Study: Consumers Like but Don’t Understand Car Tech

Most new-car owners like having new technologies in their cars, but many don’t understand some features or say they don’t need them, according to J.D. Power’s 2017 Tech Experience Index Study.

The report notes that satisfaction is relatively high across the model spectrum from premium vehicles (777 points out of 1,000) to basic transportation (732). The study measures buyers’ experiences using and interacting with 35 driver-oriented technologies at 90 days of ownership.

Power says most owners make no distinction between features that fail and those that are simply confusing to use. In either case, the report says, owners come away from the experience with little trust in the technology.

Features that garner the highest owner satisfaction ratings in this year’s survey relate to safety, such as automatic emergency braking, backup cameras and blind-spot warnings. The least satisfying feature is the in-car navigation system.