Gary Deegan's 10th minute goal settled matters to leave Mick Harford still waiting to celebrate his first win in charge.
QPR tested keeper Keiren Westwood in the early exchanges with a couple of in-swinging corners from Lee Cook which he palmed away from underneath his own crossbar.
Cook's fifth-minute corner found Matthew Connelly at the far post but his close-range shot flew wide.
Coventry went in front in the 10th minute when Westwood's long kick dropped to Clinton Morrison on the edge of the box.
The ball broke to Deegan and his deflected 20-yard shot nestled in the bottom corner of the net for his first goal for the club.
Deegan was again in the middle of the action when he was adjudged to have fouled Alejandro Faurlin 25 yards from goal, but Akos Buzsaky's free-kick drifted inches wide.
Chances were few and far between for the reminder of the first half with QPR's final ball often letting the visitors down.
Harford made a change ten minutes after the re-start when the ineffective Tamas Priskin was replaced by Antonio German.
Westwood had a routine save three minutes later from Cook's 22-yard free-kick which was awarded after the skipper had been fouled by Deegan.
With QPR starting to dominate, Freddie Sears came on for Morrison after joining Coventry on loan from West Ham United this week, while Adel Taarabt replaced Buzsaky.
Westwood was forced to make a one-handed stop from his own team-mate Leon Barnett when he struggled to deal with Cook's free-kick from the right.
Coventry captain Stephen Wright tried his luck from 35 yards with a stinging drive which on-loan keeper Carl Ikeme saved.