J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Trim Masters Inc. Leads Seat Quality Rankings for a Sixth Consecutive Year

 Difficulties with Seat Controls Account for Majority of Reported Problems



    WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., July 16 /EMWNews/ -- Trim Masters Inc., a

joint venture between Johnson Controls Inc. and Toyota Boshoku Corp., ranks

highest in overall automotive seat quality for a sixth consecutive year,

according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Seat Quality and

Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.



    



    The study provides automotive manufacturers and suppliers with quality

and satisfaction information related to automotive seating systems.

New-vehicle owners are asked to rate the quality of their vehicle seats and

seat belts based on whether or not they experienced defects/malfunctions or

design problems during the first 90 days of ownership. Overall scores are

measured as problems per 100 (PP100) vehicles, with lower scores reflecting

higher quality.



    Trim Masters Inc. ranks highest among seat suppliers included in the

study with a seat quality score of 3.8 PP100. Trim Masters supplies seats

for the Toyota Avalon, Toyota Camry built at the Georgetown, Ky., plant

(assembly line one) and the Lexus RX 350 built at the Cambridge, Ontario,

plant. The Toyota Camry accounts for more than 50 percent of the supplier's

model mix and has the fewest reported seat quality problems (3.4 PP100)

among models supplied by Trim Masters.



    NHK Spring Co. Ltd. follows Trim Masters in the rankings with a score

of 4.6 PP100, improving by 1.1 PP100 from the 2007 study. TS Tech Co. Ltd.

ranks third with a score of 5.4 PP100.



    The study finds that the average number of reported problems improves

to 6.2 PP100 in 2008 from 6.5 PP100 in 2007. In particular, problem counts

increased slightly for forward/backward seat adjustment controls and

headrest adjustment controls, while slight improvements overall were shown

in seat squeaks/rattles/abnormal noises and folding seat problems.



    "This progress is the result of several suppliers making strides in

improving seat quality within the past year," said Allison LaDuc, senior

research manager of automotive product quality at J.D. Power and

Associates. "In particular, the two largest seat suppliers, Lear and

Johnson Controls, improve their quality scores by 1.4 and 0.5 PP100,

respectively. Tachi-S Co. Ltd. achieves particularly notable improvement of

4.3 PP100 by reducing problems in carryover models and adding two models to

their portfolio."



    The study also finds that design-related issues account for nearly 70

percent of seat problems. The six seat problems most frequently reported

all pertain to design, rather than defects or malfunctions. These include

difficulty in understanding and using controls for specific seat elements:

forward/backward adjustment; lumbar support adjustment; headrest

adjustment; folding seats; memory seats; and recliner adjustment.



    "Seat problems related to difficulties with understanding and using

controls occur frequently, and have a noticeable impact on overall seat

satisfaction," said LaDuc. "Suppliers and manufacturers can benefit greatly

by designing seat controls that are easy and intuitive to understand and

use, as owners who experience problems with these functions provide overall

seat satisfaction scores that are considerably lower -- by 0.92 points on a

10-point scale -- than those customers who have not experienced these

problems."



    The 2008 Seat Quality and Satisfaction Study is based on responses from

81,530 new-vehicle owners who purchased a 2008 model-year vehicle. The

survey was fielded between February and April 2008.






    Seat Supplier Quality Ranking

    Problems per 100 Vehicles*



    Supplier                         PP100

    Trim Masters Inc.                3.8

    NHK Spring Co. Ltd.              4.6

    TS Tech Co. Ltd.                 5.4

    Toyo Seat Co. Ltd.               5.6

    Tachi-S Co. Ltd.                 5.7

    Lear Corp.                       5.8

    Faurecia SA                      5.9

    Toyota Boshoku Corp.             5.9

    Setex Inc.                       6.1

    Industry Average                 6.2

    Johnson Controls Inc.            6.4

    Bridgewater Interiors, LLC       6.6

    Intier Automotive Seating        7.4

    Total Interior Systems-America   10.7

    *Problems per 100 vehicles is measured via actual customer feedback

related to the number of "things gone wrong." A lower score reflects better

quality performance.



    NOTE: Only award-eligible suppliers are included in the ranking. To be

award eligible, a primary supplier (no split-sourcing) must have sufficient

sample size, source at least five models or represent 1 percent or more of

the study sample.

    About J.D. Power and Associates



    Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is

a global marketing information services company operating in key business

sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement,

training and customer satisfaction. The company's quality and satisfaction

measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually.

For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health

insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D.

Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.



    About The McGraw-Hill Companies



    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading

global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the

financial services, education and business information markets through

leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education,

BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than

280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2007 were $6.8 billion. Additional

information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.






     J.D. Power and Associates Media Relations Contacts:

     John Tews             Syvetril Perryman

     Troy, Mich.           Westlake Village, Calif.

     (248) 312-4119        (805) 418-8103

     [email protected]    [email protected]

    No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information

in this release without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and

Associates. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate