GM brands ranked mid-pack in the recent 2021 J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study, which rates automotive brands based on the initial quality of their vehicles as perceived by customers.
The J.D. Power Initial Quality Study is conducted by measuring the number of problems new vehicle owners experienced during the first 90 days of ownership per 100 vehicles. A lower score means fewer problems were experienced and is thus indicative of a higher quality. The industry average score in this year’s edition of the annual study was 162, with 20 of 32 brands improving their quality from last year’s study.
Chevy led the way among GM brands, achieving a score of 151. This placed the Bowtie Brand in the upper mid-pack in the results, although it was well above the industry average score of 162. Buick trailed Chevy slightly with a score of 156, while both GMC and Cadillac fell below the industry average with respective scores of 164 and 173. Additionally, the Chevy Corvette won the Premium Sporty Car category in the study, while the Cadillac CT5 topped the Midsize Premium Car rankings.
It’s worth noting that J.D. Power considers a wide variety of issues a “problem.” For example, if the vehicle’s Bluetooth system fails to connect to a smartphone once, this would be considered a problem and reported in the survey data. It’s not surprising, then, that electronics problems, such as infotainment bugs and phone connectivity issues, made up the majority of the quality issues experienced by owners who participated in the study.
“This year there are many examples of smartphone technology not working as intended in new vehicles,” Dave Sargent, vice president of automotive quality at J.D. Power, explained. With more vehicles being fitted with the wireless technology owners want, the study reveals an increase in connectivity problems between smartphones and vehicles, leaving many owners unhappy.”
This year’s J.D. Power U.S. Initial Quality Study is based on the survey responses from 110,827 purchasers and lessees of new 2021 model-year vehicles. Participants answered 223 questions with regard to vehicle quality split into nine vehicle categories: infotainment, features, controls and displays, exterior, driving assistance, interior, powertrain, seats, driving experience and climate. The study was fielded from February through July 2021.
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Comments
As far as I’m concerned, J.D. Power is now officially irrelevant. Not being able to connect your stupid phone to your stupid touchscreen is NOT a problem. An important part failing and leaving me stranded IS a problem. This study is useless.
Not a problem…until your phone falls between/under the seat and you might need to make/receive an urgent/emergency call while driving. First world problem, for sure. But still a problem. If you don’t find out it didn’t connect until it really matters, that is even worse. Any time the infotainment system in a car fails to operate as designed, that is a problem no matter how mundane.
How do you not know that the problem is not phone or a dollar store cable related.
Good point. GM can’t control for a customer’s phone having malware, being broken, not engineered correctly or having a defective USB cable.
GM does pretty much offer integrated OnStar across the board in all its consumer models. That takes incompatible or broken mobile phones out of the loop. Unfortunately OnStar requires a subscription, but GM has effectively nullified the issue for owners who can afford the extra subscription.
(I’m not a huge fan of OnStar voice prompted navigation without an accompanying map, but that is just me.)
This is the most unbelievable list I think I’ve ever seen for initial quality. Ram, Dodge, Mitsu, Nissan, Jeep, AND Mini ahead of Toyota? Really? I think Toyota’s reliability is a bit overrated, but does anyone really think these companies are more reliable than a Toyota?
Back in the day,every buyer of a new vehicle got a JD Power survey. I have not received one in a long time.
Jack HollidayYour comment is awaiting moderation.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 AT 5:02 PM
variant my assessment of you is you have been hoodwinked by consumer distorts,, remember when toyota and Chevrolet built the toyota corolla and the Chevrolet Prism on the same assembly line?, using identical parts and consumer distorts gave the toyota a glowing review but the Chevrolet got a big thumbs down.. you can look it up
you’re right on the money jack
this website is anti General Motors, i post factual, researched comments but “”MY COMMENT IS AWAITING MODERATION”” yea right.. these morons voted for a demented old geezer who likely cant wipe his ass, are pro import and anti G M.. what good is this site ? if you cant see the obvious bias from these dudes you must be a biden voter.. knowing this post will never see daylite , at least these morons might read it and know they arent fooling all of us
Sometimes I can’t figure out what keyword I’ve written which triggers “moderation.” It can be a seemingly completely non controversial topic; sure is irritating trying to guess how to rephrase something to please the computer Gods.
JD power certainly beats Consumer Reports for ratings accuracy. CU, in my opinion, is very biased toward Toyota and other foreign cars and seemingly looks for or creates issues to downgrade American owned manufacturers, especially, GM. Example: the recent flap about Camaro not being a good choice for shorter drivers.
I agree that Consumer Reports reviews seem very subjective. I find the reliability tables more useful. As a sample size of one, I have found the problem areas cited in the tables have squared with my own experiences with vehicles I’ve owned. That makes sense because the data source is actual owners.
Consumer Reports is opinionated, but it is published by Consumers Union an independent organization. It seems not so transparent who pays for JD Power product assessments. Sometimes the specificity of the awards makes me wonder if the awards are engineered just so particular products can win awards.
just a few observations– every time i go to a good sized shopping center i see 6 to a dozen mid 90’s and older Buicks parked in the parking lot, rarely see an old import unless it driven by a really old lady parked in the handicap slot,, so how does the import lot keep getting high reliability, longest lasting etc etc etc, surely not what i’m seeing i don’t think i’ve everv seen a 20 year old import anywhere except maybe along side the highway with it’s hood open… jd power, consumer”reports” motor trend are for sale to the highest bidder…. by the way i do not drive a Buick