2010 INITIAL QUALITY STUDY

By Ryan Baicher and Omar Baradah

J,D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey

Each year, tens of thousands of new-vehicle owners respond to J.D. Power and Associates surveys and they are asked about the quality of their in the first 90 days of ownership. Consumers are asked about mechanical and design qualityResults are calculated through PP100 (problems per 100 vehicle).

In the survey consumers are asked about problems in these eight categories

Features/Controls/Displays Exterior Engine/Transmission Interior The Driving Experience Audio/Entertainment/Navigation HVAC (Climate controls) Seats

The J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study is one of 5 key automotive studies

Automotive Performance, Executive, and Layout

Vehicle Dependability Study Sales Satisfaction Index Customer Index Layout

Why is initial quality so important?

Customer satisfaction and loyalty are huge factor in attract consumer to buy again.

Having a good initial quality attracts customers because consumers love the “out of the box” feel.

From 1988 new vehicle quality has increased at an average of 6%, and has dropped from a 176 PP100 to 109 PP100

2010 Initial Quality Study

First time ever that domestic vehicles have overcame foreign vehicles ever.

The all-new Honda Accord Crosstour and the redesigned Ford Mustang, Ford Taurus and Lexus GX 460 each rank highest in initial quality in their respective segments.

Toyota took a huge hit. They went from 6th on the IQS to 21st, which is a tremendous drop.

Toyota

Toyota is a company that strives for excellence and has so for many years but in 2009-2010, they took a major hit.

Recalling millions of vehicles due to acceleration pedals

In August 2009, a California police man was killed along with his wife, daughter and brother-in-law in a Lexus that apparently sped out of control due to floor mats in the vehicle and the accelerator pedal

Toyota

Toyota has recalled 11 million vehicles for free due to the increasing amount of problems that they have been having

Numerous deaths have put Toyota’s solid name to customer satisfaction in jeopardy but Toyota says that will bounce back.

Advantages of survey

First 90 are a crucial period in showing if a consumer is satisfied with the product.

PP100 ratio is a good ratio to go by Allows manufacturers to respond to

customer satisfaction issues and better please their customers.

Disadvantage of Survey

When producers get a bad rating on the IQS, it really hurts the company

Some times it takes consumers more than 90 days to establish if they are satisfied or not

Conclusion

Overall, the IQS is a very affective survey Since the IQS has been going on, it has

allowed producers to lower their PP100, making consumers happy people

The survey allows producers to better satisfy their consumers. A satisfied consumer is a happy consumer.

The delivery of the survey has allowed producers to fix problems that consumers were having so I wouldn’t want to change this survey because we think its perfect as is.

Sources

http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2010-Initial-Quality-Study-Results

http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/JDPAContent/CorpComm/News/content/Releases/pdf/2010099-uiq2.pdf

http://www.bnet.com/blog/auto-business/toyota-8217s-dismal-quality-survey-results-8212-eww-what-a-feeling/1280

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2010/0826/Toyota-recall-Six-things-you-need-to-know

http://www.automotiveworld.com/news/oems-and-markets/83840-us-toyota-settles-lawsuit-spurring-acceleration-recall