New OEM Radios Even Worse: Consumer Reports

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Infiniti Q50

Last year the radio was the source of the most complaints about new cars. This year’s radio performance was even worse, according to a new study by Consumer Reports.

Last year many consumer complaints were about frozen screens. That problem continues and is now joined by complaints about multi-use controllers that don’t work properly.

The report ranks overall reliability of 2015 model year vehicles, tracking 17 problem areas.  But the infotainment system was often a sore point, bringing down a car’s overall score.

“Infotainment system problems generally don’t exist in a vacuum,” said Jake Fisher at Consumer Reports, “A close look at the results suggests that cars with a lot of in-car electronic issues usually have plenty of other troubles, too.”

The poorest ranked new infotainment system was the Intouch system in the new Infiniti Q50 sedan. More than 1 in 5 owners reported a problem with it.

But Honda fixed a glitch in its HondaLink and Chrysler removed some of the bugs in the UConnect touch screen, said Consumer Reports.

You can see the overall reliability rankings here.

You can see the full press release on Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Reliability Survey here.

Source: Consumer Reports

Photo: Infiniti Q50

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