The J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study released on Wednesday shows that automakers continue to make gains in vehicle quality, but the black art of telematics design poses a growing liability, especially for Ford.  Problems with its MyFord and MyLincoln Touch infotainment systems continued to bedevil the company, with other automakers hurt to a lesser degree. Ford dropped from fifth place in 2010 to 23rd in 2011, largely on complaints from owners who found the telematics to be unintuitive and complex. This year, Ford fell to 27th. Lincoln, which was ranked eighth in 2010 and 17th in 2011, fell to 18th.  “It’s not that the problem is getting worse, it’s becoming more prevalent because they are introducing more vehicles with MyFord Touch,” David Sargent, vice president of global automotive research at J.D. Power, said in an interview. “So the ranking could be more impacted this year because more vehicles have it.”  The Initial Quality Study examines vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. This year, it was based on responses from more than 74,000 owners and lessees of new vehicles from the 2012 model year.  Vehicle owners were asked whether they experienced any of 228 possible problems, which included mechanical defects and malfunctions, as well as design issues like the ease of use of controls. Other categories included exterior design, engine/transmission and audio/entertainment/navigation design. The study’s authors graded automakers on the number of problems per 100 vehicles.  Critically, the 2012 study did not capture changes made by Ford to its telematics systems this year. The surveyed customers bought or leased their vehicles from November 2011 to February 2012, before the update was available.  “We don’t have any consumer data, but our experts have driven some vehicles with the fix and it’s substantially better,” Mr. Sargent said of the revised system. “It’s faster, it’s better laid out, it doesn’t freeze. So it would be fair to say the fix is likely to help significantly.”  Industrywide, initial quality improved to an industry average of 102 problems per 100 vehicles, up 5 percent over last year’s average of 107 problems per 100 vehicles. And though there were year-over-year improvements in most areas measured by the study, a glaring exception is the category of audio/entertainment/navigation. Problems there increased 8 percent since 2011 and 45 percent since 2006.  Over all, Lexus was the top-rated brand for the second consecutive year, with 73 problems per 100 vehicles. The surprise this year was Jaguar, which rocketed from 20th position in 2011 into a tie for 2nd place with Porsche, as owners reported 75 problems per 100 vehicles. Rounding out the top five were Cadillac with 80 problems and Honda with 83.  Jaguar owners experienced 39 fewer problems per 100 vehicles than last year. The British brand has generally improved since Ford sold it to the Tata Group in 2008. Mr. Sargent attributed the brand’s significant year-on-year improvement to refinements made to the XJ sedan after its introductory year.  BMW, meanwhile, was back in the top 10 for the first time since 2005. Mr. Sargent added that BMW’s good fortunes were attributable to improvements across the vehicle range, whereas Jaguar’s leap could be pinned to a single vehicle.  Honda managed to remain in the top five, even though nearly half of its model mix was new or refreshed for the 2012 model year. That is significant because new or significantly redesigned vehicles tend to experience the most “teething troubles,” Mr. Sargent said.  “A good manufacturer minimizes that initial blip, and Honda has achieved that,” he said.  Despite industrywide gains in quality, the gap between domestic brands, with 108 reported problems per 100 vehicles, and imports, with 98 problems per 100 vehicles, did not close. “Both of them achieved their best scores ever and improved at around the same rate, so the gap from last year pretty much holds constant,” Mr. Sargent said.  For complete results of the study, click here.
Broader implementation of the poorly received MyFord Touch system hurt the automaker in the annual ranking. An update to the system, however, was not reflected in the results.