The pandemic’s trials and tribulations have had an effect on initial vehicle quality, and it isn’t positive. J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS), was released Tuesday, and it reports that IQS suffered because of supply chain issues, higher prices and labour shortages. In fact, vehicle problems have reached a record high in the 36-year old history of the study.
According to the study, the industry experienced an 11 per cent increase in problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), which is 18 PP100 worse than last year, resulting in an industry average of 180 PP100. A lower score reflects higher vehicle quality.
This decline was somewhat expected by JD Power’s analysts. “Given the many challenges automakers and their dealers had to face in the past year, it’s somewhat surprising that initial quality didn’t fall even more dramatically,” said David Amodeo, director of global automotive at J.D. Power.
General Motors managed to “buck the trend,” and actually reported an improvement in initial quality, with the Buick brand leading the way with a 17 PP100, up from being ranked 12th in 2021. Genesis led premium brands, and all in all only nine of 33 brands marked an improvement over 2021.
“In general, initial quality has shown steady improvement throughout the history of this study, so the decline this year is disappointing—yet understandable,” said Amodeo. “Automakers continue to launch vehicles that are more and more technologically complex in an era in which there have been many shortages of critical components to support them.”
The U.S. IQS is based this year on responses from 84,165 purchasers and lessees of new 2022 model-year vehicles who were surveyed early in the ownership period. The study is designed to provide manufacturers with information to facilitate the identification of problems and to drive product improvement, and was fielded from February through May 2022.
“Supply chain disruption, especially the shortage of microchips, has caused automakers to seek alternative solutions to get new vehicles into purchasers’ and lessees’ hands,” said Amodeo. “In some cases, new vehicles are being shipped without some features installed. Communication with them about the changes in feature availability, as well as when such features will be reinstated, is critical to their satisfaction.”
