The J.D. Power Initial Quality Study ranked Tesla for the first time and gave the manufacturer a relatively low score. The Elon Musk-led company's rating should perhaps be followed by an asterisk, though.
J.D. Power is an automotive analytics company best known for its quality surveys. You've definitely seen it mentioned in ads for vehicles (if they score well). The company does an initial quality survey that tracks the number of complaints a vehicle manufacturer receives within the first 90 days that customers own it, scoring them in problems reported per 100 vehicles, or PP100. The fewer reported problems, the lower the score, and the lower the score, the better the vehicle. The overall automotive industry average is 166 PP100.
According to the J.D. Power IQS report, Tesla vehicles scored 250 PP100, which is... not good. Tesla's performance is unusual in a few ways, though. First, the study generates data by surveying vehicle owners from every state, but Tesla only allows owners to be surveyed about vehicle quality in 35 states. Second, this is the first time Tesla has been counted in the rankings. Third, the Initial Quality Study is performed annually and this year's survey had new questions, which increases the number of chances for a customer to report a problem.
The Initial Quality Study takes complaints from customers about almost every aspect of a vehicle, not just manufacturing-related issues. As a result, infotainment systems made up over a quarter of all complaints. Systems like voice control and pairing with phones are usually fixable software problems rather than major vehicle issues. Tesla vehicles were not exempt from these issues, especially considering their reliance on software features and dashboard touchscreens.
However, a report from USA Today also mentioned Tesla vehicles performed poorly because of factory quality issues. The story listed problems like paint defects and trunks or hoods failing to open and close properly. That's usually an indication that the design of the vehicles is fine, but the process of building each individual automobile isn't consistent enough. Despite all of this, the areas that people would have expected to be problematic, Tesla's often-debated self-driving and electric vehicle features, received few complaints. So, people interested in buying Tesla vehicles based on the J.D. Power IQS may want to wait until the manufacturing kinks are worked out.
Sources: J.D. Power, USA Today
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