New J.D. Power Japan Study to Help Early Issue Resolution for Advanced Technologies On New Vehicles

TOKYO: 17 Dec. 2020 — A pilot version of the J.D. Power Japan Tech Experience Index (TXI) Study^SM released today, includes customer evaluations of vehicle advanced technologies that can provide manufacturers with opportunities for issue resolution, and thus lead to successful market penetration. The official inauguration of the study will occur in 2021.

This study examines the installation of features on new vehicles, including advanced technologies, and customer usage of these features and any problems experienced with them, as well as understanding how to use the features and reasons for not using features. For this study, new-vehicle purchasers were surveyed after three to 15 months of ownership. The study provides an early overview of customer usage of and potential demands for the features and identifies issues that need to be resolved before the features are fully integrated in new vehicles. The study measures 26 features with advanced technology.¹

“This new study captures information about features with advanced technology installed on new vehicles that are purchased at an early stage of market introduction,” said Koichi Urayama, senior director of the automotive division at J.D. Power Japan. “The study will reflect results of two other vehicle quality-related studies conducted by J.D. Power Japan—the Initial Quality Study and the Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study—in accordance with the penetration of each feature and will serve to differentiate these studies for greater independence. In 2021, the Japan TXI Study will publish rankings for each feature, along with brand rankings, by utilizing a rating methodology for penetration and users’ evaluations of features that include advanced technology.”

Following are some of the key findings of the pilot study:

• Navigation live traffic is most frequently installed feature on new vehicles: Among customers whose new vehicle has one or more advanced technology features, the top three installed features are navigation live traffic (52%); rear automatic braking (32%); and active driving assistance (29%). The frequency of installation is 20% or lower for each of the remaining 23 features.
• Where customers most often learn how to use tech features: The learning methods most frequently cited by owners related to features with advanced technology are receiving an explanation at the dealership; referring to the user guide; and learning by using the feature. In particular, receiving an explanation at the dealership and referring to the user guide are most frequently cited for the active driving assistance feature (47% and 34%, respectively), while learning by using the feature is most often cited for the navigation live traffic feature (51%).
• Dealer explanation of active driving assistance increases use of feature: Only 21% of customers who received an explanation for active driving assistance at the dealership quit using the feature, compared with 27% of those who did not receive an explanation. A similar trend also applies to many of the other features, suggesting dealership explanations of the advanced technology features could affect customers’ future usage.
• Problems arise when feature is hard to understand/difficult to use: This study groups problems experienced with the advanced technology features into four types: broken/not operate; unstable/inaccurate operation; hard to understand how to use/difficult to use; and annoying/distracting. The most-often-cited reason for problems is that the feature is hard to understand how to use or is difficult to use.
• More advanced technologies contribute to vehicle appeal: There is a correlation between the number of features installed on a new vehicle and the recommendation intent, which indicates that new vehicles with more advanced technologies are more appealing to customers. Among customers whose new vehicle does not include any advanced technology, only 5% say they “definitely will” or “probably will” recommend the same brand to others, compared with 26% of customers whose new vehicle has six or more advanced technologies. The challenge for manufacturers will be choosing which and how many advanced technologies to be installed that will drive vehicle appeal among potential customers.

The pilot study is based on responses from 4,299 vehicle owners who purchased their new vehicle between May 2019 and April 2020, and was fielded online in July-August 2020.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich.

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Kumi Kitami; Japan; 81-3-4570-8410; release@jdpa.com
Geno Effler; USA; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com

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¹ The 26 features are: active driving assistance; active lane change assist; remote parking; interior gesture controls; automatic emergency steering; solar glass roof; vehicle to anything communication system; camera rear-view mirror; rear automatic braking; rear seat reminder; driver/passenger communication system; reversing assistant; safe exit assist; front cross traffic warning; driver monitoring; user profiles; ground view camera; rear cross traffic warning; navigation live traffic; built-in Wi-Fi; parking cameras/sensors; Android Auto/Apple CarPlay; OEM smartphone app; built-in navigation system; built-in voice recognition, and built-in Bluetooth^®.