>The J.D. Power US Initial Quality Study, which gauges problems encountered in the first three months of ownership. A very questionable definition of "reliability".
It's "INITIAL QUALITY STUDY"... reading comprehension is going down even here..
Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
101–110 of 231 posts
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK they lump everything from "I don't like the color of this AC control knob" to "sudden and unpredictable catastrophic engine failure" into this category.
Which may be problematic, but it's not like (as some here imply) that Tesla is being treated any differently to any other manufacturer.
If the headline said "Tesla vehicles have most complaints" it would be more accurate, reliability is a strange choice of words. The study is called "Initial Quality Study" and the axis label on the graph is "Problems per 100 vehicles."
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#103It seems odd that Dodge has the top score here, with Toyota and Honda significantly below the industry average. This runs counter to my personal experience and general perceptions. I wonder if historically unreliable brands like Dodge are becoming more reliable than Japanese brands, or if this is related to how this survey is conducted?
Cross check the OP ranking of 3 months of ownership against that of Consumer's Reports, which tracks car reliability over a decade. The two orderings differ enormously, likely because:
1) A car with fewer options/features has fewer parts that can fail.
2) Cheap cars are held to a lower standard than expensive cars.
You'll note that the OP's ranking puts cheap featureless cars at the top and expensive complicated cars at the bottom. This says little about brand quality and a lot about the fragility of complex systems.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars-how-car-brands-compare-...
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
So technically this is a pay-for-play kind of shenanigans?
Yes and No. What JD power does is make a massive number of categories to give awards in. They then choose metrics for the survey that prioritize certain traits of the vehicle. The surveys themselves are conducted in a fair manner and awarded companies truly deserve those awards. But, in some sense, them winning it was a foregone conclusion the second the metrics were selected. It is like conducting a strongest man co…
Does that make their ratings for the chosen categories incorrect?
If you care about a category specifically (like 1st year reliability), it still seems valuable.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tesla has the most complex infotainment system in the industry. More complex software generally has more issues and complaints. People are going to have more issues and encounter more problems when using Microsoft Word versus Notepad. Word would therefore perform worse in a survey like this. That doesn't mean Notepad is a better piece of software or that Word users would want to switch to Notepad given the option. So…
"Tesla has the most complex infotainment system in the industry." ... which is a major design flaw.
Does complex imply harder to use? I find Tesla’s system easier to use than most infotainment systems. I would argue more features != harder to use.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Tesla has the most complex infotainment system in the industry." ... which is a major design flaw.
Does complex imply harder to use? I find Tesla’s system easier to use than most infotainment systems. I would argue more features != harder to use.
Considering many people are reporting issues, according to that study, it seems to be hard to use.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#107I drove a rental Tesla recently. We were parked in a long line waiting to board a ferry and I was playing chess on the main console. When the line started to move, I tried to too and car just wouldn't go or start. People stuck behind me started getting impatient and honking while I was trying to figure out what had happened, turning off and on again, pressing random buttons, accidentally popping the trunk, etc. It to…
To your point about changes with software updates, since I've owned the car, if you attempt to drive while the game is open it will just automatically close the game.
That's a MUCH better solution. It would've saved me some embarrassment.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#108JD Power is clearly in bed with the traditional Detroit automakers. If you look at their history of rewards[0], you'll find that many times they choose the big three american companies vehicles over clearly superior import vehicles. They're vehicles on the page show one vehicle from each of the three big automakers in the US, one Chevy, one Ford, and a Dodge. There's also a Volvo in there that I'm sure fought some ba…
Yeah - totally biased Study - Toyota and Merecedes on the bottom of the List and Buick at the top? Dodge? Kia? This study is a joke.
To be fair, I can not say Mercedes cars are reliable.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#109JD Power is clearly in bed with the traditional Detroit automakers. If you look at their history of rewards[0], you'll find that many times they choose the big three american companies vehicles over clearly superior import vehicles. They're vehicles on the page show one vehicle from each of the three big automakers in the US, one Chevy, one Ford, and a Dodge. There's also a Volvo in there that I'm sure fought some ba…
Their awards this year seem to be mostly given to non-US brands, with the exception of awards for trucks.
Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't doubt that Tesla's are less reliable by other definitions, but I agree that this isn't a great measure. Tesla's have lots of new and untested technology. That's their appeal. If toyota wanted to be less conservative and start using blazing new technologies in their cars, I'm sure we'd see the same issues there. Teslas are notorious for software bugs that eventually get fixed. What i'm more interested in is wh…
> Tesla's have lots of new and untested technology. That's their appeal. This saw gets trotted out whenever Tesla gets dinged for reliability. So let’s dig into it. What untested technologies are Tesla deploying and how does the affect reliability? Well let’s review. The Model 3’s initial problems were metal panels not being installed correctly. A technology that has been successfully deployed on automobiles for over…
> Now gaps are fixed
Not really. They've improved on the 3, but people still routinely get some really wild tolerances on current Model 3s. And the Y has had an absolutely awful beginning of production, facing many of the same build quality problems that early Model 3s had.
Tesla is relying too much on buyer enthusiasm. As they expand into the mainstream, they need to avoid building a strong reputation of poor quality that will be really hard to shake.