--- title: Car Owners Report More Problems With Their Vehicles, and Fancy New Tech Is Often to Blame description: Car owners are reporting more problems and lower quality with new vehicles, including issues with door handles and tech features. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 600 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Shopping - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-06-23T18:38:10.000Z' modified: '2023-06-23T18:38:37.000Z' section: Shopping tags: - News word_count: 378 canonical: https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![illustration of a deconstructed car](https://img.money.com/2023/06/News-New-car-quality-plunged.jpg?crop=0px%2C149px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85) As automakers roll out new technology in their cars — and charge [higher prices](https://money.com/new-car-discounts-off-msrp-rising/) — customers are actually reporting more problems with their vehicles. New vehicle quality has been declining since 2021, and some of the worsening issues involve unexpectedly basic parts of the car, like cupholders, horns and door handles, according to a [study by J.D. Power](https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2023-us-initial-quality-study-iqs). The average price of a [new vehicle](https://money.com/best-autos/) is now over $48,000 per [Kelley Blue Book data](https://www.coxautoinc.com/market-insights/kbb-atp-may-2023/), an increase of more than $7,000 in the past two years. Soaring costs add to the frustration for consumers when something seemingly simple like a door handle causes them headaches. “Opening a door was once a non-discussion point — an aspect of a vehicle that had been examined, engineered and mastered. The basic touch point of door handles is now a percolating problem area as manufacturers attempt to redesign them,” J.D. Power experts said in the report. ## An Extended Car Warranty lets you drive with confidence ### Endurance offers extended protection for your vehicle. Click on your state for a free quote today. [See Details](https://money.com/pr/e1c3e005477f?ap_referrer=%2Fnew-cars-tech-more-problems%2F) ## What the research says Drivers are reporting more problems with their new vehicles in almost every category that the study tracks, with the only exception being driving experience. - J.D. Power is particularly critical of certain automakers using "known problematic audio systems" in new vehicles. - The report also notes that drivers have quality concerns with lane departure warning technologies and other related driver assistance features like automatic emergency braking. - Attempts at innovation appear to be backfiring in certain instances. For example, consumers are increasingly running into problems with wireless phone charging pads in their vehicles, reporting that they don’t work consistently or cause their phones to overheat. - “From persistent problems carrying over from years past to an increase in new types of problems, today’s new vehicles are more complex — offering new and exciting technology — but not always satisfying owners,” Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, said in the report. - If you want to [buy a car](https://money.com/best-autos/) and not deal with these sorts of issues, Dodge was the best performing brand in the quality study, followed by Ram and Buick. In the premium segment, Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Cadillac ranked highest for quality. ## An Extended Car Warranty can protect you against costly repairs ### Endurance offers extended warranties that protect your vehicle for up to 250,000 miles. For a free quote, click below and get started. [See Details](https://money.com/pr/f84a6a706c21?ap_referrer=%2Fnew-cars-tech-more-problems%2F) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/28512/medium_1ae7409e-8425-4103-9204-bfe70b5e6c0b.png) Stop paying for costly car repairs and get an Extended Car Warranty! [See Details](https://money.com/pr/ub9375bc33e8?ap_referrer=%2Fnew-cars-tech-more-problems%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Shopping", "item": "https://money.com/shopping/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Vehicles", "item": "https://money.com/vehicles/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Car Owners Report More Problems With Their Vehicles, and Fancy New Tech Is Often to Blame" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/", "name": "Car Owners Report More Problems With Their Vehicles, and Fancy New Tech Is Often to Blame", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-06-23T18:38:10.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/new-cars-tech-more-problems/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2023-06-23T18:38:37.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Car Owners Report More Problems With Their Vehicles, and Fancy New Tech Is Often to Blame", "articleSection": "Shopping", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/06/News-New-car-quality-plunged.jpg?crop=0px%2C149px%2C2880px%2C1620px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "News-New-car-quality-plunged" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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