Comments on: J.D Power revamps quality assessment

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 13 May 2006 21:20:18 +0000

I’ve never trusted JD Power, the awards given out go to some of the worst cars and trucks on the road, some of the most unreliable pieces of crap ever. Maybe now we wont see Chevy Impalas and Silverados winning segment awards.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:51:07 +0000

da go lapa6

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:50:46 +0000

sory but im no difius bi this kar

By: Niels

Niels — Fri, 12 May 2006 04:46:08 +0000

#10, the people who send their surveys into Consumer Reports are MUCH, MUCH more likely to be biased as individuals than Consumer Reports is itself. CR goes by what people tell them to. Many people buy cars because of brand loyalty, and do you honestly think those people are going to praise a manufacturer that doesn’t make the car they proudly drive?

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 12 May 2006 04:06:08 +0000

CR is biased towards practical and safe cars. That is cars as transportation first, and the sriving experience is WAY less important in their opinion. Car & Driver is much the other way, though they tend to review vehicles that VERY few of their reader can afford or buy. One has to realize the basic assumptions and clients that each magazine is designed for and adjust their findings for these inherent biases. For many people Consumer Reports fills the need for help in selecting the type of transportation they want. For drivers, other magazines are way better.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 12 May 2006 02:08:57 +0000

Consumer Reports may be a bit staid, dry, and boring, but it’s been around since 1936 and has the credibility of not accepting one thin dime from a manufacturer since then. Their data comes from their members, who fill out surveys about the products they buy. I’d say it’s one of the most non-biased organizations out there. With respect to automobiles, they call it like it is on a car they bought off the lot — not some car prepped for the press, or showed off at an invite-only event where it’s understood you better say something nice — and who could, when you get to flog a 911 or beemer around Spain for a day? I’ve been a subscriber to CR for years and recommend it as a reliable data source for anyone looking to make a large purchase of a household good or automobile. I read Car and Driver and this kind of site for entertainment but there’s no way I’d consider them unbiased.

By: Random Jerk

Random Jerk — Fri, 12 May 2006 00:17:35 +0000

#9, I’m not interested in presenting a defense for Consumer Reports, but would you care to provide some evidence for your opinion that Consumer Reports is biased? Maybe your on someone’s payroll to claim that Consumer Repots is biased? Perhaps you think biased means “opinion differs from mine”?

Is there a consensus opinion on any publication\organization that rewviews automobiles that isn’t considered biased?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:28:54 +0000

Just two comments.

1: JD Powers has never influenced my purchase of a vehicle in one way or another. I believe most people are like me in that after the commercial is over, JD Powers never agan crosses my mind until I hear it or see it again in another commercial.
You should know from the current US administration that you shouldn’t believe most of what those in power tell you.

2: Consumer Reports is horrendously biased. Just an awful peice of garbage that I wouldn’t even recommend to somebody I don’t like. Those writers are blatantly obviously on somebody’s payroll – other than for whom they work.

By: Ahk-Med

Ahk-Med — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:27:47 +0000

Chris, the only bias that J.D Power has is to make sure that they offer as many “awards” as possible for purchase. As you state, all the manufactueres pay for the right to claim/promote their awards.

I don’t accuse J.D Power of bias torwards any single auto manufactuer (read: customer). However, they have nothing to gain by providing anything but favorable data as its in their best interest to have more awards to sell.

Do I know if J.D Power is on the level or not? No, I don’t. I do know that it is fairly obvious that their business model does not provide the transparency that a publication like Consumer Reports does.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 11 May 2006 18:26:33 +0000

As a 2nd comment I doubt if the essays will be used in the raw scores. The essays will be supplied to the OEM who wants to pay for them to do an analysis on the issue. Quantitative data can be very difficult to root cause.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 11 May 2006 18:24:17 +0000

So, Akh-Med, since Toyota has the deepest pockets J.D. should bias toward them for the most profit, right? Or maybe because the domestics really need the good quality data they should bias toward them. Or maybe because the Europeans are really in trouble with their quality they should bias toward them?

No, I really doubt that Power would bias or play with the data. As soon as that got out (and it would), they would be out of business. Not worth it to them.

Of course CR refuses to show the actual data to anybody so who knows what they are doing. (Power data is available to anybody who wants to pay and most all the OEMs pay for the data.)

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:34:37 +0000

If J.D. Power is implementing a more detailed survey, what is the problem? The greater the specificity, the greater the chance the survey will be accurate. All manufacturers pay for the results, including Toyota and BMW.

By: TW

TW — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:24:36 +0000

I never listened to J. D. Powers.

By: Ahk-Med

Ahk-Med — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:58:21 +0000

Keep this in mind the next time you see an manufacturer claim “awards” from J.D Power…

The manufactuers PAY J.D Power BIG money for the rights to use their name and reference their “awards”. You can’t “buy” awards from J.D Power if they don’t award you anything. You think there might be a little conflict of interest there?

And to think that readers here criticize Consumer Reports as biased…

By: Arne

Arne — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:48:24 +0000

“since essay’s and a person deciphering them makes their reporting LESS subjective…”
It’s about DETAIL, not subjectivity. And for the love of God learn how to use the apostrophe.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 11 May 2006 15:09:37 +0000

since essay’s and a person deciphering them makes their reporting LESS subjective…