Consumer Reports: Infotainment Systems Are 'Growing Plague' for Car Problems

Infotainment systems cause the most problems for 2014 vehicles and are also indicative of larger electronic issues, so owners might want to pay attention when navigation, music and other features are on the fritz, according to Consumer Reports.

"Infotainment system problems generally don't exist in a vacuum," Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing at the influential consumer publication, said in a statement. "A close look at the results suggests that cars with a lot of in-car electronic issues usually have plenty of other troubles, too."

Surveying owners on 17 problem areas, Consumer Reports found that in-car electronics produced more complaints than any other category, USA TODAY reported.

The annual survey gathered information about 248 models using data from 1.1 million vehicles for the 2014 edition, finding that the InTouch system in the new Infiniti Q50 sedan was the worst offender with more than one in five owners reporting issues with it.

Lexus topped the survey rankings, followed by Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Audi, Buick, Subaru, Scion, Porsche and Kia.

For American automakers, General Motors had the strongest showing, but issues in the company's full-size pickup offerings pulled down most of its brands. Buick made it to the top 10, jumping from last year's No. 16 ranking to sixth place, but Chevrolet fell four spots to rank 21st and GMC dropped 10 places for 16th.

GM launched redesigned versions of its popular Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks for 2014.

"This is a really big thorn in Chevrolet and General Motors' side, because these are such big sellers," Fisher told the New York Times in a phone interview, referring to the pickups' slide down in the 2014 rankings due to a range of issues. 

When it came to infotainment systems, vehicles from Infiniti, Jeep, Fiat, Ram, Cadillac, Ford and Honda were all reported to have "significant problem rates."

According to the data, consumers should be wary of glitching infotainment systems since they often relate to faulty power equipment and hardware, the Times reported.

"We reanalyzed how these cars would do if we ignored those systems," Fisher told the Times. "What we found is that for the vast majority, the unreliable cars stay unreliable. It's not a case of 'these cars are fine and it's just this system that's the problem.'"

In past CR surveys, the publication has found issues with unresponsive touch screens or systems that won't sync with owners' phones; this year, these problems were joined by other glitches such as "multi-use controllers that don't function properly," said a CR press release.

Here are some more intriguing findings from this year's CR survey of more than a million vehicles:

•  The Honda Accord V6 is now recommended after the company apparently fixed a glitch with the HondaLink system.
• While Tesla doesn't qualify for the survey since the company only offers one car, the popular Model S electric sedan received an average rating and is recommended by the publication.
•  Formerly plagued by issues as a brand, Audi seems to be going strong now, landing in the top five for the second year in a row.
•  The sole European brand to fall significantly in the 2014 survey, Mercedes-Benz dropped 11 spots due to issues in the newly introduced CLA sedan and the redesigned top-of-the-range S-Class; however, both its popular E-Class V6 sedan and the small GLK SUV scored above average.
• The Fiat 500L earned the dubious title of least reliable new model.