"Since 1968, J.D. Power and Associates has been conducting quality and customer satisfaction research based on survey responses from millions of consumers worldwide. We represent the voice of the customer by translating survey responses from consumers and businesses into studies and reports that companies worldwide use to improve their business. In fact, J.D. Power and Associates has developed and maintains one of the largest, most comprehensive historical customer satisfaction databases in existence, which includes feedback on the shopping, buying, and ownership experiences for a variety of products and services."
If you choose to believe it is just a corporate conspiracy and that smart should have topped Lexus, feel free.
At no time did I say my car was better than the others in the survey... Believe me I have reason to complain... BUT is it fair to put a Smart up against a Lexis, or other cars that have been around for years when the Smart has not been around for more than a year (or so)
My initial post said I felt (my opinion) that such surveys can NOT be 100% accurate as the people that jump to fill them out mostly have an axe to grind where as the satisfied people tend to not fill them out.
Just noticed Ford has an 'above average rating. Guess they don't count spark plugs blowing out of the engine while driving down the road, (twice so far0 or the fact that the drain holes in the doors on Expeditions are in the wrong place causing the doors to rust out. Both problems ford has denied as being an engineering flaw but they do have documented ways to repair it...AND BILL THE CUSTOMER...
They all have issues, it just depends on what the company does about it.
At no time did I say my car was better than the others in the survey... Believe me I have reason to complain... BUT is it fair to put a Smart up against a Lexis, or other cars that have been around for years when the Smart has not been around for more than a year (or so)
My initial post said I felt (my opinion) that such surveys can NOT be 100% accurate as the people that jump to fill them out mostly have an axe to grind where as the satisfied people tend to not fill them out.
I stand by that statement.
EXACTLY! I bet for every disgruntled owner who posts their bad experience here there is 100 who do nothing. I mean, how boring is it to just post - "Hi, I just figured I'd tell you nothing went wrong with my car today or even the last few months. It's been running great."
Smart has been building cars for over a decade, with the current version for two model years. Probably a million cars sold, so there is no excuse for poor quality, even if it has only been sold in the US for 18 months.
If you look at what the graph represents, it is initial quality; first 90 days. Nothing to do with rusty Expeditions.
As I stated earlier, there is no bias when compared with other brands; any bias is equal among them. In fact, it can be argued that Lexus/Porsche/Mercedes owners expect higher quality for spending more money, and with the logic being applied would therefore have more negative participants in the survey.
If you think good old JD Powers give those awards out due to the goodness of their hearts you're mistaken. The manufacturers pay the right use their logo to boost they got JD Powers awards so JD Powers has a big conflict of interest. I wouldn't trust a JD Powers award or study as it's backed by manufacturers money.
Trusting JD Powers is like trusting that the birds sitting on the power lines above your car aren't going to crap on it.
Judging by the OP's posting history... I'd like to hope he moves on in entirety. I find it sad yet hilarious that what transpired as a post of garbage has fallen into this argument... we all should really move on.
No car is perfect - especially at this price point. We're all going to have different expectations out of our vehicles, and have different ideas of what constitutes a problem with our vehicles. I tend to be anal, over-analytical, and very demanding - yet I realize that I might have a couple of rattles here or there with the amount of hard plastic in the car. It's to be expected, and find another car around the $16,000 price point that doesn't have little niggles like this.
I have had a good experience with my car so far... I have a crack in the end of my trim cap on the turn signal lever, my Evap solenoid ticks occasionally at idle, and my fuel gauge has the 7/8 at full issue sometimes. It also starts right up every morning, puts a smile on my face every time I drive it, gets great fuel economy, and it fits me like a glove. The issues I have had are minor annoyances, and 2 of the 3 probably should have been resolved by the time my 7/08 production date, alas they slipped through. If it were totalled tomorrow, I'd fight like hell to find an '09 equipped exactly the same (rain sensing wipers are a requirement)... and I plan on keeping this around when I replace the VUE with a Mercedes here in a year or so.
I worked for a Saturn dealer for 4 years, and I saw a lot worse. We had a bunch of JD Power and Associates trophies in our showroom, too.
Last edited by mdfortwoguy; 06-23-2009 at 09:04 PM.
Is the study 100% accurate? Of course not. Does JD Power sell the right to use their results and logo? Sure. Are you (and others) suggesting the results are an indication of the highest bidder? If so, I would think that Toyota would have paid a bit more to get Scion out of the lower 3rd as long as they were writing that big check to get Lexus at the top.
Is the study 100% accurate? Of course not. Does JD Power sell the right to use their results and logo? Sure. Are you (and others) suggesting the results are an indication of the highest bidder? If so, I would think that Toyota would have paid a bit more to get Scion out of the lower 3rd as long as they were writing that big check to get Lexus at the top.
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