Yahoo Autos 
2016 Initial Quality Study: Korean Brands Outperform Others in Infotainment, Connectivity
Korean auto brands—Hyundai and Kia—collectively average the fewest defects overall this year, according to new-vehicle owners and lessees surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership in the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Initial Quality StudySM (IQS). Respondents indicate that they had much better experiences with their new Korean vehicles’ automotive technology as well—specifically audio, communication, entertainment, and navigation features and systems, referred to as ACEN.
The ACEN problem category of the Initial Quality Study is one of eight developed to analyze the initial quality of a new vehicle during the first 90 days of ownership. This category is the largest problem group and accounts for 24% of the 233 possible problems that are assessed to measure initial quality.
Although the problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) metric improves for all eight problem categories evaluated in the 2016 IQS, the ACEN group remains the most challenging, averaging 25.2 PP100. That’s better than a year ago, but still more than three times higher than the category with the fewest problems—Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)—which averages 6.5 PP100 and has also improved from 2015.
In spite of adding new and more technologies to their models, the Korean brands have the best (lowest PP100) score in this category—16 PP100—which has helped them move ahead in overall initial quality. J.D. Power finds that 3 years ago, problem rates were much higher in the ACEN category for all automakers. However, a drop of 10.7 PP100 (from 26.7 PP100 in 2013) in this category among the Korean brands has been a major contributor to the overall quality improvement of Korean brands.
It’s noteworthy that the domestic brands this year have also improved in the ACEN category by achieving 22 PP100 vs. 25.5 PP100 in 2013. However, the ACEN category score among Japanese brands climbs by 5.4 PP100, to 30 PP100 in 2016. Also, the European brands’ ACEN score edges up from 2013 by 1.2 PP100, to 28 PP100 in the 2016 IQS.
In further analysis, J.D. Power finds that this technology category has been the most problematic for new-vehicle owners or lessees who have been surveyed since 2013. Built-in voice recognition—slightly less problematic this year—and Bluetooth connectivity remain the major problems reported by some 70% of respondents whose new vehicles are equipped with these technologies.
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Abstract:
Korean auto brands—Hyundai and Kia—collectively average the fewest defects overall this year, according to new-vehicle owners and lessees surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership in the J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS).
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