Kia Beats Everyone Again in J.D. Power Initial Quality Study

by Tyler Wooley

Published: June 22nd, 2017

kia beats everyone again in j d power initial quality study

The 2017 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scores are in and Kia was awarded top honors for the second year in a row.

The Kia Forte, Cadenza, Niro, Soul, and Sorento were all winners in their categories, outperforming opponents like the Chevrolet Cruze, Toyota Avalon, Kia Sportage (yep, another Kia), Ford C-Max, and Toyota Highlander, respectively.

According to J.D. Power, the study “examines problems experienced by original vehicle owners during the first 90 days of ownership. Initial quality is determined by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score reflecting higher quality.”

The industry average of 97 PP100 is 8 percent better than the 105 recorded in last year’s study.

Kia had 25 fewer PP100 than the industry average with only 72, 11 fewer than last year.

Genesis (2nd), Porsche (3rd), Ford (T-4th), and Ram (T-4th) come next on the list, with BMW (T-6th), Chevrolet (T-6th), Hyundai (T-6th), Lincoln (9th), and Nissan (T-10th) finishing up the top 10. It should be noted that Nissan and Volkswagen actually tied for 10th place.

Even though Fiat improved this year – 163 PP100 in 2017 versus 174 PP100 in 2016 – they still earned last place. Smart held last place in 2016, but was not ranked this year “due to insufficient sample size.”

Jaguar took a plunge in this years rankings with 148 PP100, 21 more than last year. It’s hard to imagine how the brand that came in third in 2015 dropped so low in such a short amount of time, but it’s likely we can credit the new F-Pace and XE for assisting.

On the other end of the spectrum, MINI fared much better this year compared to last year’s 127 PP100 (the same as Jaguar’s 2016 score.) MINI scored a 94, a whopping 33 fewer than 2016 and even 3 fewer than the industry average. PED testing is underway.

The audio/communication/entertainment/navigation category, although the most improved, still provides the most problems with 22.8 of the PP100 with voice recognition and bluetooth connectivity leading the way. The category with the fewest issues is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning with 5.7 PP100.

For the second consecutive year non-premium brands beat premium brands and domestics beat imports as a whole.

#2017IQS #2017JDPowerIQS #IQS #JDPower #JDPowerInitialQualityStudy

Tyler Wooley

More by Tyler Wooley

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 103 comments

Deanst on Jun 23, 2017

Don't see much value in this survey- lots of complaints about things people don't understand, things that are different from their last vehicle, things that are more complex than necessary. Whether I have a 70% chance of complaining to the dealer or 160% chance is really immaterial to my purchase decision. The vehicles are really too new to have anything break ( for the most part) so it's more a poll on unmet expectations. Also, remember that Jd power charges the manufacturers to use the data in ads, and also charges to help them change their results. Nice work if you can get it.

Like Reply
Sjalabais on Jun 23, 2017

That Volvo score is devastating!

Like Reply

Recent Comments

MaintenanceCosts There's not a lot of meat to this (or to an argument in the opposite direction) without some data comparing the respective frequency of "good" activations that prevent a collision and false alarms. The studies I see show between 25% and 40% reduction in rear-end crashes where AEB is installed, so we have one side of that equation, but there doesn't seem to be much if any data out there on the frequency of false activations, especially false activations that cause a collision.
Zerocred Automatic emergency braking scared the hell out of me. I was coming up on a line of stopped cars that the Jeep (Grand Cherokee) thought was too fast and it blared out an incredibly loud warbling sound while applying the brakes. I had the car under control and wasn’t in danger of hitting anything. It was one of those ‘wtf just happened’ moments.I like adaptive cruise control, the backup camera and the warning about approaching emergency vehicles. I’m ambivalent  about rear cross traffic alert and all the different tones if it thinks I’m too close to anything. I turned off lane keep assist, auto start-stop, emergency backup stop. The Jeep also has automatic parking (parallel and back in), which I’ve never used.
MaintenanceCosts Mandatory speed limiters.Flame away - I'm well aware this is the most unpopular opinion on the internet - but the overwhelming majority of the driving population has not proven itself even close to capable of managing unlimited vehicles, and it's time to start dealing with it.Three important mitigations have to be in place:(1) They give 10 mph grace on non-limited-access roads and 15-20 on limited-access roads. The goal is not exact compliance but stopping extreme speeding.(2) They work entirely locally, except for downloading speed limit data for large map segments (too large to identify with any precision where the driver is). Neither location nor speed data is ever uploaded.(3) They don't enforce on private property, only on public roadways. Race your track cars to your heart's content.
GIJOOOE Anyone who thinks that sleazbag used car dealers no longer exist in America has obviously never been in the military. Doesn’t matter what branch nor assigned duty station, just drive within a few miles of a military base and you’ll see more sleazbags selling used cars than you can imagine. So glad I never fell for their scams, but there are literally tens of thousands of soldiers/sailors/Marines/airmen who have been sold a pos car on a 25% interest rate.
28-Cars-Later What happened to the $1.1 million pounds?I saw an interview once I believe with Salvatore "the Bull" Gravano (but it may have been someone else) where he was asked what happened to all the money while he was imprisoned. Whomever it was blurted out something to the effect of "oh you keep the money, the Feds are just trying to put you away". Not up on criminal justice but AFAIK the FBI will seize money as part of an arrest/investigation but it seems they don't take you to the cleaners when they know you're a mobster (or maybe as part of becoming a rat they turn a blind eye?). I could really see this, because whatever agency comes after it has to build a case and then presumably fight defense counsel and it might not be worth it. I wonder if that's the case here?