Ford specialist has plan to overhaul culture, stop warranty claim finger-pointing

[9zero1790]

ford made its bed. let them sleep in it. the idea of paying someone more money to fix a money problem - ?. they could save a lot of money and grab two of the older employees of the assembly lines and a couple janitors plus who ever delivers coffee and ask them what the problem is. my next new vehicle will likely be another brand. unless ford gets stuff back in check im shopping else where. the ford warranty is a joke until they get dealers to be ethical. the dealer prices are clown shoes and ford allows it despite saying they would fix it. im not paying over msrp for a car. id rather walk my fat ass to work. supply and demands. they meet my demands or i go to another supply lol.

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[Gastationslurpee]

It's really a disappointment the way ford has gone. when they rolled out the coyote and scorpion 6.7 I really thought that would be a turning point for the company. BUT it's clear they only care about units sold. My 96 bronco with 260k original bottom end and Trans still runs like a bat out of hell (paint not withstanding). I don't expect my ranger or fiesta st to break 150k to be honest. This is just a lesson in corporate loyalty. They don't care about the individual. Everyone would be wise to find the best fit for their lifestyle and budget, don't let old loyalties cloud your judgment like they have mine. As much as I love ford for their innovations and truly impressive vehicle's, I'd rather get my Family there in a boring, ugly, slow, old toyota for my next purchase.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Vehicle brand loyalist are just as much a cult of personality as firearm brand loyalist.

It is just flat weird and bizarre.

You know who you should have priority loyalism to? Yourself. Anyone who forgoes their own personal interest in favor of a third party, a for profit corporation at that, and I am sorry to be rather blunt is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I can't even begin to understand the thought process of people who get corporate logos tattoo'd on their bodies and I say that as someone who is fully sleeved from wrist to collar bone to chest.

The movie Idiocracy comes to mind. "Ow my balls!" and "Welcome to Costco, I love you."

Great documentary by the way, I highly recommend people watch it.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Oh here is a good one for you; Disney Loyalists

Holy crap. I try and ponder how people can be so stupid and it is impossible for me to work out.

" Soon after that, Insider published a poll that found those most likely to say they would "definitely" or "probably" visit a Disney theme park in 2022 had annual incomes of $75,000 or less, while those making between $150,000 and $199,999 were least likely to show interest in a Disney vacation. "

Imagine that, as if there is some sort of connection between income and impulsive behavior.

"Muh disney bro!"

How does all this tie into this thread? People are easily brainwashed by corporations. That is how.

 

[Friday yet?]

You know who you should have priority loyalism to? Yourself. Anyone who forgoes their own personal interest in favor of a third party, a for profit corporation at that, and I am sorry to be rather blunt is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Morning Jack! Happy Friday to you.

While I see your point, and agree with it mostly, I must also disagree a bit. Being loyal to yourself, at least in my case, means doing my best to ensure that my hard earned money gets me the best bang for the buck. We/Consumers spend ridiculous (my opinion) sums on a new vehicle. Hell, my soon to be here Ranger is going to cost me $45K, plus interest. Excited I may be, but that amount of money is serious business... at least here in my house. And I do NOT make that sort of commitment lightly. Not to mention that I have to justify such an outlay to the warden. And here in my world the warden is a real tight wad. Not complaining! It's a good thing. But that woman can make a dollar cry uncle. As such I'd better have my ducks in a row when laying out the case for such an expenditure.

Why did I first become a "Ford guy?" Very technical answer here so bear with me... my Dad was a Ford/Mercury guy. His entire life. Told you it was technical. So as a kid I began the "I'm a Ford guy!" journey. No doubt my childhood attitude was "Good enough for Pop, damn sure good enough for me" or some such Dad admiring thing.

But, and here's the critical piece, why have I remained a Ford guy all these many years later? Because every single Ford product that I've ever spent my money on has served me well. 100%. Period. Not one single exception. Had they not I would have looked at other brands. And the warden? Prior to her accepting me as a case study, she'd had multiple brands of vehicles. Some good, some not so good. And after all of the years of making me a better person? She, SHE often tells people that she is a Ford person. Why? Because of our first hand trouble free experience. (Really hope I'm not jinxing my Ranger.)

