Consumers Not Happy With Gesture Control, Other Vehicle Tech: JD Power

Though technology is a leading reason buyers choose one vehicle over another, many new vehicles are equipped with features consumers “want no part of,” said a Wednesday J.D. Power study. Carmakers suffer a “hit to profits” and sales if they include the wrong mix of features in vehicles, it said. Many owners indicated poor performance with interior gesture controls technology, which responds to hand motions instead of touch. Owners of gesture control indicated 41 problems per 100 vehicles; it had the lowest overall satisfaction score in the study for the second consecutive year. For a third of advanced technologies, fewer than half of owners have used the technology in the first 90 days of ownership, with nonusers saying they don’t need them. Just over half said they have never used driver-passenger communication technology in the vehicle. The highest execution scores were for camera-based rear-view mirror and ground-view camera, it said. Dealer demonstrations at delivery are key to keeping owners engaged with emerging technologies such as safe-exit assist technology, it said, saying owners can get a strong understanding of the system when they learn it from a dealer. Tesla’s unofficial score was highest in the study at 668 out of 1,000 points, but the company doesn’t grant the researcher permission to survey owners in 15 states where it sells vehicles. Data is based on a sample of surveys from owners in the other 35 states, J.D. Power said. Hyundai spinoff Genesis had the highest official ranking with an innovation index score of 634, followed in the premium segment by Cadillac (551), Volvo (550), BMW (545) and Mercedes-Benz (523). Hyundai led in the mainstream segment at 519, followed by Kia (510) Nissan (502), Subaru (499) and GMC (498).