, which tracks owner satisfaction with a new car or truck in the US. The survey statistics are presented in terms of the number of owner complaints per 100 vehicles. A lower PP100 score indicates fewer problems reported and hence higher quality. In this year’s survey, Ram vehicles had the lowest number of owner complaints, at 149 PP100. For other mass market brands, Chevrolet was ranked second in initial quality at 160 100PP and Hyundai was third at 162 PP100.
None of this should come as much of a shock. These types of surveys are typically a good measure of familiarity versus unfamiliarity. Old versus new. We’re in the midst of a huge shift from traditional gasoline-powered vehicles to high-powered computers that run on enormous batteries. That transition is proving to be messy as hell, and customers are finding themselves caught in the middle.
With the EV revolution came the “computer on wheels” revolution. The first has succeeded wonderfully well. The second? Not so much. In fact, the second may actually be holding the transition to electric cars back. We do not need or want to become computer geeks in order to drive an electric car.