A study released Wednesday by J.D. Power found that while the number of problems reported by new-car drivers during the first year of ownership declined last year, consumers continue to find fault with advanced connectivity features in their vehicles. In the 2018 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study...Read More»
How useful is your car? Quality means something a little different to each shopper, so in The Car Connection's reviews, we discuss vehicle quality in every dimension--styling, performance, safety, features, and fuel economy. Nowhere is it more important than in the space available to people and...Read More»
Which is more disabling: A component failure that makes you late to work one morning, or a connectivity system that fails, almost every single day, to connect to your smartphone? While in-car tech features were not all that long ago considered separate from dependability, consumers are increasingly...Read More»
Consumer Reports has released the results of its Annual Auto Reliability ratings and rankings, and it's likely the results were met with a collective wince over at Toyota. That's because while the automaker—and its Lexus luxury counterpart—still ranked above all others in reliability...Read More»
Choose a domestic-brand car, like the 2013 Dodge Dart or 2013 Ford Fusion, and you might actually be in love. That's what the latest study results from the market-research firm Strategic Vision suggest. The Dart, along with the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Durango, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet...Read More»
The J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, a touchstone for the industry's current successes and failures in new-car design and production, shows that the industry has reached an all-time high in overall quality with its 2012 model year, improving five percent overall, presenting fewer defects and...Read More»
When it comes to perceived quality -- that is, how consumers view brands, based on personal experience and word-of-mouth -- Honda and Lexus are at the top of their game. That's according to ALG, a California-based company that has been predicting valuations in the automotive industry for almost 50...Read More»
No matter what brand of vehicle you have, chances are it is—or will be—affected by some sort of recall. Recalls, while a necessity for safety, mean lost time and money for both the automaker and the customer. And the good news is that there were fewer this past year. According to a...Read More»
Feeling the sting from low quality scores in recent J.D. Power and Associates surveys, Nissan Motor Co. is amping up plans to do something to restore consumer confidence in its products. Specifically, Nissan will concentrate its efforts on two key areas: perceived quality and so-called “soft...Read More»
Nissan is not at all happy with recent quality scores in the United States market, and the automaker has vowed to revamp its quality control to catch the competition. Nissan is focusing its efforts on two key areas: perceived quality and “soft quality,” which is the quality portrayed...Read More»
J.D. Power’s Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study looks at how gratifying a new vehicle is to own and drive, based upon owners surveyed three months after purchase or lease of a new vehicle. The study looks at over 80 specific attributes of each new vehicle, and the data...Read More»
Automakers are smart to crow when they earn coveted quality awards. But when the hammer comes down--particularly on brand-new vehicles--the results are usually kept a little more quiet. One of the benchmark studies of new-vehicle quality has been released for the 2011 model year, and this time...Read More»
In 2010, Ford was the mainstream brand with the fewest quality defects, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Since then, their new Explorer was ranked 17th out of 19 competitors by Consumer Reports, which found the Explorers touch-screen controls “complicated and distracting” (but we...Read More»
Hold the weed killer! While homeowners typically look at dandelions sprouting on the lawn and immediately look for ways to kill the invasive weed, researchers at Ford and Ohio State University are studying the plant for ways to use it as a substitute for rubber and plastic in – you guessed it...Read More»
Quality means different things to different car buyers--everything from reliability to fuel efficiency to utility. It's nebulous, but it can make or break the launch of a new vehicle or the success of a car company, affecting everything from positive press to negative word-of-mouth reviews. Some...Read More»
Toyota has faced a lot of blemishes to its reputation over the past year, but it's rebounding. Surprisingly well. So found ALG, in its Fall 2010 Perceived Quality Study (PQS) just released. Toyota, which had previously been first place in the study, dropped 20 percent from Fall 2009 to Spring 2010...Read More»
Kia is on track to set an all-time sales record in the U.S. this year, beating its previous 305,000 sales, and it's no surprise how: lots and lots of product. Over the past year, the company has launched the new Soul, Forte, and Forte Koup small cars, all-new Sorento and Sportage crossovers, and...Read More»
It's been a tough and trying year for Toyota—and Toyota owners. There had already been a few isolated claims of accelerators sticking. But it was the news of an incident, last August—a family (and off-duty cop) in an ES 350, who sped out of control to a fiery death—that punted Toyota's...Read More»
Toyota's response to the current recall fiasco has been a little slow -- and that's being generous. As new details emerge from memos and other documentation, it's clear that Toyota officials have spent much of the past few years hiding their heads in the sand, hoping this would all go away. Now the...Read More»
