New-vehicle quality improved significantly in 2026, but one troublesome category continues to frustrate owners: infotainment. According to the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Multimedia Quality and Satisfaction Study, multimedia was the only major vehicle category to worsen during the year. It now accounts for 25% of all problems reported by owners, proving once again that sometimes the hardest part of driving a new car is convincing the touchscreen to cooperate.
J.D. Power recorded 42.4 multimedia problems per 100 vehicles, virtually unchanged from 42.3 problems in the 2025 study. That may not sound like much of a setback, but other areas of vehicle quality improved. As a result, multimedia systems now represent a larger share of the problems owners experience. In fact, J.D. Power said the five most frequently reported vehicle problems were all related to infotainment.
“The industry continues to make progress improving overall vehicle quality, but multimedia remains a persistent challenge,” said Lisa Boor, director of customer success, OEM solutions at J.D. Power. She said problems are increasingly shifting away from hardware failures and toward system complexity, software performance and connectivity as vehicles become more dependent on software.
That distinction is important. The radio itself may work perfectly, yet the owner can still experience a frozen display, a dropped connection, a slow response or a system that makes a simple function unnecessarily complicated. Consumers have become accustomed to smartphones and tablets that respond almost instantly. Understandably, they expect the same performance from a vehicle that may cost $50,000, $75,000 or considerably more.
There was some encouraging news. Navigation problems declined, particularly complaints involving usability and accuracy. Overall satisfaction with vehicle navigation increased 17 points from the previous year to 933 on J.D. Power’s 1,000-point scale. Satisfaction also improved in areas involving multimedia systems and speakers, indicating that manufacturers and suppliers are making progress even though the overall problem rate remains stubbornly high.
Among individual vehicles, the BMW X6 earned the highest overall multimedia score. The Hyundai Palisade led the midsize and large vehicle category, while the Kia K4 was the top performer among small and compact vehicles. The Jaguar F-Pace led the small and compact premium category.
Suppliers also played a prominent role in the rankings. Mobis Parts America supplied the multimedia systems in four of the six highest-performing models. Google’s navigation system in the Honda Civic edged the HERE navigation system in the Cadillac Optiq by one point, while the Panasonic speaker system in the Acura Integra led the speaker-supplier rankings.
The study is based on responses from 78,514 purchasers and lessees of new 2026 model-year vehicles. Owners were surveyed after 90 days of ownership, with the study conducted from June 2025 through May 2026. The findings are drawn from J.D. Power’s Component Quality Reports data, which also incorporates information from the company’s Initial Quality Study and Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study.
The message for automakers is not that customers dislike technology. They dislike technology that is unreliable, distracting or more complicated than it needs to be. Owners want their phones to connect, their navigation systems to know where they are and their audio controls to respond when touched. They also should not need a computer science degree to adjust the temperature.
J.D. Power’s conclusion is straightforward: Brands that simplify the user experience while making their systems dependable will be in the strongest position to improve both quality and customer satisfaction. Bigger screens and additional features may look impressive in a showroom, but after 90 days of ownership, drivers care much more about whether everything actually works.