entertainment choices and voice-recognition glitches in the touch screen or hands-free smartphone use.

"The increase in technology-related problems has two sources," said Renee Stephens, J.D. Power vice president of U.S. automotive. "Usability problems that customers reported during their first 90 days of ownership are still bothering them three years later, in ever-higher numbers."

Stephens said frequent complaints centered on Bluetooth, the wireless connection between smartphones and vehicles, and voice-recognition software that is meant to translate voice commands into text or directions for navigation.

See, I don't consider that stuff part of "dependability" for a vehicle.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Thanks for letting me know who the biggest $ contributors are JD Powers.....I will stay away from them. Clearly they spend more money on marketing than their actual products.



How in this world people still take these "studies" seriously is beyond me...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Thanks for letting me know who the biggest $ contributors are JD Powers.....I will stay away from them. Clearly they spend more money on marketing than their actual products.



How in this world people still take these "studies" seriously is beyond me...

I've had my Camry for 3 years and almost 60,000 miles and I've had zero problems with it. My experience mirrors their results.

 

[madoka]

See, I don't consider that stuff part of "dependability" for a vehicle.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/25/jd-power-rethink-vehicle-dependability-opinion/

 

[tsupersonic]

Dependability to me = will the car run without problems? Who cares if the infotainment system doesn't work, that doesn't affect the car getting from A to B. That's just an annoyance.

 

[deathBOB]

Is three years even important? I want to know how a car will hold up for 5+ years.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Dependability to me = will the car run without problems? Who cares if the infotainment system doesn't work, that doesn't affect the car getting from A to B. That's just an annoyance.

I would care... quite a lot actually.

Sometimes the voice command in my car acts a little funny but otherwise it has been trouble free. And by funny I mean I'll press the button and say, "Call Home" and it will tell me there is no entry in the phone book for call home. I say cancel, hit the button again and it works the next time. This happens maybe once every other week or so and it is usually right after starting the car. Once it is working it stays working. I know there is nothing Toyota could do to fix it, must be some communication thing between it and my phone. Possibly related to the amount of time between me starting the car and trying to make a call.

It is a minor annoyance but overall it works quite well IMO.

I do use that feature in my car quite a bit so if I had problems pairing it with my phone or if I had major problems with the functionality of it I would be quite annoyed.

What is really cool is that the system in my wife's Lexus will pair automatically with either of our phones and it is easy to change from one phone to the other or to my son's ipod if both of us are in the car. I think the system in my Toyota is a little less robust than the Lexus system but it also pairs with either phone automatically. The Lexus will actually read incoming text messages for you or notify you if you have an e-mail. My car will not do that.

Now, if I got in the car and it didn't pair with my phone at all, that would be a problem. My brother-in-law has an Infiniti and he has complained of his car not recognizing his phone sometimes.

 

[zerocool84]

Is three years even important? I want to know how a car will hold up for 5+ years.

Because most people don't keep their cars for that long of a time.

 

[ElFenix]

Because most people don't keep their cars for that long of a time.

yup. used to be 5 years, but per jdp, they had trouble getting statistically significant responses anymore.


anyway, i echo the point above about entertainment systems, and it is useful information, but this would be easily fixed if jdp released the individual category scores broken out alongside the combined score. we don't need some fancy new weighted scoring system.

 

[desy]

After warranty, reliability has more to do with owners maintenance, so 5 years you look at the maintenance schedule

 

[madoka]

Because most people don't keep their cars for that long of a time.

I thought car ownership has been getting longer:

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/07/29/Here-s-Why-Americans-Are-Keeping-Their-Cars-Longer-Ever

The average length of ownership of a new vehicle reached 6.5 years in the first quarter of 2015, more than two years longer than in 2006. The number of cars more than 12 years old continues to grow and is expected to increase 15 percent by 2020.

 

[gus6464]

JD Power has always been in GM pockets. Nothing new to see here.

 

[Sulaco]

"infotainment systems"

lol.

I'll just drive my car, thanks.

 

[gorcorps]

"infotainment systems"

lol.

I'll just drive my car, thanks.

What's the point of getting a new car if the new features aren't used?

 

[Anubis]

What's the point of getting a new car if the new features aren't used?

Some people (my dad) are still stuck in the buy a new car every 3 years "because" loop

hes looking for one now, asked me yesterday what Bluetooth, SD cards, internal storage and the lot were and if those were important

 

[SearchMaster]

What's the point of getting a new car if the new features aren't used?

Yeah no kidding. But I do believe they need some separation between critical problems and "it took 15 seconds for my phone to connect with Bluetooth" or "I can't find the right angle for seat comfort". My Ford has the much maligned Sync system and it had some problems the first few months, where it would crash once a month or so or report that the Sirius signal was lost for no apparent reason but there was a system update after about 6 months of ownership and it has fixed all the issues. People are reporting that the new Sync 3 system that uses QNX instead of Microsoft is much more responsive and easy to use so it will be interesting to see if Ford's JDP rankings go up just because of that.

 

[XavierMace]

Yeah, there's a difference between the car still driving and not but do you really want that to be where the line is drawn?

When I buy a new car, if I keep having to bring it down to the dealer to fix stuff (mechanical or otherwise), I'm not going to be happy with it even if it was technically functional the entire time. I brought it my BRZ to the dealer several times because it would go into limp mode. It was still technically functioning, it got to the dealer under it's own power.

 

[Sulaco]

What's the point of getting a new car if the new features aren't used?

There are myriad reasons, not the least of which pertaining to performance, overall quality, reliability, style, practicality, economy, resale value, or comfort, just to name a few, that can and do matter far more for people who actually care about cars beyond how "nifty the infotainment screen is".