Driving Under Distraction
Though consumers gave higher marks to new vehicles in JD Power’s most recent initial-quality poll, high-tech interference worsened, pointing to craving for simplicity.
Infotainment, including the now-familiar dashboard touchscreen, made up nearly half of distracted-driver complaints in the survey.
Pexels/Daniel Andraski
An oft-repeated auto retail cliché is that today’s cars are essentially mobile computers. But that reality doesn’t always work well in practice.
A 40th annual JD Power survey continued to reflect consumer frustrations with increasingly high-tech vehicles, problems with infotainment features worsening again.
Meanwhile, the low-tech cup holder led improvements to the impression a vehicle gives its new owner in the first 90 days.
What JD Power calls initial quality actually improved overall from last year based on nearly 80,000 consumers’ experience with 2026 model-year vehicles.
The cup holder was the single biggest contributor to the gains, consumers finding the beverage receptacle more accessibly located and with ample space for multiple container sizes, likely due to the quart-plus-size bottles many carry nowadays.
Improvements came in nine out of 10 quality categories, all except infotainment, which accounted for 44 problems per 100 mass-market vehicles and 38 in the premium segment. Connection issues were largely to blame, JD Power said.
Today’s dashboard tech features, often centered on a touchscreen, are also the biggest distractor in the car, the poll found. For those experiencing distraction while driving, 46% pointed to the features.
“As more technology is introduced into vehicles, keeping the experience simple matters more than ever,” said Frank Hanley, the company’s senior director of auto benchmarking.
“The biggest gains in quality come from features that are easy to use—simple controls, less-intrusive driver assistance and software that works the way customers expect. When technology becomes too complicated, the likelihood of customers experiencing a problem rises considerably.”
Automakers seem to be adjusting to consumers’ displeasure with touchscreens in the car, some that had gone all-in for them now bringing back analog controls.
Improvements noted in JD Power’s study in addition to driver-assistance alerts came in electric-vehicle range, muffling of roadway noise, and body panel fit and finish. Still, 18% of distraction complaints were due to driver-assistance alerts.
Ford led mass-market brands in the survey with 152 problems per 100 vehicles, and Porsche topped the premium segment with a score of 138. BMW had the most model- and segment-level awards.
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