Hyundai has grabbed the headlines by topping the J.D. Power’s 2018 US Initial Quality Study or IQS. In the latest results released just a few days ago, Hyundai’s premium brand, Genesis managed to topple long-time leader Porsche in the Premium category while sister brands Kia and Hyundai took the top spots in the Non-Premium category pushing American, German, and Japanese makes down the order. But are the results all they’re cracked up to be?

To recall, IQS is done by J.D. Power, an independent marketing research company based in Los Angeles, California. The study measures new-vehicle quality at 90 days of ownership and measures 233 problems split into 8 basic categories: Exterior, Seats, Driving Experience, Engine/Transmission, Features/Controls/Display, Interior, Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning, and Audio/Communication/Entertainment/Navigation.

While, J.D. Power calls the IQS “an excellent predictor of new-vehicle quality” the main problem lies in the survey’s tendency to look at quality in a broad view rather than just simply looking at the absence of defects. The survey tries to capture things wrong in a vehicle, problems that may stem from a variety of things from a simple design issue to actual poor assembly quality.

As a result, IQS will put a faulty power window or a transmission that refuses to shift out of park in equal measure to poor Bluetooth pairing or brakes that generate too much brake dust. It doesn’t distinguish a minor annoyance from a major one and that muddles the results.

Granted that the study was originally crafted to capture problems at the assembly plant-level—things like poorly installed door trims, virtually every carmaker now has adopted a system that frees them from most mechanical faults. Thus, IQS nowadays have become much more subjective; much more along the lines of “my phone doesn’t want to pair with the Bluetooth system” instead of “my engine is leaking oil.” And as carmakers begin to adopt new technology and roll them out faster to mainstream vehicles, the most common complaint wouldn’t be about a suspension that broke into two but would be about a voice recognition system that didn’t work properly.

Naturally, these subjective “problems” aren’t manufacturing defects per se since they can be addressed simply by offering better customer tutorials, perhaps at the dealer level. As customers demand more and more technology, carmakers and dealers have to be there to help them adjust. The same is especially true for features that are new or unfamiliar to customers who have recently switched brands.

Thanks to J.D. Power’s strong brand recognition, they’re typically used by carmakers to laud the improvement in their products. Admittedly, Korean brands, particularly those under the Hyundai Group have come a long way. However, as consumers, the results of the IQS should be taken with a grain of salt. As carmakers face less and less assembly-related quality issues, the gap between true defects and design problems is closing rapidly. And with that, people are just starting to nitpick.