I'm a car/truck guy. I read about them, all brands, more than pretty much any other subject. Try to keep up on the good, the bad, and the ugly. So it's not like as a Ford guy I just stick my head in the sand. I'll even add.... while I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, I am pretty f'ing sharp.

In closing I'd also like to set the record straight. While most here view me as a Ford guy, I actually like, and would purchase, any one of three brands. My favorites, in no particular order, are:

1. Ford
2. Ford
3. Ford


Now back to our regular programing...

 

[OFC Ranger]

Morning Jack! Happy Friday to you.

While I see your point, and agree with it mostly, I must also disagree a bit. Being loyal to yourself, at least in my case, means doing my best to ensure that my hard earned money gets me the best bang for the buck. We/Consumers spend ridiculous (my opinion) sums on a new vehicle. Hell, my soon to be here Ranger is going to cost me $45K, plus interest. Excited I may be, but that amount of money is serious business... at least here in my house. And I do NOT make that sort of commitment lightly. Not to mention that I have to justify such an outlay to the warden. And here in my world the warden is a real tight wad. Not complaining! It's a good thing. But I'd better have my ducks in a row when laying out the case for such an expenditure.

Why did I first become a "Ford guy?" Very technical answer here so bear with me... my Dad was a Ford/Mercury guy. His entire life. Told you it was technical. So as a kid I began the "I'm a Ford guy!" journey. No doubt my childhood attitude was "Good enough for Pop, damn sure good enough for me" or some such Dad admiring thing.

But, and here's the critical piece, why have I remained a Ford guy all these many years later? Because every single Ford product that I've ever spent my money on has served me well. 100%. Period. Not one single exception. Had they not I would have looked at other brands. And the warden? Prior to her accepting me as a case study, she'd had multiple brands of vehicles. Some good, some not so good. And after all of the years of making me a better person? She, SHE often tells people that she is a Ford person. Why? Because of our first hand trouble free experience. (Really hope I'm not jinxing my Ranger.)

I'm a car/truck guy. I read about them, all brands, more than pretty much any other subject. Try to keep up on the good, the bad, and the ugly. So it's not like as a Ford guy I just stick my head in the sand. I'll even add.... while I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, I am pretty f'ing sharp.

In closing I'd also like to set the record straight. While most here view me as a Ford guy, I actually like, and would purchase, any one of three brands. My favorites, in no particular order, are:

1. Ford
2. Ford
3. Ford


Now back to our regular programing...

Don't get the wrong idea, I fully expect a reasonable human being to continue to purchase the same brand of something if their anecdotal experience is a positive one. I am one of those people too. The same can be applied when a persons anecdotal personal experiences are negative ones.

The problem is Billy Bob bought a Ford, cause his dad and grandpa before him bought Fords, and he tells everyone he meets how much better Ford is than Chevy, but Billy Bob has never owned a Chevy, or Billy Bob's friend Jed had a Chevy and Jed said it was a POS.

Most people don't want to do real product research, they want to go read a bunch of anecdotal stories from other people. This is a terrible strategy when making an "informed decision".

 

[subquark]

It's like everyone is pointing fingers at the next guy (supplier) and no one wants to take responsibility. It's a decent size list too and adds up to quite a bit of money, almost 20 Billion. ?

I only point my finger @AzScorpion for all my mod spending! And getting me hooked on graphene ...

Great article and I hope Farley can get this in place—we have a similar culture in my day job, lots of siloed departments that are excellent at what they do but we miss opportunities with a lack of cohesion.

 

[Friday yet?]

I only point my finger @AzScorpion for all my mod spending! And getting me hooked on graphene ...

Great article and I hope Farley can get this in place—we have a similar culture in my day job, lots of siloed departments that are excellent at what they do but we miss opportunities with a lack of cohesion.

