When motorists start complaining about faulty door handles you know there’s a problem.
After years of steady improvements in quality, the latest cars, trucks and crossovers are showing signs of trouble — and technology catches much of the blame, found a new study by J.D. Power.
The number of problems reported by new vehicle owners rose at a record rate during the past few years, according to the 2023 U.S. Initial Quality Study. The increase in quality issues comes at a time when manufacturers are loading their products up with new digital features, like hands-free driving, Apple CarPlay and multiple video displays. But even door handles have become a surprising source of trouble.
More tech, more owner headaches
Significantly, some of the brands producing the most high-tech cars also generated the most complaints from vehicle owners, notably Tesla and EV startups Polestar and Rivian.
“The automotive industry is facing a wide range of quality problems, a phenomenon not seen in the 37-year history of the IQS,” said Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power.
“The industry is at a major crossroad and the path each manufacturer chooses is paramount for its future. From persistent problems carrying over from years past to an increase in new types of problems, today’s new vehicles are more complex — offering new and exciting technology — but not always satisfying owners.”
How the IQS works
The annual IQS study — which this year was based on responses from more than 93,000 new vehicle owners in the U.S. — confirms a troubling trend. The study poses a list of 223 questions divided up into nine separate categories. And the number of issues those motorists report are tallied up as problems per 100 vehicles. In Power-speak, that’s PP100.
All told, the 2023 IQS total was 192 problems per 100, a 12-point increase. That follows an 18-point increase in 2022, for a 2-year increase of 30. That’s the biggest rise in the 37-year history of the Initial Quality Study.
“The largest year-over-year increase in the number of problems is in the features, controls and displays category,” a summary of the 2023 IQS noted, “followed by infotainment.”
The biggest problems
There were some notable surprises in this year’s study, reflecting how even mundane vehicle parts and components are going high-tech — and developing problems in the process. Take door handles, for example. To improve aerodynamics, automakers have introduced pop-out handles on many of their new EVs. But the IQS found those designs to be a major source of trouble this year.
Automakers are adding more advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS, to their vehicles, but these ADAS systems have become a source of frequent complaint. The most problematic systems were lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist, which together resulted in 7.2 PP100. Forward collision warning and automated emergency braking generated five complaints per 100 vehicles.
Digital operating systems used for onboard infotainment was a frequent source of trouble, the IQS revealed, as were touchscreens, navigation systems and voice controls. But one of the newest areas of trouble came with the increasing availability of wireless smartphone chargers.
“This is the area where manufacturers really have the opportunity to delight customers with this convenience, but instead are creating a problem for them,” Hanley said.
A positive note
On the positive side, this year’s study found new owners increasingly pleased by the smartphone apps many automakers now offer. They allow drivers to check up on their vehicles and do things like beeping the horn to find the vehicle in a crowded parking lot, or lock and unlock the doors. Such apps are becoming especially common on battery-electric vehicles and can be used to monitor and control charging, among other things.
But Power noted that smartphone apps also generated more complaints from EV owners, the folks who tend to rely on those features more than owners of conventional vehicles
Tesla, EV start-ups were among this year’s worst brands
EVs, in general, have been a source of above-average complaints in the Power IQS, largely due to their extensive use of high-tech features and components.
That’s reflected in the fact that Polestar, the EV spinoff from Volvo, ranked dead last among the 35 manufacturers included in the 2023 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. It had a score of 313 PP100 compared with the industry average of 192. Tesla did only slightly better, at 257.
Because of the small sample size, Power didn’t officially include several startups in the latest IQS. But based on the owner reports it did receive, Lucid would have anchored the bottom this year, with 340 PP100. And Rivian didn’t do much better at 282.
The best brands and manufacturers
Dodge was again the highest-ranked brand overall, as well as the top mainstream brand, with a score of 140 PP100. Ram was second with a score of 141. That truck brand also showed one of the biggest improvements in its score. In the 2022 IQS, Ram had a score of 186 PP100.
Other brands posting big improvements were Maserati, which reduced its problem count by 73, and Alfa Romeo, with a 68-point improvement. Alfa was the highest-ranked premium brand, at 143 PP100, followed by Porsche and Cadillac — 167 and 170 PP100, respectively. In the mainstream category, Dodge was followed by Ram and Buick.
Notably, Stellantis brands collectively posted some of the year’s biggest improvements in quality and wound up ranking at or near the top in the latest IQS. The one exception: the Chrysler brand which had a score of 250 PP100, near the bottom of this year’s chart. Among traditional automaker’s Volvo was ranked dead last.
General Motors had the most vehicles winning model-level awards this year, seven in total, including the Buick Encore, Cadillac XT6 and Chevrolet Equinox. Hyundai Motor Group led in five product segments, Toyota in four. Among individual brands, Chevrolet and Kia tied for the lead, with each winning in four segments.