High-Tech Dashboards, Driving Assistants 'Annoy' Luxury Vehicle Owners -Study

According to a recent study by the consulting firm J.D. Power, Tesla Inc. and well-known luxury automakers are annoying customers with sophisticated driving assistance technology and complicated infotainment systems.

J.D. Power stated that, the reliability gap between luxury brands and mass market brands like Kia was the greatest it has ever been in the 34 years the study has been conducted. Based on the most recent survey, which was released on Thursday, Tesla would have been ranked fifth from the bottom among 32 brands whose owners were asked about issues with their three-year-old, 2020 model vehicles.


Tesla differs from other brands in the rankings because the electric vehicle manufacturer doesn't give J.D. Power complete access to owner data. According to Frank Hanley, a senior director at J.D. Power, Tesla owners have complained about issues with the Autopilot driver assistance system, the forward collision warning systems, as well as wind noise. Other high-end brands also performed poorly. The brands that received below-average scores across the board included Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Audi, and Acura.

The report states that infotainment system complaints, such as issues with wireless Bluetooth phone connections, lowered scores from vehicle owners of several luxury brands. Hanley said that luxury car owners are complaining about the infotainment systems at a rate that is roughly twice that of owners of mass-market brands, despite the fact that luxury brands compete to offer more sophisticated digital content and dashboard features.

The survey gave the Lexus brand, owned by Toyota Motor Corp., the top score for dependability. The Genesis and Kia brands of Hyundai Motor Co. came in second and third, respectively.