High Tech Doesn’t Always Win Over Consumers

Automotive consumers don’t give high marks to new vehicles’ high-tech features, based on the results of J.D. Power’s latest U.S. Tech Experience Index.

Hyundai’s brands again dominate automaker rankings on such innovations, its Genesis line leading all brands and the luxury segment and its namesake brand topping the mass-market one.

While the study found consumers have taken to some artificial intelligence-enabled features, such as interior climate control, in general they don’t hold high opinions of many new advanced vehicle features. The survey of nearly 82,000 owners of new 2024 vehicles after their first 90 days with their cars examines consumers’ judgment of new technologies, including the number of problems they encounter with them.

Consumers see no need for some of the technologies and/or find they’re error-prone, including interior gesture controls and facial recognition.

“... this year’s study makes it clear that owners find some technologies of little use and/or are continually annoying,” said J.D. Power Senior Director of User Experience Benchmarking and Technology Kathleen Rizk in a press release.

The study found, for instance, that people value hands-on technology rather than advanced driver-assistance systems and don’t like passenger display screens, deeming them unnecessary and hard to use. They instead like tech that homes in on specific needs, including back-up cameras for revealing blind spots.

Tesla, which has historically won praise from owners for its tech innovations, got lower marks this year. J.D. Power says that may be because enthusiastic early adopters are now being followed by more mass-market buyers who may not be as forgiving of the bugs that brand-new technology can present.

ANOTHER ANGLE: New Vehicles Get Higher Scores