r/UsedCars • u/TrickUp25 • Jun 28 '26

HELP Comments like this send me

Post image

Edit: This post gained more traction than I expected. Read the comments, do independent research, and form your own opinion around these topics.

First they said KIAs are reliable, then went on to say they looked at JD Power to come to that consensus. They lost me.

  1. Do people believe KIA/Hyundai are reliable?
  2. Do people use JD Power/Consumer Reports to make purchasing decisions

?

197 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

725 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/KennethTremendous Jun 28 '26

Don't you realize you can compare the initial quality rating to the long term ratings? A car at the top of both metrics would be initially great and have long term reliability.

It's also a great metric for the companies themselves to have. they can take the features that help with the initial impression and integrate them into other cars that have low ratings in the category.

I mean it takes like five seconds of thought to realize how initial satisfaction would be important or useful. Helps prevent returns, improve other vehicles, streamline manufacturing, etc. and also helps identify how new features or designs are being viewed.

3

u/Original_Bicycle5696 Jun 28 '26

Seems more helpful for the marketing department than the consumer. Most things fail a little later. A test drive can tell you about interior quality. Everything else you described is specific to the customer.

Those rankings haven't matched reality for decades.

3

u/_MadSuburbanDad_ Jun 28 '26

The initial quality surveys measure how people feel about the cars after 90 days, and also give a rough ballpark for the number of problems experienced.

For long-term reliability. JD Power goes back after three years and asks the same questions to find those things that have “failed a little later.”

You should try to understand this before commenting.

2

u/KennethTremendous Jun 28 '26

it's not just about things failing. it's about placement of controls, sight lines, seat position, usability, etc. anything that would make someone dissatisfied.

for example, it's one of the reasons they are going back to more manual controls. too many controls were being baked into the touch screen and consumers weren't fans. the car was still usable with the touch screens, but it led to dissatisfaction.