‘Gotta Have It’? You Can’t Get It; ‘Usability’ Study

Some of us just can’t stay in step with the mainstream.

A few personal examples:

1. Letting my attention (and feet) wander while marching during basic training with the U.S. Army.

2. My automotive preferences. They tend toward discontinued models, such as compact pickup trucks and oddities like the Subaru Baja and Chevrolet El Camino.

Maybe the message is: Stay in the flow or be cast aside.

That’s what’s happened to another vehicle that now is extinct, the “Gotta Have It Green’’ Ford Mustang.

One of my favorite rides in recent years was the Ford Mustang convertible. Mustangs always are fun to drive, but the “Gotta Have It Green’’ ones are among the all-time attention-getters.

Of course, it’s one thing to drive a car in this Hey-Look-at-Me green for a few days and something else entirely to live with the color for years on end.

Still, it was a downer to note that Ford has dropped both the “Gotta Have It Green’’ and “Grabber Blue’’ colors for the 2015 Mustang.

The current attention-getting hues are Triple Yellow, Competition Orange, and a spectacular Magnetic Metallic (think iron filings on a magnet in middle-school science class).

This color discussion is all a tangent from what started out as a note on a Ford “green’’ initiative. We’ll get to that in a bit, but it’s more fun continuing to follow this color-scheme digression.

TheseMustang color references came up as part of a note about Ford starting to market the Mustang globally as the marque begins its second 50 years.

At home, Americans are picking their Mustangs in black (24 percent), Magnetic Metallic (15 percent), and Oxford White (11 percent). Competition Orange is way down the list at 6 percent, followed by Guard Metallic (reminiscent of the Steve McQueen “Bullitt’’ greenMustang fastbacks), and Triple Yellow at 5 percent each.

New Englanders also favor black (27 percent) with Magnetic Metallic and Ruby Red Metallic tied for second at 13 percent and Oxford White fourth at 8 percent. Guard Metallic is seventh at 7 percent followed by Competition Orange, Ingot Silver, and Triple Yellow.

Those trends don’t hold overseas.

Europeans are going for Race Red, Absolute Black, and Deep Impact Blue, in that order, while China shoppers are choosing Race Red, Oxford White, and Black.

Not that it matters, but give me Triple Yellow for a weekend and the “Bullitt’’-like green for the long haul.

Ford’s Other Green

On the more serious side of being green, Ford is trying to do something about the enormous amount of plastic waste we generate.

According to the EPA, Americans dispose of 32 million tons of plastic waste each year and only recover 9 percent.

One company that does recover waste plastic is Unifi with a fabric product called Repreve, which is made out of recycled plastic bottles. The plastic is chopped into chips that then become fibers which are woven into fabric.

Repreve has been used in the Focus EV and Fusion interior fabrics. Now, the product is being used in F-150 seats—the equivalent of 30 plastic bottles per vehicle.

Before you say, “Yuck’’ or something like that, know that Repreve is used in fleece and performance gear by a number of popular brands, including Nike, The North Face, Patagonia, and Quiksilver.

Dependability or Usability?

It used to be that our automotive complaints centered on vibrations, wind noise, ignition problems, hesitation, tires, electronic shorts, or transmissions that didn’t shift right.

Now, it appears, we complain about Bluetooth connectivity and voice recognition issues.

That’s the finding from the J.D. Power 2015 US Vehicle Dependability Study. It shows that technology plays an increasingly important role in owners’ perceptions of overall vehicle reliability. The study was based on responses from 34,000 owners of 2012 vehicles.

Those feelings have an impact on the likelihood an owner will remain loyal to the brand.

The study, now in its 26th year, examines problems experienced by original owners of now-three-year-old cars—in this case 2012 models.

The fewer problems reported per 100 vehicles, the higher the rating. The study covers 177 specific symptoms covering 8 vehicle categories. The industry average was 1.47 problems per vehicle.

Bluetooth and voice recognition woes aren’t going away. They continue to be reflected in J.D. Power’s latest 90-day Initial Quality Study covering 2014 models.

“As we’ve seen in our Initial Quality Study, owners view in-vehicle technology issues as significant problems, and they typically don’t go away after the ownership honeymoon period is over,’’ says Renee Stephens,vice president of US automotive at J.D. Power.

“Furthermore, early indications from our upcoming 2015 US Tech Choice Study show that vehicle owner expectations of advanced technology capabilities are growing. Owners clearly want the latest technology in their vehicles, and they don’t hesitate to express their disapproval when it doesn’t work. Their definition of dependability is increasingly influenced by usability.’’

Some study findings.

• Among owners with Bluetooth pairing/connectivity problems, 55 percent say their vehicle wouldn’t recognize their phone and 31 percent say the phone wouldn’t automatically connect when they entered the vehicle. (Side note: For what it’s worth, in test driving several hundred vehicles over the past five years, I’ve always been able to pair my series of iPhones and only occasionally had to reconnect when subsequently reentering the vehicle).

• 30 percent of reported powertrain problems are the result of automatic transmission hesitation and/or rough shifting.

• Overall dependability is 147 problems per 100 cars or 1.47 per vehicle. That’s a pretty good industry rating, especially if it’s a fixable defect or malfunction as opposed to design flaw. Unfortunately, design flaws represented 6 out of 10 complaints.

• Lexus ranks No. 1 in the survey among brands for the fourth straight year with a score of only 89 problems per 100 cars. Buick moves up three places to No. 2 with a score of 110.

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