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.
More by Tyler Wooley
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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.
That Volvo score is devastating!