Kia, Genesis, Porsche top quality study
a second straight year, Kia has taken the top spot in one of the auto industry’s most closely watched quality surveys.
The company is part of South Korean conglomerate Hyundai, and, as if to underscore its success, another Hyundai corporate brand, luxury maker Genesis, took second place.
J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study ranks brands by the number of flaws found by owners in their new cars in first 90 days of ownership. Genesis, with three models, was split off as a separate division from Hyundai.
Detroit’s General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler all showed improvement, J.D. Power said. For the second year, the three collectively had fewer problems reported in their vehicles than import brands.
But it was the double win by Kia and Genesis that could get the most attention. South Korea’s best-known nameplate, Hyundai, came in eighth out of 33 — a respectable showing. Together, it marks a huge rise by the South Korean brands. Hyundai and Kia both got off to rocky starts when they first showed up in the U.S. decades ago because of quality problems. Recognizing that quality had become a top issue with buyers, they embarked on improvement, including a better warranty to reassure buyers.
The study was based on responses from nearly 80,000 purchasers, J.D. Power said. The study found that techFor nology in cars, particularly infotainment systems, is improving, but still remains a trouble spot. Problems like voice-recognition systems that can’t understand drivers and smartphones that won’t pair with the car have been an ongoing issue.
The study also found that some key high-tech safety systems, such as collision avoidance and lane departure features, also draw complaints. “An increasing number of consumer-reported problems sounds warning bells for automakers and suppliers,” the study said.
Kia had 72 problems per 100 owners in the first 90 days — down from 83 last year. Genesis received a score of 77.
Porsche came in third place with 78 problems, the Ford and Ram brands tied for fourth with 86. Ram had a spectacular rise in the rankings, coming up from 20th place in last year’s study.
Fiat Chrysler’s Fiat brand came in last.
It was Mini that received the distinction of the most-improved brand, jumping 17 spots from 29th place to 12th.
Toyota fell from fifth place last year to 14th this year. In this year’s study, quality improved across seven of the eight categories measured, with 27 of the 33 brands in the study improving.
Now, new-vehicle quality is at its highest level ever, improving 8 percent from last year.
“The Initial Quality Study continues to demonstrate the critical importance of automakers responding to consumer feedback regarding vehicle quality,” said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power.