Though automakers have improved vehicle quality incrementally in consumers’ eyes, there’s still much room for improvement, especially in the perennial problem area of infotainment systems.
J.D. Power found in its 39th annual Initial Quality Study poll of consumers after 90 days of new-vehicle ownership that infotainment systems continue to dog the driving public, though they’ve slightly improved. Many may appreciate the look of the tech-focused dash but would prefer to leave the complexity of the computer at home.
Problems per 100 vehicles, J.D. Power’s study measuring stick, ticked down two points to 192. Though infotainment systems also improved a hair, they’re still the most problem-riddled in the car, representing half of the top problems.
In some models, even glove compartment releases are buried in layers of touchscreen controls.
“Customers are having to tap and swipe through multiple screens to access key vehicle functions like climate settings and built-in garage door openers,” said J.D. Power Senior Director of Auto Benchmarking Frank Hanley. “Owners find these things to be overly complicated and too distracting to use while driving. By retaining dedicated physical controls for some of these interactions, automakers can alleviate pain points and simplify the overall customer experience.”
The study found that luxury vehicles have more problems in general than mass-market vehicles. Plug-in hybrids are more problematic than purely electric vehicles, and traditional hybrids and gas-powered models have fewer problems than plug-ins and EVs.
New-model launches across power train types represented the greatest volume of issues.
Among all brands, Lexus scored the highest in the study with a score of 166 problems per 100 vehicles.
Nissan tops the mass-market list at 169 PP100, followed by Hyundai at 173 PP100 and Chevrolet at 178 PP100.
Jaguar is tops among luxury brands at 175 PP100. It’s followed by Genesis at 183 PP100.
Parent brand rankings put General Motors first with five awards, Ford with four, and Honda with three.
Nearly 93,000 owners and lessees of 2025 vehicles responded to the survey. J.D. Power also incorporated repair data from hundreds of thousands of franchised auto dealer visits.
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