Car Articles

Read articles on cars and car industry. Get fully updated on all information related to cars. Read exciting happening in the Indian and Global Car industry, tips to help you and more...

Latest Articles

Vehicle Dependability Study

Vehicle dependability simply defines the reliability of vehicles. With the increasing number of cars running on Indian roads, vehicle dependability study has become important to make a perfect choice among a wide assortment of cars belonging to different makes and models.

Vehicle Dependability Study is based on a survey done by J.D. Power Asia. The study measures the problems reported by original car owners who own the car for a minimum period of 30 months. A minimum of 30 months is required because at the end of thirty months, most of the car models reach the end of warranty period. It’s only after that, car owners actually acknowledge the problems and cost of maintenance.

All the car owners who own the car for more than the warranty period rate their own car for variety of issues including uncomfortable ride, loose brake, reduced engine effectiveness and poor transmission.

About J.D. Power Asia

J.D. Power Asia is an international firm that does researches and surveys on a variety of industries including the car industry to improve product quality and enhance customer satisfaction.

Along with the Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), the J.D. Power also does several surveys including Initial Quality Study (IQS), the Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) related to car industry mainly to improve car business and enhance the quality of different car spare parts.

The firm does the research entirely on the basis of responses from car owners worldwide. Based on the opinions of consumers, the firm gives ratings and rankings to different car models.

Objective of Vehicle Dependability Study

The primary objective behind the vehicle dependability study or survey is to fill the large gap between luxury and non-luxury brands. The strong presence of non-luxury car models in the country among the leading brands underscores the number of luxury brands in the country. The dependability study helps to make a wise comparison between the luxury and non-luxury brands. High vehicle dependability simply means fewer problems, less cost of maintenance and high reliability of the cars.

Process of Vehicle Dependability Study

In accordance to the survey, various officials from J.D. Power Asia travel to different cities or countries to get the customer feedback. These officials travel to each city and catch hold of the original car owners who have 30- to 42-month-old car with them. The survey is done by investigating a massive number of problems across nine vehicle categories: vehicle exterior, vehicle interior, driving experience, features-controls and displays, audio and entertainment, seats, HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling), engine, and transmission. Overall dependability is rated based on the number of problem symptoms accounted per 100 vehicles. Lower the scores, lower is the incidence of problem symptoms and higher is the reliability and dependability of the car.

Vehicle dependability ratings are given within eight car segments: compact, entry midsize, premium compact, midsize, premium midsize, entry luxury, MUV and SUV.

Benefits of Vehicle Dependability Study

The benefits of vehicle dependability are enormous. This helps the car manufacturers to improve the quality of their car models as well their overall business potential. The study also helps car manufacturers to track the performance of their models and spare parts over period of time. In addition to improving quality, cars that rank higher in the VDS have higher levels of recommendation from the respective car owners. These car models even have a better repurchase intent along with increased sales volumes as compared to car models with poor dependability ratings.

Additionally, cars with low rankings and high levels of reported problems have higher rates of spare parts failure including brake failure and weak batteries. The benefits of providing qualitative, durable and reliable spare parts are manifold for the automotive industry. Quality and reliability are the tow essential keys to gain word praises, appreciation and accolades.

The study not only holds benefits for the automotive industry but also for the car consumers. Awareness about car dependability or reliability has an incredible and tremendous impact on the car owners as well as the car buyers. For car owners, the ratings give a high degree of satisfaction with the car they own. For car buyers the survey is a good way to analyze the most reliable car and make a firm purchase decision.

2008 India Vehicle Dependability Study

The 2008 India Vehicle Dependability Study is completely based on feedbacks from nearly 4,700 car owners who purchased a new car somewhere between July 2004 and September 2005.

According to the 2008 survey done by J.D. Power Asia exclusively for Indian cars, the firm ranked eight Indian cars to be most reliable. The listings include Maruti Suzuki Swift, Maruti Esteem, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Innova, Hyundai Santro, Honda City ZX, Ford Endeavour, and Mercedes-Benz C Class.

The Maruti Suzuki receives two awards, one for the Swift in the premium compact car segment and another for Esteem in entry midsize segment. Toyota also receives two awards for the Corolla in premium midsize market segment and for Innova in the MUV/MPV segment.

Hyundai Santro wins the award for the best compact car, while the Honda City ZX gets appreciation for leading the midsize car segment. Ford Endeavour gets the highest rank in the SUV segment and the great Mercedes-Benz C Class wins accolades for leading the entry luxury segment.

» Read more Articles On MUV

» Read more Articles On Hyundai Santro

» Read more Articles On Cars

» Read more Articles On Maruti Suzuki

» Read more Articles On Mercedes-Benz

» Read more Articles On Indian Cars

» Read more Articles On Car Owners

» Read more Articles On Car Industry

» Read more Articles On New Car

» Read more Articles On Car Segment

» Read more Articles On J.D. Power Asia