• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • The Rearview Mirror: Triumph of the Bean Counters
  • VW Teases U.S. Version of ID.Buzz — and Here’s What We Know About the Electric Microbus
  • Make Sure You're Good to Go for the Holiday Weekend
  • Hyundai, LGES Building $4.3B EV Battery Plant in U.S.
  • New Vehicle Sales Set to Rise, Used Vehicle Sales Expected to Drop in May
  • Ford Teaming with Tesla to Make Charging Even Easier
  • Q&A: VinFast CEO Van Anh Nguyen Talks Tough Reviews, Tough Learning Curve, Bright Future
  • Stellantis Invests in new Lithium-Sulfur EV Battery Tech
  • The Safest Cars For Your Teenage Driver
  • Honda Teams with Aston Martin in Formula One Return
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Electrified GV70 AWD Prestige
    • A Week With: 2023 BMW XM
    • A Week With: 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLS 580 4Matic
    • First Drive: 2024 Audi Q8 e-Tron Prestige
    • First Drive: 2024 Volvo C40 Recharge Single Motor
    • A Week With: 2023 Ford Bronco Everglades Edition
    • First Drive: 2024 Kia Seltos
    • A Week With: 2023 Volvo V60 Cross Country B5 AWD
    • 2023 Kia Sportage PHEV X-Line Prestige AWD
    • First Drive: 2023 VinFast VF 8 City Edition
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > Reliability Woes Worsen, Warns New J.D. Power Study

        Reliability Woes Worsen, Warns New J.D. Power Study

        Tech issues now make up 20% of reported problems.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        Feb. 24, 2016
        Lexus topped the J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, the 2013 GS also a segment winner.

        Two things seem to be true about the newest cars coming to market these days: they’re likely to have lots more high-tech features than the vehicles they replace. But they’re also likely to have more reliability issues, largely as a result of problems with those new tech features, according to J.D. Power’s 2016 Vehicle Dependability Study.

        The VDS queried owners of 2013 model-year vehicles and found that, on average, dependability dropped 3% year-over-year. It found that one in five of the problems owners reported involved audio, communication, entertainment and navigation technology. Collectively known by the acronym ACEN, these systems are, collectively, the single largest source of trouble owners reported.

        Power Up!

        “The increase in technology-related problems has two sources,” said Renee Stephens, vice president of U.S. automotive research at J.D. Power. “Usability problems that customers reported during their first 90 days of ownership are still bothering them three years later in ever-higher numbers. At the same time, the penetration of these features has increased year over year.”

        Couple the ongoing problems motorists face with high-tech gear along with the recent surge in vehicle recalls – which hit record levels two years in a row – and the auto industry is facing a crisis of confidence. That, in turn, has a direct impact on purchase decisions and brand loyalty, stressed Stephens. Among buyers who’ve experienced no vehicle problems, 55% are likely to remain brand loyal. That slips to 41% after an owner experiences three or more issues.

        (Cause finally found for exploding Takata airbags. Click Here for that breaking story.)

        The 2013 Chevrolet Malibu was one of GM's eight individual segment winners.

        Longer-term, reliability issues also mean consumers may be less willing to embrace the new semi- and fully-autonomous vehicle technologies that are beginning to work their way onto the market. The first true, self-driving models are expected to be in production by 2020.

        While the number of reported problems has increased in the latest Power Vehicle Dependability Study, a few things carried over:

        • Lexus remained the brand with the highest vehicle dependability for the fifth year in a row;
        • Porsche, already one of the top five brands, now moves up to second;
        • Buick, Toyota and GMC rounded out the top five.

        In something of a surprise, however, General Motors managed to nab eight individual segment wins with products such as the Buick Encore, Chevrolet Camaro and GMC Yukon. Toyota took six segment honors for products including the Lexus GS and Toyota Sienna.

        General Motors has been steadily improving in quality and reliability, according to J.D. Power surveys from the last several years.

