Betts details Consumer Reports’ findings

Posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 2:17 PM EST.

Doug Betts, Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, sent the following e-mail to employees and contractors in North America this afternoon.Dear Chrysler Employees and Contractors:

Consumer Reports magazine issued a press release yesterday to highlight their new issue titled “Best & Worst 2009 Cars, April 2009.” With minor exceptions, there is no new information reported for us in this issue. It is a reprint of data from an issue published last fall titled, “Cars, Best & Worst for ’09.”

There are two primary quality measures reported in Consumer Reports—reliability and road test scores. I want to explain how each of these is measured and what they mean to us.

Reliability
Reliability is surveyed by Consumer Reports each spring and first reported in the fall issue. The exact same data for reliability is reprinted in the new April 2009 issue, which is just reaching newsstands.

If you remember, we received harsh news last fall as well. Unfortunately, what is now appearing is just a repeat of that same harsh news. The cars that were surveyed in the spring of 2008 were built in the fall of 2007, shortly after the transition from Daimler to Cerberus ownership. As you know, since that time, we have driven our warranty claim rates down 30 percent. Based on our internal metrics, we are currently operating with reliability that is better than it has ever been in company history.

When the 2009 MY vehicles are surveyed this spring, I’m confident we will see a significant improvement. And because the second half of 2008 was better than the first half, we should see improvement in 2008 MY vehicles. By making a correlation of warranty rates to Consumer Reports’ position, we estimate that we moved 40 percent compared with industry average in the last 12 months for the 2009 model year.

Statements you may have read in today’s newspapers and other media outlets are based on a lack of understanding of how Consumer Reports works and the freshness of the data presented.

Additionally, you should know that Consumer Reports measurements of new vehicles are based on the previous three years of reliability data for the same model vehicle. For that reason, changing the reliability rating for our new vehicles in Consumer Reports will take a long time. We have to stick to our jobs and continue to drive improvement every day.

Road Test Scores
Road test scores are based on the evaluation of a single vehicle, which is purchased by the Consumer Reports staff. This new issue carries the same road test scores that previously were issued in the fall with three exceptions—the Dodge Ram, Jeep® Compass and Jeep Patriot.

The all-new 2009 Dodge Ram rating is updated and moves from a score of 48 to a score of 72 out of 100. This is a great improvement and puts the Ram in the thick of competing squarely with other full-size trucks. On the Ram, Consumer Reports says, “The redesigned and much improved Dodge Ram pickup offers a glimmer of hope. Our tests show it now competes well with the best full-sized pickups.” Ram can’t be considered for recommendation until some reliability data is available for the new model, which will be the case this fall.

Additionally, the Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot received improved road test scores as a result of the interior refresh, which also reduced noise, vibration and harshness, along with other driving improvements.

In the Consumer Reports press release and the issue itself, our company does not receive favorable mention for quality. Consumer Reports makes their recommendations based on the data that they have, and they only update that data once a year.

Those are the facts, but I wanted to make sure that all of you—the stakeholders in the company—understand the story behind the headlines. While it may be unpleasant, there is no benefit in criticizing Consumer Reports for their methodology. It is a very conservative publication as it is geared toward protecting consumers. These are the rules we need to understand, live by and ultimately, win by.

Thank you to all who have supported and will support our shift in quality.

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