• Detroit Free Press, Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:51 AM

All three Detroit automakers got better at pleasing customers during the past year, according to the 2009 American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Tom Walsh reports that Ford did the best, with its approval rating jumping 5% for the year and 10% over the past four years. Chrysler's overall satisfaction scores jumped 4% and General Motors' by 2%.

Claes Fornell, a professor who heads the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan, which does the ACSI study, says that consumers are finally recognizing that Detroit has narrowed the quality gap with its foreign rivals. Another factor is that there are a lot of good deals out there. But Fornell also points out that when sales and market share drops, it's logical that each company's most dissatisfied customers are the ones who are leaving.

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