J.D. Power and Associates Reports: High Incidence Of Reported Problems With Vehicle Navigation Systems

Vehicle owners are continuing to experience a high number of problems with factory-installed navigation systems, primarily with routing quality and system usability, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Navigation Usage and Satisfaction Study released November 22.

Now in its thirteenth year, the study identifies six factors that contribute to overall satisfaction with factory-installed navigation systems. In order of importance, they are: ease of use; routing; navigation display screen; speed of system; voice directions; and voice recognition. The study also measures quality by examining problems-per-one-hundred (PP100) navigation systems, in which a lower score reflects higher quality.

On average, owners of factory-installed navigation systems experienced three hundred fifty one PP100 in 2011. The eight most-frequently reported issues, which account for more than fifty percent of problems reported overall, are:

Address/street/city not found (33 PP100)
Difficulty inputting destination (32 PP100)
Route provided was not direct (24 PP100)
Difficulty using voice recognition controls (23 PP100)
Map doesn't show enough street names (21 PP100)
Couldn't find desired menu/screen (19 PP100)
Map or point of interest search was missing points of interest (16 PP100)
Inability to view screen due to glare (14 PP100)

"Routing—the primary function of a navigation system—is obviously an issue and will continue to be," said Andy Bernhard, Director at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, for nearly ten years, the importance of ease of use has been emphasized by owners, and the continued high level of problems in this area begs the question: is the industry listening to how owners want to interact with their system?"

The study finds that system usability is one of the biggest contributors to problem incidence, with nearly one-third of reported problems related to ease of use of the navigation system. Furthermore, the trend toward integrating the controls of different systems in the vehicle, including audio, climate control, and phone, only adds to the ease-of-use issues that owners experience with their navigation system. For instance, among those owners who consider their multimedia system's menu structure overall to be "not at all complex," the number of navigation system problems experienced is 243 PP100. However, among those who say the multimedia system interface is "very complex," the average number of problems is three times as high, at 735 PP100.

"There is a necessity in the industry to better understand how the complexity of interfaces and the implementation of navigation within the overall system impact the owner experience," said Bernhard. "Owners continue to demand a high level of technology, but it is through the integration of this technology into their day-to-day lives that both adoption and satisfaction will be influenced—and the industry continually appears to be missing the mark."

The Garmin system fitted to the Dodge Charger ranks highest in owner satisfaction with factory-installed navigation systems and performs particularly well in the navigation display screen, ease of use, and speed of system factors. The Hyundai-Mobis navigation system supplied to the Hyundai Genesis Coupe follows in the rankings, and the Garmin system supplied to the Chrysler 300 series ranks third.

The 2011 U.S. Navigation Usage and Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 18,303 owners who recently purchased or leased new 2011 model-year vehicles with factory-installed navigation systems. The study was fielded in October 2011.

The listing of top systems in customer satisfaction (listed by Supplier, Vehicle, Index score, and JDPower.com Ratings for Consumers) are:

Garmin, Dodge Charger, 767, 5
Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, 761, 5
Garmin, Chrysler 300 Series, 760, 5
Alpine Electronics, Inc., Acura TSX Sedan, 758, 5
Harman, Audi S4 Sedan, 754, 5
Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Elantra, 754, 5
Clarion, Ford Flex, 750, 5
Clarion, Ford Fusion, 749, 4
Clarion, Lincoln MKS, 748, 4
Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Sonata, 747, 4

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