Unlike related GM brands Chevy and Buick, which respectively achieved second place and fifth place overall for quality, Cadillac ranked significantly below average in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS), following a pattern seen with other luxury marques in the study.
Nevertheless, two Cadillac crossover models achieved first place for quality in their respective vehicle categories, according to the results J.D. Power released on June 27th.
The Initial Quality Study ranks brands and vehicles by counting problems per hundred vehicles, or PP100, and using this as a numerical score. A lower score means less problems and therefore higher quality. While the automotive market as a whole had 195 problems per vehicle on average, Cadillac had a considerably below average 214 PP100 score.
However, since luxury brands have an overall average PP100 score of 232, Cadillac still offers better quality than the typical premium vehicle brand. The brand’s vehicles have 18 less problems per hundred units than the average luxury marque. Two of its models, the Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac XT6 crossovers, achieved first place for quality in the Midsize Premium SUV and Upper Midsize Premium SUV categories.
As the study explains, premium brands like Cadillac tend to have considerably more quality problems than mass-market brands like Chevy. This is because the vehicles are more complex and contain bigger assortments of the latest advanced safety and convenience technology, which may not have all its bugs worked out. Mass-market brands, which are simpler and include less software and gadgets, have less to go wrong.
J.D. Power senior benchmarking director Frank Hanley points out that “the introduction of new technology has challenged manufacturers to maintain vehicle quality,” though he also reports that automakers might “take solace in the fact that some problem areas such as voice recognition and parking cameras are seen as less problematic now” than in 2023.
The study notes frequent false alarms from safety systems, smartphone connectivity issues, frustratingly complex and potentially error-prone electronic controls, and unpleasant odors escaping from the climate control system are among this year’s top problems.
Perhaps somewhat alarmingly for Caddy fans, Cadillac’s score is 44 points worse than last year’s excellent 170 PP100, and 51 points worse than its 2022 performance in the quality survey. Quality problems appear to worsening sharply with the introduction of more tech.
The study used survey answers from 99,144 owners and lessees of new 2024 vehicles, combined with electronic repair data, to derive its conclusions.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
You’re never as good, or as bad, as these “studies” suggest.
The key is “What does this feedback do to drive changes in the OEM / Dealer process?”
Prolly the Lyriq dragging them down. Par for the course.
It’s hard to draw any sort of conclusion from a study that has Ram at the top of the results, Dodge at the very bottom and Jeep in the middle. Or Chevrolet and Buick near the top and Cadillac and GMC toward the bottom.
Is this just completely random and meaningless? Is it something to do with the type of consumer that buys those vehicles?
Agreed. I realized the best review you can get is from asking owners themselves. Whenever I caught someone with an XT5 or any other new Cadillac I asked them about it and that’s how I based my decision and went with an XT5. So far she has been solid even though I needed to replace the sunroof weather stripping which I found warped but the dealer did it free of charge.
I have a Japanese built Rav4 (which are supposed to be the best built Toyotas. Most NA market Ravs are Canadian built.) and while the car is mechanically rock solid, the infotainment system leaves alot to be desired. It occasionally stays stuck on a call requiring me to restart the car to unfreeze it. It also burns through batteries like crazy too for some reason. Its 8 years old and already on its 3rd battery. I also have a friend who needed to replace his head unit twice on his Sienna which cost $500 to do. He was not happy about this and traded it in for a CR-V hybrid. Would still recommend the Rav (if nothing for it being an easy to live with vehicle) but it has taught me that even the king of reliability (Toyota) has been plagued with technology issues.
All the new cars with the new electronics suck. Doesn’t matter what brand. Buying an unchanged model is the way to go. Or keep your old jalopy for the time being.
30 years ago i bought a chevy s10 from a chevrolet / lexus dealership ! 2 weeks later i took it back for a free oil change and a poor fit defrost grill ! Fixed for free ! Hard to believe there were 24 lexus-s with similar poor fit problems ! I still own my s10 2.2,with 662,000 miles on her and still runs great ! Never rebuilt eng – trans and rear end ! So nothing changed ever since ! Just vehicles and technology !
Imagine that. When you put more new things on a car, move up release dates on a totally new car/propulsion system and don’t do adequate testing, the more things there are to go wrong….and they will.
Cadillac has to stop looking at the customer as being a beta tester if they want high initial quality ratings.
Ah yes, Cadillac’s new Derelicte Collection.
How can Cadillac drop in ratings when most of the modes are the same for the last few years and they ranked higher ???
tomg:
The previous years did not include the Lyriq which had HUGE software issues that resulted in many voluntary buy-backs and Lemon Law exchanges/cash outs.
The 2023 Debut Edition was a disaster. I have a 2024 and after a single update has been very good.
When is Barra going to retire?
Probably when Kathleen Kennedy does.
Forget what brand is where…..can we talk about the fact that new vehicles are more expensive than ever yet the “best” score is still 149/100…. that should be the most concerning!