GM's Surprising Results on J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

[Gorehamj]

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
7/11-16

Chevrolet, GMC and Buick did very well this year in the 2016 J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS). Cadillac, on the other hand, did not have a single vehicle that was first in its segments, nor did any Cadillac vehicles appear in second or third place. The IQS is a comprehensive owner survey that asks owners to report their experiences after 90 days of ownership.

 

Chevy did best for GM. The Silverado, Equinox, Spark, and Tahoe led their categories. GMC's Terrain had a first place tie with the Equinox in the important compact crossover segment, meaning GM had the top two compact crossovers. This is the largest non-truck auto category now, so this is perhaps GM's biggest quality win in a long time. The Canyon, along with Colorado, were second in the midsize truck category (Nissan's Frontier was number one). Buick's LaCrosse and the Chevy Impala did well in the large car segment. Buick's imported Cascada tied for first in the compact sporty car category.

 

Overall, Buick and Chevy are closing in on Toyota at the top of the nameplate rankings and GMC is above average. The real head-scratcher here is why Cadillac cannot even meet the industry average for initial quality. Anyone have a guess as to why Cadillac does so poorly on this ranking?

[j-ten-ner]

 

... Anyone have a guess as to why Cadillac does so poorly on this ranking?...

 

 

Chevy owners have less expectations...or Cadillac owners are to sensitive.

 

so long

j-ten-ner

[Gorehamj]

I think J-Ten-Ner nailed it. Although I have no real hard data to share, I agree that in its segment, buyers expect better quality and complaints about minor things may skew the results a bit. This could explain why Toyota has passed Lexus. That said, Cadillac's below average score sticks out like a sore thumb on the brand chart above. Only Land Rover'Jaguar does worse among premium brands, and well, that is sort of part of the charm for Land Rovers and Jags. They break and you get to tell everyone "your Land Rover/Jaguar is in the shop again." Right?

[5829BMG]

Typical cherry picked info by JD powers. Whats the definition of a problem and who's definition. For me meaning less just like car fax.

[SnakeEyeSS]

Not surprised where Honda is, I think JD considers infotainment hassles a "quality problem". The menus are pretty bizarre for some functions. I have to make 4 or 5 inputs to get a text read.

 

Seriously, if I get a text alert I have to hit Home, Phone, Menu, Text, Read.

 

That is idiotic. At least it has Garmin maps.

[The Zip]

A lot of folks think Kia and Hyudai are sleepers, they didn't surprise me. I think both have a basic 5yr, 60k bumper to bumper vs GM having a 3yr, 36k. That's standing by your stuff

[Colossus]

Actually it's the only way Kia and Hyundai can attract buyers by providing that crazy warranty. Consumer Reports is noticing an increase in complaints for Hyundai and Kia, most notably engine and electronic issues. (everyone has electronic issues) And I can attest to the Engine issues. A neighbor up the street just had his 2 year old Genesis towed away because it started smoking under the hood when he went to start it. Very scary. Maybe it's electrical though. Who knows. Thing is.. There is a lot of hype out there about Hyundai and Kia and they aint anything special. In fact if you were to go sit in a Hyundai you would see that a lot of the technology and features they use are essentially rip offs from Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. There was an article about this a number of years back that detailed this. My mother has an 08 Santa Fe V6. 50,000 miles. gutless wonder. It's starting to fall apart inside and out.. Sadly the bumper to bumper warranty is not 10 years/100,000 miles, only the drivetrain. And we've already had it in about 5 or 6 times for the drive train. Mainly fuel injector issues, (twice) transmission slipping, and a few little leaks. But it is paid for and my mom still likes it for now, but has expressed interest in perhaps a newer vehicle. I hope to be able to steer her towards a Traverse or an Exploder or one of the other Ford crossovers. Heck I'd even be happy if she got a VW or a Jeep for that matter.. But she's in her 70s and I love her very much so I try to keep my mouth shut about her POS Hyundai. She knows I don't like it after having to drive it a few months several years back.. But bah.