Staying constantly connected in
your car through elaborate infotainment systems is increasingly coming
at the cost of quality, Consumer Reports magazine found in its latest
survey of automotive reliability.
Defective in-car electronics, such as baulky dashboard
touch-screens, generated the most complaints when Consumer Reports
polled owners of 2014 model cars for its Annual Auto Reliability Survey.
The flaws, which include systems failing while driving, were
significant in first-year models for brands such as Jeep, Fiat, Ram,
Cadillac, Ford and Honda, the New York-based magazine said.
Asian brands, such as Lexus and Toyota continue to lead the
rankings. "The predominant problems with cars are now with
infotainment," Mr Jake Fisher, the magazine's director of automotive
testing, said in an interview. "The automakers are trying to compete in
a space where people are used to the Apples, Googles and Samsungs of
the world. The smartphones have a better track record and the
automakers are really stumbling."
Drivers are demanding their cars keep them constantly connected to
their smartphones and the Internet. The number of cars connected to the
Internet worldwide will grow more than six-fold to 152 million in 2020
from 23 million now, according to researcher IHS Automotive.
The Consumer Reports findings echo those of the J.D. Power &
Associates 2014 new-car quality study, which found that almost one in
five complaints was for audio, entertainment and navigation systems.
Problems are so widespread, they are "like a plague", Mr Fisher told
reporters at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.
"To many consumers, whether a vehicle goes from zero to 60 in 9.1
seconds or 9.7 seconds is far less important than 'Can I stream Pandora
and see the album art?'"
Toyota Motor Corp's Lexus luxury brand remains on top of the
Consumer Reports reliability study, while the company's namesake brand
again ranks second. Asian car brands account for seven of the Top 10
brands, with Mazda rated third, Honda fourth, Subaru seventh, Toyota's
Scion brand eighth and Kia 10th.
Toyota has added infotainment features gradually, starting with
established designs, to minimise failures. Carmakers "are starting to
get there" on infotainment technology, Mr Fisher said. Older systems,
such as BMW's iDrive and Ford's MyFordTouch, have shown significant
improvements as carmakers refine them and update software.
The most complaints are with the newest systems, such as InTouch on
the Infiniti Q50 sedan from Nissan Motor Co, in which one in five
owners reported problems that in some cases required shutting off the
car to reboot the system, Mr Fisher said. Infiniti fell 14 slots to No.
20.
Getting some of the bugs out of MyFordTouch helped the Dearborn,
Michigan-based carmaker move up from the bottom of Consumer Reports
rankings last year to 23rd out of 28 brands. Ford's Lincoln brand
jumped 12 spots from last year to rank 15th. "We're recommending more
and more Fords and Lincolns," Mr Fisher said. "We're now recommending
every version of the Fusion."
GM has the best performance among the United States carmakers
because it takes a more conservative approach to redesigning its
vehicles, Mr Fisher said.
Among European brands, only Volkswagen AG's Audi luxury line and
Porsche sports cars cracked the Top 10 in the Consumer Reports
reliability survey, coming in at No. 5 and No. 9 respectively. BMW
ranked 14th, up one slot from last year, while Mercedes-Benz fell 11
slots to 24th. VW climbed three rungs to 17th.
The Consumer Reports surveyed its subscribers on their first year of
ownership with their 2014 model cars and trucks, which generated
information from about 1.1 million vehicles, the most ever, the
magazine said. It said it gathered data on 248 models to predict
reliability of new cars.
The best fix for problems with infotainment systems may come from
the smartphone makers at Apple Inc and Google Inc, which are each
introducing dashboard versions of their technology.
The Consumer Reports has tested Apple's CarPlay, which mimics the
look and functions of an iPhone in a larger and simpler format on a
dashboard touchscreen.
"CarPlay may very well be a game-changer and Google is going to do a very similar system" known as Android Auto, Mr Fisher said.
"Now you're taking the true experts in the realm and letting them do what they do well in the automotive space."