        But that’s in sharp contrast to the reliability ratings reported by Consumer Reports this week. The non-profit put Audi and Subaru at the top of its annual Automotive Report Card. The ratings, which take into account road tests as well as owner feedback, found Detroit makers scoring mid-pack, at best.

        (Click Here for more on the CR Automotive Report Card.)

        In terms of the J.D. Power study, the overall industry score was 152 problems per 100 vehicles, up from 147 problems in the 2015 VDS.

        Problems with high-tech infotainment systems, such as Ford's Sync, have been a constant source of headaches for motorists.

        Two of the most frequent complaints involved Bluetooth systems that failed to pair with a motorist’s phone, and voice recognition systems that couldn’t understand verbal commands.

        Power researchers concluded that fundamental design issues were behind seven of the 10 most frequently reported reliability problems – and 39% of problems overall.

        While high-tech issues have become increasingly common, the new Power VDS finds that mechanical issues continue to be less frequent. On average, the number of engine and transmission problems owners reported dropped by 7.5%.

        The 2016 Vehicle Dependability Study’s results are based on surveys filled out by 33,560 original owners of 2013 model-year vehicles.

        (Click Here to find out which are the cheapest – and most expensive – vehicles to insure.)

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published

        The Rearview Mirror: Triumph of the Bean Counters

        May 27, 2023
        VW tease for ID Buzz three row

        VW Teases U.S. Version of ID.Buzz — and Here’s What We Know About the Electric Microbus

        May 26, 2023
        Hyundai and LGES handshake for GA battery plant REL

        Hyundai, LGES Building $4.3B EV Battery Plant in U.S.

        May 26, 2023

        2 responses to “Reliability Woes Worsen, Warns New J.D. Power Study”

        1. Rod Cirew says:
          February 24, 2016 at 10:39 am

          Yup, most people I know don’t bother much with the electronic nightmares their new cars come equipped with. They’ll concentrate long enough to figure out how the phone and music works. Then they go on vacation figuring that they’ll work out how the nav works as they go. Hah! The menu systems rarely make sense to the average joe, showing a distinct lack of human engineering, merely design by War of Witchcraft gamers, who figure everyone else thinks like them.

          It appears that the nitwits who design these systems figure that spending half an hour figuring how to turn off the heated seats via touchscream is no prob. And so on.

          Now put the drivers in an automated car with 99 customization features, and the usual computer crash nightmare. Why in heck would you put your life in trust to half-baked solutions powered by cheap consumer grade electronics, and sensors that a loose-bowelled bird can obscure?

          Sure, the average joe will buy one of these things delighted with a new toy, and then when the horror stories begin, the whole idea will crash. After all, these automated cars won’t be like an automated Google pod housing two PhD research engineers, driving itself like grandma at 5mph under the limit in perfect weather causing accidents and then snapping pix afterwards so that Google can claim it wasn’t their car at fault. No it was the cars piloted by humans who reacted to the stupid automated car.

          If these things are ready for prime time in 4 years, I’ll eat my hat.

          Reply
        2. rt lowe says:
          February 24, 2016 at 10:14 pm

          If it needs a cell phone to make it functional, I do not want it.
          Let me just turn on the radio, turn a knob and that is all I need. Not a damn screen with a bunch of worthless apps on them, that I will never use, do not want and did not asked for. All that fumbling with the screens is more dangerous that actual texting on the phone.

          Let me be able to turn off any tracking system that my auto is using to locate me.

          I do not use any auto blue tooth system that is built into my auto…never will…nor do i use the Navi. system that it has. Rather use my own and it is more up to-date, too.

          Just give me the ability to remove stuff I do want. Or even better, just stop putting it there.

          Auto makers are getting worse that cell phone companies and adding apps that you do not want because they are into the selling of services, now. Heck with the customer wants.
          Congress needs to pass some laws to give the owners rights on this electronic junk.

          It is just as bad as photo cameras, license plate readers and other invasion of privacy that is all going on in full blast but over looked by our elected officials.

          Just the professional lobbyist must finally per$auded them to overlook it all,

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: