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Back in the nineties Ford ran a lot of ads about how quality was job one. But in the last twenty years their quality declined by a large amount at the same tim
by rmason 3mo ago
Back in the nineties Ford ran a lot of ads about how quality was job one. But in the last twenty years their quality declined by a large amount at the same time other brands were getting better. I say that as a lifelong fan of Ford, quality was why I left the brand two years ago.
- kortilla 3mo agoEbbs and flows with these companies. If you got used to driving in the 70s then the FORD meme was “Fix Or Repair Daily”.
- AceJohnny2 3mo agoIt's impressive all the recall notices I get on my 2020 Escape Hybrid. At this point I joke with my friends that they're love-letters from Ford. (most of them are for fairly innocuous stuff...)
- pmontra 3mo agoAnd yet all the time you spend performing those recalls should be annoying. Maybe you don't plan to eventually sell your car on the second hand market but if you do, a car without all the required recalls could have a lower value than one with all the recalls applied.
- AceJohnny2 3mo agoeh, every 6 months to a year I bring the car in to the dealer to handle the stack of pending recalls, during which I get a rental, courtesy of Ford. It's not much of a deal for me. Few of the issues I've experienced with the car were clearly tied to quality issues: 1) Battery died a few times, but maybe that was user error 2) squirrels/rats nibbled the engine cable harness, a not-uncommon occurrence in our area. Only 3) auto-unlock on passenger side being unreliable is clearly a quality/design issue. Honestly, I actually love the Escape. The pedal feel is very responsive in all driving modes, compared in particular to the 2020 Hybrid Rav4, which felt like driving a boat (maybe I didn't find the drive mode?), or the 2020 VW Tiguan which had a shockingly slow automatic transmission for an ostensibly "sporty" vehicle. And I'm not even a car guy. I also love its actual buttons on the dashboard, instead of the idiotic "everything on a huge touchscreen" that too many cars do nowadays.
- fn-mote 3mo ago> every 6 months to a year I bring the car in to the dealer to handle the stack of pending recalls The fact that you find this acceptable is amazing to me. Sounds like a complete failure of quality control.
- spockz 3mo agoCars here are inspected yearly anyway or you go change winter tires for summer tires. (Because we lack the place to store them in typical houses.) So you are at the garage anyway every 6 months to 12. Then they can also do the other stuff
- pjc50 3mo agoStill enjoying my 05 Focus, in which I have done zero recalls, although I did have to fix the persistent trunk leaks with bathroom sealant.
- lowbloodsugar 3mo agoIf a company is saying “X is job one” it’s because they suck at X. They sucked at quality. They still suck at quality.
- rmason 3mo agoActually in the latest J.D. Power initial quality ratings they took a big step up in quality. I think it was the first time in 15-20 years that they were on the list of recommended major brands. https://archive.is/VcL8c https://archive.is/VcL8c
- lazide 3mo agoJD power is pay to play. Ford just kicked in more money this year.
- DangitBobby 3mo agoI'm very skeptical of the initial quality studies. No idea how well predict long term (or even 5 year) quality.
- xprnio 3mo ago(As a non American) I remember hearing a joke that goes something like “How do you fix a Chevrolette? Buy a Ford”, but nowadays I guess a bike is a better option
- DaSHacka 3mo agoOr more realistically a Toyota, and their numbers are reflecting this.
- petersellers 3mo agoWhich numbers are those? Their sales numbers or their numbers of vehicle recalls due to defective engine manufacturing?
- kortilla 3mo agoThey destroyed their heavier truck reputation with this new Tundra unfortunately
- adgjlsfhk1 3mo agowhat's wrong with it?
- kenhwang 3mo agoThe new Tundra TTV6 had a manufacturing process defect that allowed shavings to get into the engine bearings, which causes catastrophic engine failure. They still don't have a solution to the problem. The shavings amount/size is supposedly common among all engine manufacturing processes, but the new engine design has such tight tolerances that it's now problematic.
- boc 3mo agoAppreciate my 2UZ-FE more every year.
- samudrijan 3mo ago
- morkalork 3mo agoThe same Ford whose bean counters caused them decades of reputational damage over skimping on rust protection? Seems like they haven't learned any lessons at all.
- nativeit 3mo agoReally? Ford’s quality in the last half of the 1990s was the poster child of cheap, vac-form plastics.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- kitd 3mo agoI think this may be a US thing. Fords built in Europe are pretty decent. Reliable (compared with most other makes), cheap parts and ubiquitous servicing. I've bought Fords (in the UK) for about the last 20 years and have in the main been very satisfied.
- alfiedotwtf 3mo agoFords have a really bad name in Australia. The cheapest Hyundai will outlast even a high end Ford. But in terms of reliability, here Toyota is king
- MaKey 3mo agoPutting timing belts in oil was quite a bad idea from them though.
- peterfirefly 3mo agoFord is not as protected from competition in Europe.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]