OMG! This! Just perfectly described my place of employment.

Heck, some of the silos where I work are so entrenched they feel like part of the nuclear arsenal.

Nah, I'm not looking forward to retirement.

 

[TJC]

Don't see the Ranger at all mentioned in that article, halfway through it.

Don't get too comfortable. Corporate culture permeates and affects all products.

I am absolutely convinced the driveshafts in the Rangers are substandard and adversely affect transmission life. I have very smooth shifts now and that was not the case prior to the addition of my single piece driveshaft.

I know that this is an ancedotal example, and that I have no engineering study to back my statement up, but that does not negate the fact that the difference in my truck's performance is simply remarkable.

There is now less stress on the transmission, as the lurching, shuddering, and jerking are all - completely gone. None of the above traits are good for clutch plate and /or drive line longevity. These effects may be minor, but they are cumulative. You keep knocking on a rock and it will eventually crack!

And it does not take an automotive engineer to figure this out.

This is but one example.

Employees work to the objectives that management determines. The person holding your pay stub is king. A conscientious employee will speak up when a problem presents itself, but if they are threatened for doing so, the employee will fall into line very quickly. It simply is not worth risking your job by confronting management. After all, management knows best!

Corporate (Actually All) culture begins at the top.

- T

 

[Jason B]

There are two ways to look at Ford's spending on warranties.
1. Quality is lacking, so there is more that has to get fixed.
2. Ford actually fixes the problem, whereas other companies just put band aids on it hoping it will last until the end of the warranty.

 

[Motorpsychology]

Not a huge gm fan but there is something to be said about the positive changes Mary Barra has made at gm, and part of that may be that she has been given time to succeed while ford seems to quickly change ceos. Barra said from day one she was intent on making cultural changes and eliminating stovepiping in the gm culture.

Before Mary Barra During the Rick Waggoner days, they had a separate private express elevator bank in the Renaissance Center for the execs, so they never or rarely interacted with the mere mortals. In the 60's-early'70's, Ed Cole, who engineered the Corvair and Vega, remarked that the Company was too big to really govern, you could only sit back and watch it happen.

The Ranger HVAC debacle stems from a design flaw, IMO. Cabin temperature is regulated by blend doors that regulate how much air passes over the heater core and ducted to the cabin; the heater core being supplied full time. So you have 210-220º heat in the too-thin/flexible plenum all the time, warping it, causing the blend doors to fail. Apparently, this is cheaper than having a step motor-controlled ball valve under the hood to regulate how much coolant flows in & out of the heater core.

Phil can probably correct this, but I think that in some cases, known flaws are approved for production. A case where the cost of better parts is higher than the forecasted warranty cost : cheaper to make it wrong, and then replace the bad ones. Oops.
Hypothetically:
To save costs, an OEM approves a supplier bid for a run of say, 500,000 heater plenums.
The design calls for the material to be of X thickness & density. The supplier says we can't do it unless; a. we increase the run to 1 million to spread unit costs over a longer time or, b. save on molding and material costs by making it only Y t & d or some combination of a & b. So Y is approved and you have what turns out be lousy HVAC systems that are too costly to reengineer mid-run, so some sort of bandaid fix is done to the defective part to hopefully get them through the warranty period. I think this goes on in all aspects of product development and execution; recall the ignition lock return spring lawsuits at GM.

 

[myothercarizahearse]

Don't get the wrong idea, I fully expect a reasonable human being to continue to purchase the same brand of something if their anecdotal experience is a positive one. I am one of those people too. The same can be applied when a persons anecdotal personal experiences are negative ones.

The problem is Billy Bob bought a Ford, cause his dad and grandpa before him bought Fords, and he tells everyone he meets how much better Ford is than Chevy, but Billy Bob has never owned a Chevy, or Billy Bob's friend Jed had a Chevy and Jed said it was a POS.

