Consumer Reports Says Infotainment Systems Are Ruining Car Reliability

[IDemo]

Consumer Reports released its annual Auto Reliability Survey on Monday and cited a growing problem that should be of significant concern to carmakers, regardless of where their brands finished in the ranking.

"Multi-function, cross-linked infotainment systems and the associated in-car electronics are a growing reliability plague for many brands," the publication said in a statement.

"Of the 17 problem areas CR asks about in its survey, the category including in-car electronics generated more complaints from owners of 2014 models than for any other category."

Automakers have invested heavily in infotainment systems since consumers began demanding them in a wide variety of vehicles. Furthermore, the entire auto industry is looking forward to a future in which in-car electronics, displays, related infotainment systems, and advanced self-driving features will be increasingly prevalent, if not dominant.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-reports-says-infotainment-systems-are-ruining-car-reliability-2014-10#ixzz3HPDjswrK

[NightWatcher]

1. And when you finally get your phone to sync with the car

Boom! You run smack into a tree because you had your eyes off the road for 15 seconds. Luckily you hit a tree and not a troop of Girl Scouts crossing the road.

[jberryhill]

9. why would a tree be in the road?

[LeftyMom]

2. The thing about stuff like that is that it's comically dated long before the car wears out.

Even if it works great, it's still going to be incompatible with the cool new stuff in a few years. iPod hookups were the hot new thing in cars what, five years ago?

[XemaSab]

5. Says the woman with an 8-track player in the El Camino

[LeftyMom]

6. I think those were a thing for cars slightly newer than mine.

It has a modern stereo strapped under the dash. The stupid kid I bought it from didn't pay the registration or keep tires with tread on the car, but he paid for that.

[Eleanors38]

3. Hell, I don't want power windows or power door locks.

[Logical]

8. Hell, I do! nt

[Warpy]

4. Yeah, car dealers all tried to sell me "packages" of all sorts of junk I didn't want

just to get a car with AC.

My Kia came with AC and a CD player standard. It's a stick shift with crank windows and doors you unlock with a key. It gets me there and there is a lot less stuff to break down.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. More to the point is how CU rates "reliability"...

They record complaints without much inquiry into the background behind the complaints. So, if people bitch about the notoriously difficult Ford system, it reduces Ford's overall reliability rating. If your phone doesn't synch properly and it's your phone's fault, often as not they'll call it the car's fault because you didn't know any better.

FWIW, I've had absolutely no problems with the electronics, or anything else, in my 2013 Cruz at 40K miles so far. I don't have the integrated nav system, but I have pretty much everything else. It's the most reliable powertrain and electronics in any car I've ever owned.

And I get mid 30's mpg around town. Over 40 on the highway.