J.D. Power expands quality
survey on new cars
Defect numbers will jump as result
May 28, 1998
BY CHARLOTTE W. CRAIG
Free Press Automotive Writer
When J.D. Power and Associates releases its
closely watched survey of new-car quality next
week, the number of reported defects per model
will be much higher than last year.
Not to worry, says the chief researcher for the
California-based company: Vehicle quality has
remained about the same. It's the survey itself that
has changed.
Chance Parker, director of product research for
J.D. Power, said the company has raised the
number of questions in its decade-old Initial
Quality Study, giving consumers about 135
defects they can check "yes" or "no," versus about
90 in the old survey.
So the number of defects per 100 new cars will
be up. "But the quality of cars and trucks has been
maintained. It's the instrument that has changed,"
Parker told members of Detroit's Automotive
Press Association on Wednesday.
He said the survey's new list of possible defects
scoops up technological gadgets that have been
added to vehicles over the past decade. It also
removes some defects that "don't occur much
anymore -- like engine dieseling and body rust --
that are taking up space," Parker said.
The new questionnaire also groups problems in a
more consumer-oriented pattern, Parker said. For
instance, seats and sound systems have their own
categories, rather than being lumped together in
one category for electrical systems.
Left unsaid: With 1997's survey registering an
unprecedented 22-percent improvement over
1996 quality, many models were averaging less
than one defect per new car, making it difficult to
distinguish any real difference among models.
Nissan, Toyota and Honda divisions were the top
finishers in last year's study. Vehicles in those
divisions had no more than 0.6 defects per car.
Saturn, the top domestic finisher, averaged 0.73
defects.
Business writer Charlotte W. Craig can be
reached at 1-313-222-8775. |
