GMC scored well below average in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study results, rating both below the automotive market as a whole and its performance last year as regards customer satisfaction with its auto technology features.
With ever more tech features, including safety, convenience, and connectivity technology, being rolled out in new vehicle models, GMC and other automakers appear to be facing a new challenge as customers are becoming confused and frustrated by the sheer volume of tech new cars expect them to deal with.
Based on the 1,000-point new vehicle owner tech experience scale used in the study, GMC scored just 439 points, significantly below the overall average of 494 points. Notably, GMC rated above average in 2023, achieving a ranking of 505 points compared to the overall average score of 503.
The lessened performance of GMC may result from changes in consumer reaction to automotive tech features overall, rather than entirely to GMC technology specifically. While some tech – including wireless phone charging, traffic warnings and smart climate control – is popular with new vehicle owners, many consumers seem to be getting overwhelmed by other features they have little use for.
Kathleen Rizk, a senior director at J.D. Power, says that “this year’s study makes it clear that owners find some technologies of little use and/or are continually annoying.” For this reason, the analytical firm has developed a “return on investment” rating for vehicle tech, so that carmakers can “determine the technologies that deserve the most attention while helping them ease escalating costs for new vehicles.”
Some of the technology that was less well received includes various recognition systems such as facial recognition and gesture controls. In fact, the data indicates gesture controls caused 43.4 problems per 100 vehicles during the study period and were viewed as having little functionality even when working correctly. Drivers also prefer hands-on driving and give a lukewarm reception to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), other than specific features such as blind spot monitoring.
The study collected information from 81,926 vehicle owners to derive its results. These included only owners of new 2024 vehicles who had owned their vehicle for at least 90 days when they began participation. The study was carried out from July of 2023 through May of this year.
Despite the mixed results, Kathleen Rizk noted “a strong advanced tech strategy is crucial for all vehicle manufacturers.”
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Comments
Whatever
Agree, I don’t drive for a tech experience, I drive to get to work
I wonder who actually pays attention to any of these polls, surely isn’t GM management or the customers who buy GMC products…and that includes me. So far my 2022 GMC Terrain Denali has been flawless and trouble free as were my last two GMC vehicles. I suppose when I get a sub standard GMC product that fails me I will certainly consider trading off to another manufacture, unless it’s a very minor quality issue, easily rectified then I can be forgiving, to a point. Interestingly enough, I have seen some of those products in the upper listing (above average) placed lower on this scale at some point in time, and some that are below average now, once in the above average listing…go figure. So confusing, but then again, someone has control over this whole list and who knows if they are actually paying attention to the facts or just guessing, eh? Hummm.
I bought a 2024 gmc acadia Denali a month ago. It has an impressive list of advanced features. What was very surprising is the fact that the dealer handed me the car without much technical support. The sales person went over basics. Compare that to Mercedes giving me over an hour of demonstration by a technical advisor. The screen based home link garage opener needed a call to home link not gmc to rectify and even now the soft button works intermittently. I also had problems trying to find information about the speed limit automatic control. They referred me to on star. After being transferred to 4 agents no one could help and adviced me to call the dealer. A complete loop. Got help from Google. Gmc seems to be interested in selling cars not satisfying customers
Wow, if it takes an hour to learn my new car, I’m not interested.