Thanks to “heavy-duty truck maintainers” reporting fewer engine-related problems, Caterpillar and Cummins ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Heavy-Duty Truck Engine/Transmission Study, which looked at engines used in vocational and P&D applications only.
According to J.D. Power, the study measures customer satisfaction with engines in two-year-old heavy-duty (Class 8) trucks by examining four factors: engine quality (30%); engine performance (26%); engine cost of ownership (22%); and engine warranty (22%). The 2007 study includes engines in '05 model-year trucks, the second model year impacted by the EPA Consent Decree that raised diesel engine emission standards.
J.D. Power said Cummins ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the heavy-engine vocational segment with an overall index score of 750 on a 1,000-point scale. “Cummins performs particularly well in the engine warranty, engine performance and cost of ownership factors,” noted the firm's press release. Caterpillar closely followed Cummins in this segment with a score of 747, performing particularly well in engine quality, said J.D. Power.
Caterpillar ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the heavy-engine pickup-and-delivery segment with an index score of 754, stated J.D. Power, which noted it performed “well across each of the four engine factors. Caterpillar performs particularly well in the engine quality and engine performance factors.”
