📝 UPDATE Dec 12th: My Letter to the Ford Executive Team: Submitted Customer Feedback Proposal and Response

[Hossfire]

Have to laugh out loud, and I'm only Toyo's for 33 years now. Refreshes, uh, no. "Let's see, new taillights this year? Headlights? We just did the grill 5 years ago...Oh, we could add Bluetooth...probably won't work well, but it's a new feature."

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”---Henry Ford

Toyota still lives this to a degree. I hated the Camry redesign of the early 2000s, but it made them a ton of money. They simplified the design (20% fewer parts) and were able to keep prices down to pick up market share.

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[Efthreeoh]

Still, it should have never left the paint shop, nor been allowed to enter Fords system via Receiving Inspection, if it really was done by a sub-contractor. No one is saying Fords system is broke. There are repetitive escapements. Process failures are bound to happen. The issue is these are allowed to get to the Customer, who is buying a product that is not per spec or design. Some may think "cosmetic" issues are minor. Many don't.

Wait, you are saying the tailgate is a complete subcontracted subassembly down to paint coverage? I'd have a difficult time believing that.

I'm saying cosmetic defects are indicators of an over-stressed manufacturing operation.

 

[North7]

Wait, you are saying the tailgate is a complete subcontracted subassembly down to paint coverage? I'd have a difficult time believing that.

I'm saying cosmetic defects are indicators of an over-stressed manufacturing operation.

All painting is done at MAP.

 

[AD-CLE]

FIFY

@North7 Thank you
SORRY @Cat wasnt paying attention to the gender. my bad

 

[Cat]

All painting is done at MAP.

Even worse scenario.

 

[Spartan]

Wow just read this original post...I had a Explorer Sport for 20 years and the quality was pretty good on it...went 250K miles before I sold it last year...switched to an Audi S4 while waiting for the Bronco news back in 2018.

I can tell you bar-none this Audi S4 is the best car/machine I've ever been in the QC/build quality is 2nd to none. My buddy who got a 2017 Mustang sat in my car when I got it and said his Mustang felt cheap after getting out of my S4.

I remember Steve Jobs specifically talking about why he wouldn't build his Apple products in the USA and quality/speed were the issues.

The bigger issue is QC with our companies here. And this is what worries me with getting back into a FORD at this point because it seems the QC of this Bronco is lacking...I'm literally looking at some of these pictures/posts and cannot believe some of the stuff escaping QC...that's just the product of bad employees (or over-worked ones). I'm hoping it's the latter but some of this stuff not sure how it even slipped by them.

 

[Cat]

Wait, you are saying the tailgate is a complete subcontracted subassembly down to paint coverage? I'd have a difficult time believing that.

I'm saying cosmetic defects are indicators of an over-stressed manufacturing operation.

No, i said, " if it was really done by a subcontractor".

 

[kkurni]

What is the bronco executive email?

Will ask them as well with my order

 

[Efthreeoh]

No, i said, " if it was really done by a subcontractor".

But the tailgate subcontractor scenario is a misnomer, the tailgate is produced (i.e. sheet metal stamped, formed, welded etc.) and painted in-house, so it is a different quality control protocol in play; receiving inspection vs. manufacturing.

The interesting and pertinent point is how the tailgate got out of the paint line half-painted and onto the assembly line. You and I both agree there was a quality control step that was missed early in the body-assembly (paint) process. What I am saying is farther down the assembly line, there are no OC procedures to stop and pull the entire in-process chassis build out of production. At a minimum, somewhere on the line, the manufacturing defect should have been flagged so post-production paint correction could have been made at the factory prior to shipment to the dealership; I've previously suggested there is no assembly line process to make such a flagging.

At worst, the dealership should have noted the missing paint during pre-delivery inspection and flagged the order for correction. The dealership should have contacted its local/regional Ford rep for resolution (i.e. to get approval to paint the interior of the tailgate as a warranty charge-back to Ford). While it is neat to have super-visibility into the vehicle production process and be informed by the manufacturer on each "stage" of production and end-customer delivery, you also get the warts too and have to be willing to accept them. Perhaps under the hyper-sensitive social-media situation of delayed production, MIC tops, Dirt Mountain, etc. the dealer didn't want confrontation from the order holder to try and explain why his Bronco arrived at the dealership, but end-delivery was being delayed by days or a week while the paint correction was made.

ISO9001 is not applied at the dealership level...

 

[Cat]

But the tailgate subcontractor scenario is a misnomer, the tailgate is produced (i.e. sheet metal stamped, formed, welded etc.) and painted in-house, so it is a different quality control protocol in play; receiving inspection vs. manufacturing.

The interesting and pertinent point is how the tailgate got out of the paint line half-painted and onto the assembly line. You and I both agree there was a quality control step that was missed early in the body-assembly (paint) process. What I am saying is farther down the assembly line, there are no OC procedures to stop and pull the entire in-process chassis build out of production. At a minimum, somewhere on the line, the manufacturing defect should have been flagged so post-production paint correction could have been made at the factory prior to shipment to the dealership; I've previously suggested there is no assembly line process to make such a flagging.

At worst, the dealership should have noted the missing paint during pre-delivery inspection and flagged the order for correction. The dealership should have contacted its local/regional Ford rep for resolution (i.e. to get approval to paint the interior of the tailgate as a warranty charge-back to Ford). While it is neat to have super-visibility into the vehicle and production process and be informed by the manufacturer on each "stage" of production and end-customer delivery, you also get the warts too and have to be willing to accept them. Perhaps under the hyper-sensitive social-media situation of delayed production, MIC tops, Dirt Mountain, etc. the dealer didn't want confrontation from the order holder to try and explain why his Bronco arrived at the dealership, but end-delivery was being delayed by days or a week while the paint correction was made.

ISO9001 is not applied at the dealership level...

We agree.

 

[Carolina Jim]

What I am saying is farther down the assembly line, there are no OC procedures to stop and pull the entire in-process chassis build out of production.

Each company decides their own tolerance for sloppy work. As Ford expands their production processes to include EV batteries - you know, the things that spontaneously combust in your garage - Ford's long history for mediocre quality should be a red flag.

 

[indio22]

New gremlin to report for your list. My 2.7 BL will shutdown via start/stop at a light but then shut down completely when I let my foot off the brake to go. Gives the message “manual restart required”. It’ll start up only after you apply brake, shift into park, shut off the power, turn back on and the shift back into drive.

That bites. The new car nanny stuff is bad enough when things are working.

On my old '65 Mustang, I disconnected the C4 trans starter interlink, and could start in any gear even when moving.

 

[Efthreeoh]

We agree.

Any chance you knew or ran into Pam Drew during your tenure at Boeing? Just curious.

 

[Cat]

Any chance you knew or ran into Pam Drew during your tenure at Boeing? Just curious.

No, we were in different divisions.

 

[Bronco21fan]

New gremlin to report for your list. My 2.7 BL will shutdown via start/stop at a light but then shut down completely when I let my foot off the brake to go. Gives the message “manual restart required”. It’ll start up only after you apply brake, shift into park, shut off the power, turn back on and the shift back into drive.

Take it to the dealer so the problem is documented and fixed

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