Ford slides, Toyota surges in key quality survey

Trouble with new technologies including a clunky control system for its radios pounded Ford Motor Company’s ranking in a closely watched quality ranking, just a year after the United States brand led its mass-market rivals, Reuters reported on Thursday.

In a reversal of fortune, Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation’s namesake brand, which last year tumbled to its lowest ranking ever due to a series of damaging recalls, pulled off a corresponding rebound, according to the influential study of US consumers released on Thursday by J.D. Power and Associates.

Ford, the only US automaker to avoid bankruptcy and a government bailout, saw its namesake brand slide to 23rd its lowest spot in a decade, down from fifth place last year, which represented, its highest ranking ever. Toyota rebounded to seventh from 21st in 2010.

“Ford is on the leading edge, certainly in the mass market, of trying to bring new technology into the vehicles,” J.D. Power’s vice-president, of global vehicle research David Sarget, said. He added, With that comes some risk that there will be unforeseen problems and that’s exactly what happened.

“There’s a great deal of parity between the different vehicles and different brands, so if you have a significant problem in a particular area, that can really set you back in terms of the rankings,” he added.

Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand captured the top spot, moving up from 4th in 2010.

The J.D. Power study, which records difficulties faced by new car owners in the first 90 days of ownership, was conducted between February and May of this year.

The results of the survey, the most comprehensive benchmark of new car quality, are used heavily in auto industry marketing and are seen as influential in shaping consumer perceptions. It is also watched as a barometer for resale values and as a proxy for warranty costs.

Ford customers found the automaker’s audio and interior control systems too complex or at times inoperable, Sargent said, “It’s not as easy to reboot a car as it is a computer.”

Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, said on Tuesday ahead of the survey’s release that the company’s own quality ratings would be “mixed” for the year.

Ford was dinged earlier this year when influential magazine Consumer Reports did not give a “recommended” rating to its SUVs Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX because of the complexity of the MyFord Touch and the MyLincoln Touch systems.