The J.D. Power 2022 Initial Quality Study (IQS) was recently released, and it has presented some different results for Ford Motor Company thus far. In terms of individual models, the Ford Bronco Sport ranked third in the small SUV segment, the Ford Ranger beat out its competition to become the highest-ranked mid-size pickup, and the Ford Super Duty finished as the second-best large heavy-duty pickup. The Super Duty was also joined by its Ford F-Series stable mate in that regard, as the Ford F-150 ranked as one of the top light-duty pickups with the highest initial quality, too.
The 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study is based on the responses of 84,165 purchasers and lessees of new 2022 model-year vehicles obtained via a 223-question survey covering nine categories – infotainment, features, controls and displays, exterior, driving assistance, interior, powertrain, seats, driving experience, and climate. The study was conducted from February through May of 2022.
Among the various findings of this year’s IQS, new vehicles continued to suffer from the most problems, while mass market models experienced fewer issues than those from luxury brands. Driver assist functions and infotainment systems continue to present more problems than most other features, while the owners of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles experienced more issues than those that own ICE-powered models. Regardless, given the state of the current market, it seems as if things could have been much worse, according to David Amodeo, director of global automotive at J.D. Power.
“Given the many challenges automakers and their dealers had to face in the past year, it’s somewhat surprising that initial quality didn’t fall even more dramatically,” Amodeo said. “In general, initial quality has shown steady improvement throughout the history of this study, so the decline this year is disappointing – yet understandable. Automakers continue to launch vehicles that are more and more technologically complex in an era in which there have been many shortages of critical components to support them.”
Source: Ford Authority
