Mass market automakers produce more reliable passenger vehicles than premium brands, according to a report from market data and analytics provider J.D. Power.
While the report covers cars used in personal transportation as opposed to commercial cargo trucks, the results could be important for logistics companies providing last-mile delivery relying on drivers’ personal cars, such as gig worker models like Uber Eats and Door Dash.
The results come from Troy, Michigan-based J.D. Power’s “2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS),” which incorporated franchise dealership repair visits with the firm’s Voice of the Customer (VOC) data to create a metric for problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). Overall, the results show that mass market brands have a combined average of 181 PP100, which means they required fewer repair visits than the industry average of 195 and significantly fewer than premium brands’ rate of 232.
A major reason for that result is that vehicles from premium brands often include more complicated systems and thus more reliance on connectivity. “It is not surprising that the introduction of new technology has challenged manufacturers to maintain vehicle quality,” Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, said in a release. “However, the industry can take solace in the fact that some problem areas such as voice recognition and parking cameras are seen as less problematic now than they were a year ago.”
The theme of higher failure rates in more complex platforms also extends to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), the study found. While proponents of electric cars often state these vehicles should be less problematic and require fewer repairs than gas-powered vehicles since they have fewer parts and systems, the repair data shows that BEVs, as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), require more repairs than gas-powered vehicles in all repair categories. Specifically, gas- and diesel-powered vehicles averaged 180 PP100 this year, while BEVs totaled 266 PP100.
“Owners of cutting edge, tech-filled BEVs and PHEVs are experiencing problems that are of a severity level high enough for them to take their new vehicle into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicle owners,” Hanley said.
Specific areas that drew the most complaints included false warnings from systems like rear seat reminder technology—designed to help vehicle owners avoid inadvertently leaving a child or pet in the rear seat when exiting the vehicle—and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) like rear cross traffic warning or reverse automatic emergency braking features. Problems with smartphone connection systems like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay also persisted among the top 10 problems.
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