Lexus, Honda top J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, Ford plummets

Despite being caught in the undertow of Toyota's recall and safety issues last year, Lexis tops J.D. Power and Associates' Initial Quality Study (IQS) as the best brand in the survey being released today. Even better, Lexus' flagship LS sedan had the fewest problems of any vehicle in the first 90 days of ownership.

Meanwhile Ford, which was fifth last year and the only mass-market brand in the top five, fell to 23rd this year. It had 116 problems per 100 vehicles,up from 93 last year and worse than the industry average of 107 owner-reported problems. Its Lincoln brand dropped from No. 8 to 17 this year, with 111 problems.

Power attributed Ford results partly to two specific issues about which owners have complained: complicated communications and other controls and a dual-clutch automatic that some owners found balky and unpredictable. (Drive On friend Greg Gardner of the Detroit Free Press explained the complaints and predicted the IQS rating fall in a detailed story here.)

Power also said new technologies were an increasing problem for all makers. While the overall industry average improved to 107 from 109 problems last year, the IQS scores for models all-new or with major redesigns was 10% worse: an average of 122 problems, up from 111 last year. Carryover or lightly freshened models, by contrast, improved to 103 from 108.

"Exciting models with the latest features are crucial for winning over today's demanding consumers," said David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, automakers must not lose their focus on the importance of these models also achieving exceptional quality levels. Expected reliability continues to be the single-most-important reason why new-vehicle buyers choose one model over another."

Honda, Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Mazda rounded out the top five nameplates in the IQS survey, which is one of the most closely watched measures of quality in the car industry.

With Ford's fall, you have to go to ninth place before the first U.S. brand shows up -- Cadillac.

Only it and GMC were above the industry average of 107.

Land Rover showed the biggest improvement.

The worst brands for quality? That would be Dodge, followed by Mitsubishi and Suzuki. Still the gap between best and last isn't all that great. Lexus had 73 and Dodge had 137 per 100 vehicles -- and the study doesn't take into account whether the problem was as simple as a rattle in a glove compartment or as bad as a cracked engine block.

Overall, cars had fewer problems, but the number of issues increased slightly in new models.
"Automakers must not lose their focus on the importance of these models also achieving exceptional quality levels. Expected reliability continues to be the single-most-important reason why new-vehicle buyers choose one model over another," said David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research at J.D. Power.

Only seven all-new or redesigned models rank among the top three of their respective award segments, compared with 17 models in 2010, and only one launch model receives a segment award this year vs. five launch models in 2010. Just one-fourth of redesigned models perform better than the outgoing previous-generation model did in 2010, and eight all-new models perform above their respective award segment average.

Honda picked up seven segment awards for the Accord, Accord Crosstour, Civic (in a tie), Element, Fit, Insight (in a tie) and Ridgeline.

Lexus receives four segment awards for the ES, GS, GX and LS models. For a second consecutive year, the Lexus LS has the fewest quality problems in the industry with just 54.

Source;
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/lexus-toyota-gm-ford-jd-power-initial-quality-survey/1