Photo: Jeep
The day you take delivery of your new car is almost always a pleasant moment. However, after the initial euphoria waves off, you might start to notice some problems with your prized possession.
The build quality as an industry overall has gone up significantly over the past years and it appears to continue its growth, but just because cars have gotten better as a whole, it doesn't mean there aren't still those who cut a few corners for better profit margins.
Normally, these things would remain something you talk about over a beer with your friends, and then they spread the world with their friends, and so on. And that's how perfectly good brands get an awful reputation just because somebody's friend of a friend had a bit of bad luck with their particular vehicle.
Luckily, though, there is the annual J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study that takes most of the subjectivity out of the equation. It examines 233 problems organized in eight separate categories, and this year, it involved almost 80,000 respondents who had purchased or leased 2017 model year vehicles.
These people provide their answers after 90 days of ownership, which should be enough for any initial quality issue to poke its ugly head into the open. The unit of measure is the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles (PP100), and this year's average in the U.S. was 97. That's almost one for each car, but it's still eight better than last year's 105 PP100.
J.D. Power discovered that the only areas where things have gotten worse are the ones - surprise, surprise - connected to the car's driver assist features. Cruise control, lane departure warning, collision avoidance/alert systems, and blind spot warning have registered the greatest increases in problems reported, which shows the manufacturers might be sending these things out without proper testing of market reception.
Coming up at number eight (since there are two sharing number ten) is Subaru with 113 PP100, which is an improvement over last year's 118, but still not enough to take the Japanese manufacturer out of the hall of shame.
At seven is another premium brand, only this time stemming from Germany. It's Audi, with a not at all enviable score of 115 PP100. The Ingolstadt carmaker also receives the honor of being the only German brand on the list.
Doing only so slightly better than Audi is Mazda, which occupies the sixth place with 125 problems reported per 100 vehicles. Even though it did better by two problems compared with 2016, it wasn't enough to move Mazda from sixth.
We now come across another tie: fifth place is split between British off-road specialist Land Rover and Mitsubishi, both with a score of 131 PP100. Again, even though they share the same spot in the chart, their situations couldn't be more different: Land Rover did one position better than last year, while Mitsubishi is a new entry after scoring 116 in 2016, enough to keep it out of the Top 10.
We're now entering the podium, which opens with Swedish brand, Volvo. Despite registering 18 fewer PP100 than last year, Volvo is still in third place. The brand is currently going through a revamp of its range, though, so it'll be interesting to see how it does in 2018.
In second we find another British manufacturer: yes, it's Jaguar, who seems to woo us with its nice design only to smack us in the back of the head with its quality issues. 148 problems per 100 vehicles were reported, which is 21 more than last year. It may not take the first spot, but it's definitely the worst premium brand in this study.
Finally, the number one spot couldn't belong to a company from any other country than Italy, and here is FIAT to make sure tradition is upheld. The 11 PP100 improvement over last year's result wasn't enough to spare FIAT of the embarrassment, scoring 163 PP100 and receiving the unwanted crown for the company with the most initial quality issues.
Normally, these things would remain something you talk about over a beer with your friends, and then they spread the world with their friends, and so on. And that's how perfectly good brands get an awful reputation just because somebody's friend of a friend had a bit of bad luck with their particular vehicle.
Luckily, though, there is the annual J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study that takes most of the subjectivity out of the equation. It examines 233 problems organized in eight separate categories, and this year, it involved almost 80,000 respondents who had purchased or leased 2017 model year vehicles.
These people provide their answers after 90 days of ownership, which should be enough for any initial quality issue to poke its ugly head into the open. The unit of measure is the number of problems reported per 100 vehicles (PP100), and this year's average in the U.S. was 97. That's almost one for each car, but it's still eight better than last year's 105 PP100.
J.D. Power discovered that the only areas where things have gotten worse are the ones - surprise, surprise - connected to the car's driver assist features. Cruise control, lane departure warning, collision avoidance/alert systems, and blind spot warning have registered the greatest increases in problems reported, which shows the manufacturers might be sending these things out without proper testing of market reception.
Anyway, here is how things stand.
The "least worst" brand in the Top 10 are actually two: Infiniti and Jeep are tied for the bottom place with 107 PP100. But while the American brand is on the rise (from 113 last year), the luxury Japanese one appears to be sinking (down from 103).Coming up at number eight (since there are two sharing number ten) is Subaru with 113 PP100, which is an improvement over last year's 118, but still not enough to take the Japanese manufacturer out of the hall of shame.
At seven is another premium brand, only this time stemming from Germany. It's Audi, with a not at all enviable score of 115 PP100. The Ingolstadt carmaker also receives the honor of being the only German brand on the list.
Doing only so slightly better than Audi is Mazda, which occupies the sixth place with 125 problems reported per 100 vehicles. Even though it did better by two problems compared with 2016, it wasn't enough to move Mazda from sixth.
We now come across another tie: fifth place is split between British off-road specialist Land Rover and Mitsubishi, both with a score of 131 PP100. Again, even though they share the same spot in the chart, their situations couldn't be more different: Land Rover did one position better than last year, while Mitsubishi is a new entry after scoring 116 in 2016, enough to keep it out of the Top 10.
We're now entering the podium, which opens with Swedish brand, Volvo. Despite registering 18 fewer PP100 than last year, Volvo is still in third place. The brand is currently going through a revamp of its range, though, so it'll be interesting to see how it does in 2018.
In second we find another British manufacturer: yes, it's Jaguar, who seems to woo us with its nice design only to smack us in the back of the head with its quality issues. 148 problems per 100 vehicles were reported, which is 21 more than last year. It may not take the first spot, but it's definitely the worst premium brand in this study.
Finally, the number one spot couldn't belong to a company from any other country than Italy, and here is FIAT to make sure tradition is upheld. The 11 PP100 improvement over last year's result wasn't enough to spare FIAT of the embarrassment, scoring 163 PP100 and receiving the unwanted crown for the company with the most initial quality issues.
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