Kia tops J.D. Power initial quality awards for 2nd year

Kia once again topped J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Examine, marking the 2nd consecutive year the South Korean brand hammer luxury counterparts for the least problems reported by new-car owners in the very first ninety days of ownership.

And four Detroit brands made the Top Ten: Ram and Ford tied for fourth place, Chevrolet tied for sixth and Lincoln came in ninth. The influential examine, released Wednesday at an Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit, assigns scores determined by the number of problems experienced per one hundred vehicles. It frequently is consulted by new-cars shoppers.

New-car quality reached its highest level in the study’s 31-year history, with owners of two thousand seventeen vehicles experiencing fewer problems with audio, communication, entertainment and navigation gadgetry than a year ago.

However, in a possible sign of problems to come, owners reported more problems with driver-assist features — things like adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning, collision avoidance and blind-spot detection. J.D. Power says that should sound “warning bells” if automakers and suppliers stir too prompt.

“This is not a tidal wave of problems. but does give us a pause, or thought or concern because these things are coming quickly and other more sophisticated versions of these will be coming,” said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power.

J.D. Power says twenty seven of thirty three brands improved quality from a year ago. And for the 2nd straight year and just the third time since 1987, the Detroit Three brands outperformed import rival brands.

The explore surveyed more than 77,000 people who bought or leased two thousand seventeen model-year vehicles. The lower the score, the higher the vehicle quality.

Kia finished with seventy two problems per one hundred vehicles, while another South Korean make – Genesis, which is Hyundai’s fresh luxury brand and is ranked for the very first time – came in 2nd with seventy seven problems per 100. The Kia Cadenza large car was the best-performing vehicle in the examine, reporting fifty one problems per one hundred vehicles.

“When Kia strike out the entire industry in last year’s J.D. Power Initial Quality Explore, many people wondered if we could maintain such a lofty position. Today, the response is noisy and clear as Kia possesses the top spot for the 2nd straight year with more two thousand seventeen segment award winners than any other nameplate,” Michael Sprague, chief operating officer of Kia Motors America, said in a statement. “Our back-to-back chart-topping IQS spectacles reconfirm Kia’s status as today’s world-class automaker.”

Ford and Ram tied at fourth place with eighty six problems per one hundred vehicles and made big gains from a year ago: Ram moved all the way up from the 19th spot last year, when owners reported one hundred fourteen problems for every one hundred trucks; and Ford moved from 11th place a year ago, when its score was 102. It was the best-ever finish for the Ford brand.

Sargent called Ford’s improvement “phenomenal” for a brand with so many vehicles. He said almost all Ford vehicles had significant improvement from a year ago, partly because of fewer infotainment problems reported.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said its initial quality scores improved quicker than the industry average for the 2nd straight year, led by Ram’s big leap.

Chevrolet kept its sixth-place ranking this year, in a three-way tie with BMW and Hyundai. Ford’s luxury brand Lincoln dropped from seventh-place last year to ninth, even however owners reported four fewer problems per one hundred cars.

The industry average was ninety seven problems per one hundred vehicles. GM’s Buick brand finished just above that benchmark, with ninety five problems per one hundred vehicles. GMC, Chrysler, Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat all finished below the average. Fiat was in last place with one hundred sixty three problems per one hundred vehicles. Toyota, Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, Mitsubishi and Jaguar all fared worse in the results this year. For Lexus, it was the very first time falling below the industry average.

Tesla was not ranked because the Palo Alto, California-based automaker has not given J.D. Power permission to collect registration data from states such as California, where most of its vehicles are sold, Sargent said. Without that, J.D. Power says it doesn’t have a large enough sample.

Hyundai Motor Co. nabbed the most segment awards with five No.1 catches sight of for Kia vehicles, followed by General Motors Co. and BMW each with four.

GM’s Fort Wayne Assembly Plant in Roanoke, Indiana, also received the J.D. Power Gold Plant Quality Award for having the highest manufacturing quality in North or South America for 2017. The plant builds light-duty and heavy-duty versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and heavy-duty versions of the GMC Sierra pickup.

Petite car: Chevrolet Sonic

Puny premium car: BMW two Series

Compact car: Kia Forte

Compact sporty car: Mini Cooper

Compact multipurpose vehicle: Kia Soul

Compact premium car: BMW four Series

Midsize car: Toyota Camry

Midsize sporty car: Ford Mustang

Minivan: Chrysler Pacifica

Midsize premium car: Lexus GS

Midsize premium sporty car: Porsche 911

Large car: Kia Cadenza

Puny SUV: Kia Niro

Puny premium SUV: Mercedes-Benz GLA

Compact SUV: GMC Terrain

Compact premium SUV: Porsche Macan

Midsize SUV: Kia Sorento

Midsize premium SUV: BMW X6

Midsize pickup: Nissan Frontier

Large SUV: Ford Expedition

Large premium SUV: Infiniti QX80

Large light-duty pickup: Chevrolet Silverado

Large heavy-duty pickup: Chevrolet Silverado HD

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