Another bit from J.D. Power’s press release for their 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study: “on average, customers report experiencing 75 percent more problems in the third year of ownership than during the first 90 days.” They refer to this increase in reported problems as “quality deterioration.” One big problem with this logic: the VDS covers an entire year, while the IQS… More →

J.D. Power released the results of its annual Vehicle Dependability Survey today, and one item has me scratching my head. They report that the fifth most commonly reported problem is “excessive window fogging.” I’ve personally reviewed about 8,000 repair reports submitted by TrueDelta’s panel members over the last few years, and cannot remember a single report of “excessive window fogging.”… More →

These days, just about any new car has a chance of going a year or two without a single problem. But there’s also the chance with any new car that it will have a problem the dealer just can’t sort out, at least not right away. Especially if it’s a new design in its first model year. What to do? Most… More →