Technology remains one of the biggest areas for complaint for new car owners according to a new US study.
The J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study looks at owner responses after 90 days and found the number of problems had improved slightly but infotainment systems have almost half of new owners complaining about them. (42.6 per 100 vehicles.)
The annual U.S. Initial Quality Study collects responses from 92,694 purchasers on infotainment; features, controls and displays; exterior; driving assistance; interior; powertrain; seats; driving experience; climate.
It found overall, problems per 100 vehicles had improved to 192 per100 from 194 per hundred a year ago.
Exterior Issues
It also found Premium vehicles have more defects than mass market counterparts with defect/malfunction-related issues more prevalent and their exteriors posing the largest area of discrepancy, with premium vehicles averaging 4.2 more problems than mass market vehicles.
Premium brands have improved 27 PP100 to 203 PP100 from 230 PP100 in 2024, largely driven by Tesla, while problems among mass market brands have increased to 187 PP100 from 181 PP100 in 2024.
The report also found plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have the most problems, for the first time more BE. Hybrids are better still
New-model launches account for the highest number of problems with 18 new models launched this year, only two have fewer problems than their respective segment average.
Touchscreens
It says owners are having more touchscreen-related problems due to the inclusion of non-audio-related features like climate controls, garage door openers and even glove box releases.
“While customers do find the larger touchscreens visually appealing, their functionality within the vehicle is an increasing source of frustration,” says Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power.
“Customers are having to tap and swipe through multiple screens to access key vehicle functions like climate settings and built-in garage door openers. Owners find these things to be overly complicated and too distracting to use while driving. By retaining dedicated physical controls for some of these interactions, automakers can alleviate pain points and simplify the overall customer experience.”
It also found suitable cupholder shape and size was a key area of complaint, designers were not successfully keeping up with .