Most people don't want to do real product research, they want to go read a bunch of anecdotal stories from other people. This is a terrible strategy when making an "informed decision".

like harley riders... goldwings are far superior

 

[dtech]

Before Mary Barra During the Rick Waggoner days, they had a separate private express elevator bank in the Renaissance Center for the execs, so they never or rarely interacted with the mere mortals. In the 60's-early'70's, Ed Cole, who engineered the Corvair and Vega, remarked that the Company was too big to really govern, you could only sit back and watch it happen.

The Ranger HVAC debacle stems from a design flaw, IMO. Cabin temperature is regulated by blend doors that regulate how much air passes over the heater core and ducted to the cabin; the heater core being supplied full time. So you have 210-220º heat in the too-thin/flexible plenum all the time, warping it, causing the blend doors to fail. Apparently, this is cheaper than having a step motor-controlled ball valve under the hood to regulate how much coolant flows in & out of the heater core.

Phil can probably correct this, but I think that in some cases, known flaws are approved for production. A case where the cost of better parts is higher than the forecasted warranty cost : cheaper to make it wrong, and then replace the bad ones. Oops.
Hypothetically:
To save costs, an OEM approves a supplier bid for a run of say, 500,000 heater plenums.
The design calls for the material to be of X thickness & density. The supplier says we can't do it unless; a. we increase the run to 1 million to spread unit costs over a longer time or, b. save on molding and material costs by making it only Y t & d or some combination of a & b. So Y is approved and you have what turns out be lousy HVAC systems that are too costly to reengineer mid-run, so some sort of bandaid fix is done to the defective part to hopefully get them through the warranty period. I think this goes on in all aspects of product development and execution; recall the ignition lock return spring lawsuits at GM.

Exactly and I'm somewhat surprised there hasn't been a class action suit about the HVAC , also the space and weight factors come into play in the design - but I'd much rather have manual controls if a reliable ACC cannot be produced, I've owned 6 vehicles with ACC and only 2 of them have worked satisfactorily.

 

[AzScorpion]

Another recall just came out this morning.

Ford recalls 462,000 SUVs over faulty rear camera

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/ford-recalls-462-000-suvs-161100674.html

In this recall, certain Ford and Lincoln vehicles equipped with the 360-degree parking camera could lose the rear-view camera feed. The newest recall affects some 462,000 vehicles worldwide, Reuters reports, including 382,759 in the U.S. under NHTSA recall 23V-022. The recall applies to the 2020-2023 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, as well as the 2020-2022 Lincoln Corsair.

Ford told NHTSA that it first became aware in October 2021 of a small number of complaints of a blue screen from the rear camera feed on vehicles that had already been repaired. Ford worked with suppliers to track down the potential issue, and said warranty claims remained low until December 2022, when it started to see more claims for blue screens in vehicles produced after the last remedy, at which point Ford ordered a stop-ship on those vehicle lines. Ford said it’s aware of 17 minor accident reports related to the issue, but no injuries.

In addition to this recall, Ford has had other camera issues in the past few years that resulted in recalls. NHTSA recall 22V-151 applied to 2021-2022 Edge SUVs experiencing “a distorted, black and white, or discolored screen” when reversing. 2021-2022 Ford Broncos had an issue where the rear-view camera would remain on even after the vehicle was put back into a forward gear. Last year, Ford recalled 330,000 Mustangs for faulty cameras, as well as 277,000 Super Duty trucks over foggy rear-view cameras. In 2021, NHTSA opened an investigationinto whether Ford was slow to recall more than 620,000 vehicles for faulty cameras.

 

[TJC]

Exactly and I'm somewhat surprised there hasn't been a class action suit about the HVAC , also the space and weight factors come into play in the design - but I'd much rather have manual controls if a reliable ACC cannot be produced, I've owned 6 vehicles with ACC and only 2 of them have worked satisfactorily.

I actually prefer the 4G Ranger AC controls over the 5G Ranger outfitted with Dual controls. The cab in my SCAB doesn't warrant this complexity... Simply another possible point of failure. I also don't need to know the temperature in the cab. I set the AC to my comfort zone.

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