J.D. Power Initial Quality Award 2011
 

West Coast Challengers, Automotive News
Posted: 23rd June 2011 by West Coast Challengers in
Best "Midsize Sporty Car" 2011


J.D. Power and Associates ranked the Dodge Challenger in initial quality as the “Best Midsize Sporty Car” beating out both the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang.

Sadly though, the Big 3 American car manufacturers all gave up ranks to Toyota and Lexus, who topped the list in overall quality. Even with the Dodge Challenger winning in the Midsize Sporty Car class, Dodge itself came in dead last for its overall initial quality.

The J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS) bases its study on a formula which uses “problems per 100 vehicles (PP100)” as a metric, where a lower PP100 indicates higher initial quality. Lexus, in the top spot, scored a 73 while Dodge, in the bottom spot, scored a 137.

Chrysler scored the highest in the brand line with a 110, while Ram and Jeep followed close behind with a 114 and a 122 respectively. Chrysler fell short of topping Chevrolet who scored a 109 but it did managed to best Ford who came in short at 116.

It seems that most consumer complaints centered around technology related items such as navigation and touch screen controls. Now, if you have ever talked to an elderly parent on the telephone and attempted to explain to them how to send an e-mail or open a particular file, then you know exactly why so many consumer complaints hover around these particular areas. Of course, Ford products use Microsoft as their core software, and, as we all know, Microsoft can’t even get Windows right after 20 years of trying, so it was probably asking too much for them to be able to control new things in our cars, like navigation, and that just adds to Ford’s woes.

Honda (86), Acura (89) and Mercedes-Benz (94) rounded second through fourth places in initial quality. While Toyota, who scored a 101, made a comeback after last year’s fiasco with the the sticky accelerators.