With all of the issues surrounding Toyota and Honda as of late, a lot of attention has been put on the quality and consumer rating services, like Consumer Reports. There have been complaints about their evaluations, the process by which they review vehicles, and the validity of their testing — so much so, that in recent days, critics have called for re-testing on some of the affected vehicles, and special rankings or awards given to the brands be revoked until new testing is complete.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone out there gauging not just the product quality based on a clinical test, but instead on the experience of real customers?

J.D. Power & Associates does just that, and their annual Initial Quality Study is a great source of data for car shoppers. Released in June, the study actually takes place between November and February, with surveys mailed to new vehicle customers of each brand. Customers rate and explain their experience with their dealer and with the vehicle itself–everything from the appearance of the vehicle to the driving and operation of individual features, like climate control, stereos, windshield wipers and door locks, to name a few.

Customer responses to J.D. Power’s annual study are invaluable to the manufacturers, allowing them to respond to customer concerns and difficulties with educational and informative communications aimed at reducing difficulties and thus reducing complaints. But it also gives manufacturers a chance to enhance their vehicle features, making minor adjustments and sometimes complete design overhauls of a feature in order to make it easier to use and understand.

But who benefits from these more–the manufacturers who can make improvements, or the prospective customers shopping the market and doing their research? While a majority of shoppers should certainly be interested in standardized safety and quality analyses, every single buyer should be listening to the experiences of their peers. What makes perfect sense to a team of engineers in a design facility or test lab may not make sense to an owner of a particular shape or size, or an owner in a certain climate, geographic region, or demographic.

Bottom line: manufacturers should always embrace the feedback from both labs and real world customer experiences…but so, too, should shoppers. What means more to you, and why?

–Jeremy