2017 J.D. Power Dependability study

[DPRoberts]

The new Consumer Reports rankings were released recently, and a thread here discussed the pros and cons of Consumer Reports and the validity of their results. I thought it would be interesting to compare that to the new J.D. Power owner survey.

J.D. Power just released their 2017 Vehicle Dependability study, which measures the reliability of cars at 3 years of age - thus, it is an owner's study of 2014 models.

In the heavy duty category the Chevy Silverado was the winner, with Ford in second, GMC third, and Ram in last.

Okay, that's interesting, but here's my question: considering that the Chevy and the GMC are made from the same parts (same part numbers) on the same assembly line in the same factories, how in the world can Chevy get a 5 star rating, while GMC only gets 4 stars?

To be fair, they rate the same in the Powertrain & Feature categories. However, in the Body & Interior category, the Chevy got 4 stars, and the GMC only got two. This category includes "problems in the vehicle exteriors, seats and vehicle interiors categories, such as seat belt issues, wind noise, water leaks, poor interior fit/finish, paint imperfection and squeaks/rattles."

Okay, the front fascias are different, as well as the tail lights. Some of the interiors are slightly different. But in any ways that really matter, these are identical trucks. There's just no way that relatively inconsequential matters should lead to a two-star difference out of five. These trucks are not 40% different!

So, if they can see a 40% difference where none exists, how can you trust ANY of their rankings?

For comparison's sake (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the layouts in the two trucks), here's a photo of a Chevy interior and a GMC interior (two different model years, but I tried to get the same perspective):






If it wasn't for the bow tie emblem, would you really be able to tell these trucks apart?

And perhaps more importantly - if one or two minor parts broke on the GMC but not on the Chevy, isn't it reasonable to think that a difference in trim level or features included is likely to make a bigger difference in this category than GMC vs Chevy?

I'm sure that the J.D. owners who are surveyed did indeed report these differences. But somebody at J.D. Power needs to actually look at the differences in these trucks, and realize that if they found a statistical difference between them, then there's something wrong with their whole procedure.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by DPRoberts

The new Consumer Reports rankings were released recently, and a thread here discussed the pros and cons of Consumer Reports and the validity of their results. I thought it would be interesting to compare that to the new J.D. Power owner survey.

J.D. Power just released their 2017 Vehicle Dependability study, which measures the reliability of cars at 3 years of age - thus, it is an owner's study of 2014 models.

In the heavy duty category the Chevy Silverado was the winner, with Ford in second, GMC third, and Ram in last.

Okay, that's interesting, but here's my question: considering that the Chevy and the GMC are made from the same parts (same part numbers) on the same assembly line in the same factories, how in the world can Chevy get a 5 star rating, while GMC only gets 4 stars?

To be fair, they rate the same in the Powertrain & Feature categories. However, in the Body & Interior category, the Chevy got 4 stars, and the GMC only got two. This category includes "problems in the vehicle exteriors, seats and vehicle interiors categories, such as seat belt issues, wind noise, water leaks, poor interior fit/finish, paint imperfection and squeaks/rattles."

Okay, the front fascias are different, as well as the tail lights. Some of the interiors are slightly different. But in any ways that really matter, these are identical trucks. There's just no way that relatively inconsequential matters should lead to a two-star difference out of five. These trucks are not 40% different!

So, if they can see a 40% difference where none exists, how can you trust ANY of their rankings?

For comparison's sake (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the layouts in the two trucks), here's a photo of a Chevy interior and a GMC interior (two different model years, but I tried to get the same perspective):






If it wasn't for the bow tie emblem, would you really be able to tell these trucks apart?

And perhaps more importantly - if one or two minor parts broke on the GMC but not on the Chevy, isn't it reasonable to think that a difference in trim level or features included is likely to make a bigger difference in this category than GMC vs Chevy?

I'm sure that the J.D. owners who are surveyed did indeed report these differences. But somebody at J.D. Power needs to actually look at the differences in these trucks, and realize that if they found a statistical difference between them, then there's something wrong with their whole procedure.

Your points a valid, and a difficult situation for the "free" publicly released overall rankings. Two things really come into play, which make a big difference in the science of surveying. As you point out, there are some trim and content differences, which can make the two different. But perhaps more importantly, are customer sentiments when completing surveys. A Cadillac owner has much higher expectations, overall, than a Chevy customer. Some things which a Chevy owner accepts, a Cadillac owner might make a big deal over. That's neither good nor bad, it is just a human behavior trait.

Now, what you can't see in an overall ranking is the stuff a manufacturer PAYS for with JD Powers. (They make their money in selling data to interested parties) Those pay for reports are a deep dive, sliced and diced analytical report which breaks the science down into many small facets.

In my professional tenure, JD Powers is head and shoulders above other survey providers, in both their depth and accuracy of analyses.

[thiel]

GMC sells to a different buyer who has different expectations and asks their truck to do different things. Same product, different brands: GMC is "professional grade" in their own words.