American Car Buyers Less Satisfied With Domestics, Toyota Perpetually Fine: Study

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Overall contentment among domestic vehicle owners dropped slightly in this year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index. Meanwhile, enjoyment from European and Asian automakers stayed roughly the same. However, that information might not be quite so useful until you begin comparing individual brands (and even other industries).

Domestic automakers averaged 80 out of a possible 100 points in the ACSI scale, with General Motors as the only American manufacturer seeing an improvement from 2016. For the sake of comparison, let’s see how other industries are doing on either end of the spectrum: Cable companies, which everyone hates, averaged 64 points and television sets, which everyone loves, scored 87 points.

By and large, that doesn’t place automakers in the doghouse. But it does highlight a modest shift in the perception of specific domestic brands while longtime satisfaction leaders, like Toyota and Lexus, hold pole position.

General Motors made some serious gains in the latest ranking. Most notably with its Cadillac division, which saw a 5.1-point increase in consumer satisfaction over 2016. Meanwhile, GMC held its impressive 84-point score — placing it against Mercedes-Benz, which gained 3.7 points, and just behind Subaru’s third-place score of 85.

Buick also saw a slight increase in consumer pleasure (1.3 points), while Chevrolet lost 2.4 points. This left GM with a company-wide average of 82 points as rivals Ford and Fiat Chrysler both slipped rather dramatically.

While Lincoln’s overall score for 2017 is tied with Cadillac’s 83 points, that represents a 4.6-percent drop in consumer pleasure from 2016. Ford’s mainstream brand also saw a modest loss, but it still outperformed all non-Jeep FCA brands. Both Dodge and Fiat occupied the lowest slots, with 75 points apiece. Mitsubishi yielded a 78-point score, followed by Volkswagen and Ford’s 79 points.


The combined scores of all brands suppressed FCA to 77 points overall, leaving 81 points for Ford. These scores also widened the ACSI’s gap between domestic and foreign automakers, leaving North American brands with 80 points against Europe and Asia’s 82. While that difference seems tolerable, ACSI Chairman and founder Claes Fornell referenced the damning nature of some recalls (which visibly hurt Volkswagen) and wondered if the results weren’t indicative of something more.

“Chances are that we have seen this movie before,” said Fornell in a statement. “There was a surge in demand and increasing customer satisfaction with foreign cars in the 1980s, mostly because the domestic auto industry had difficulty keeping up. While U.S. cars have improved much over the years, they have not been as consistent in quality and customer satisfaction compared with their international counterparts. Experience with the Great Recession shows that this movie does not have a good ending unless major steps are taken — not another Government bailout, but rather a renewed focus on how to create satisfied and loyal customers.”

That certainly plays into market research firms being “the key” to unlocking a manufacturer’s true potential. Certain brands have continued to struggle over the years and the complete version of the ACSI’s yearly breakdown highlights that slippage rather well. Let’s remember that, while influenced by mechanical missteps and recalls, this is a measurement of public perception and some automakers have clearly failed at maintaining their image.

[Image: Toyota]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Whitworth Whitworth on Sep 05, 2017

    How many decades has Chrysler/Dodge been at the bottom of quality surveys across the board? They really do seem to be happy being a subprime automaker.

  • Rolando Rolando on Sep 05, 2017

    Toyota, drives like a Chevy, looks like a Pontiac with all that cladding! You never go full Pontiac!

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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