Quality of New Vehicles in U.S. Improves 5%

Nearly all auto brands sold in America have boosted their quality from a year earlier, despite rising complaints about technology features, according to J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Initial Quality Survey.

Power surveys buyers of new vehicles about mechanical defects and design-related problems in the first 90 days of ownership. Models and brands are scored by the number of problems per 100 vehicles.

Twenty-six of the 34 brands in the survey improved this year, and the average score jumped 5% to a record-low 102 problems/100 vehicles. Power attributes some of the gains to favorable ratings for newly launched vehicles, which historically tend to have poorer quality in their first year. Financial health also plays a role. The firm notes that carmakers that are no longer strapped for cash can spend more to solve quality problems.

Advances also come from top-notch manufacturers who keep fine-tuning their vehicle quality. Power says this year's No. 1 model, the Porsche 911, has the best quality of any vehicle ever in its survey.

Lexus (73 problems/100 vehicles) retains its position as the top-rated brand. Jaguar (151) is the most improved brand, vaulting from 20th to second place on the strength of the XJ sedan, which is the industry's most improved model. Porsche ties Jaguar. Fiat and Smart, which both have scores of 151, and Mini at 139 are the lowest-ranked marques.

Concerns about exterior and performance problems have taken a back seat to complaints about interior systems such as hands-free telephones and navigation and audio devices, the firm says. The latter accounts for 16% of all complaints this year compared with 9% in 2006.

Ford, whose hard-to-use MyFordTouch telematics system dragged it from fifth place to 23rd (116 problems/100 vehicles) last year, slips to 27th place in 2012 with 118 problems. Ford says it made software changes to fix the system and to a clunky transmission that also drew complaints but not in time to be reflected in the latest survey.