USA TODAY--The latest J.D. Power and Associates survey of new car quality shows that some leading Japanese brands are having problems while some laggard brands of the past are making big strides. ...
Brands showing the most improvement included South Korea's Hyundai, Ford Motor's Jaguar, General Motors' Hummer and DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes, which has been hurt by electrical and technology problems in previous models, improved 20% to 106 problems per 100 vehicles from 132 problems last year.

Could this mean the 2005 diesels will astually run ok?

Some improvement.

106 problems/100 vehicles,......mmm... .
That could mean that each vehicle has
atleast one problem.
Disturbing........ .

Louis.

How can they honestly assess that MB has improved in quality? It often takes years for systematic problems and manufacturing defects to rear their ugly head.

I guess all a manufacturer has to do nowadays is to design a car that meets the criteria used by JD Powers, irrespective of how long the car will last.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 169K

Kestas
The JD Powers survey is putting all cars on a level playing field, so they can say that the quality is improving, but it's "initial" quality.
If they take the "initial" factor out, that is where MB will really shine as compared to the other makes (GM, Hyundai, Ford, etc). The Benz will be in much better shape 10 years later compared to these cheaper cars, but there is no JD Powers surveys done on 10 yr old cars.
You can talk about JD Powers criteria, but all the owners are given the same survey, it's the OWNERS that fill them out, not JD.
I believe one difference in the survey answers is that MB is held to a much higher standard then these other cars, not that MB shouldn't be, but a Chevy owner for example may have a teeny little squeak for example that they wouldn't think to complain about (Hey! It's just a Chevy!), while the MB owner may really be mad about the same type/loudness of squeak on the new Benz.
Just another 3 cent comment (my rates went up)

Gilly

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How many problems per 100 vehicles did BMW or Lexus owners experience? That's probably a more fair comparison to Mercedes...