Ford's Plan for Fixing Quality - CEO Reponds

A sign of leadership is owning up to mistakes and working on game plan to fix them instead of making excuses or pushing them off to the next CEO. Pushing problems down to dealership and sales reps was never sustainable and Ford seems to have a good game plan for setting itself up to be able to compete, for consumer and shareholder expectations for excellence. The next couple of years will be interesting to see how their quality fixes unfold. "You have to set up a culture shift, a performance reward system where every engineering manager, purchasing component manager, every plant manager is fully accountable for the quality and cost of their work. We're still not at the world-class levels that, not only our customers expect, but, more importantly, what we expect out of ourselves." CEO - Jim Farley

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/15/ford-jim-farley-quality-issues

Launch and Line Quality Changes:

• "We have a 25-mile pre-delivery quality shakedown" — where employees drive the vehicle 25 miles and scrutinize its performance as a customer might — "and we drove 28,000 Super Dutys, and 100 more each day to assure quality of the product. We pre-drove every vehicle to find any kind of defect.
• "We now have added higher mileage, real-world testing during the launch. We have tripled the number of trucks in trailer towing tests, which is really critical to Super Duty. That's nearly four times as many as we typically do in our durability testing.
• "We now have a lot more quality checks on the product line in both (factory) locations. We've added now AI (artificial intelligence) on the line to catch quality issues that aren't visible to the human eye.
• "Simply put, you are not going to see us launch product until it meets or exceeds the highest quality standards that we've ever had. This is what we're doing for all vehicles, like we're going through now for (the new) Mustang and other upcoming exciting products."

Owning Up to Problems & Culture:

• "For our management team, quality is our No. 1 priority. And our overall quality today is improving. However, we're still not at the world-class levels that, not only our customers expect, but, more importantly, what we expect out of ourselves."
• "We are starting to see our initial quality improve markedly in North America. We're taking a range of actions, as you would expect, to eliminate any defects in the first place. And we are totally focused on finding and fixing issues that do come up. The way we portray this inside the company is, we always want to put quality first because that's the most fundamental commitment to our customers, and our customers, we want to treat like family."
• "It requires a lot of end-to-end changes, from our supply chain, our manufacturing and engineering system, to the way we test, and also the way we find root cause and solve that across all the different disciplines in the industrial system. I want to give you maybe an example of what's changing at Ford, what we do differently."

Great Quote from Farley:
"The capability atrophied in engineering, supply chain and manufacturing at Ford," Farley said.

Having worked in the auto industry I have had the pleasure of working with former Ford folks and great talent is there, just matter of unleashing it in the right way. This industry is a pressure cooker, but customer feedback is gold that helps drive innovation and a higher standard of quality. As owners, keep your expectations high and keep providing feedback to Ford, it matters. The adults in the room at Ford appreciate it.

Well listen Jim, charging people a premium for a “B&O” upgraded sound system that is just fake branded paper crap isn’t a good look. On top of that, it rattles to all hell. It shouldn’t take some employee driving a vehicle 25 miles to figure this out…

Farley absolutely sucks - period. His ideas and agendas are not inline with the buyers. The arrogance of his electrification push onto buyers and the subsequent failure of electrification has been comical to watch. He is purely reactionary and has nothing under his leadership for anyone to hang their hats on. A good, or a great leader, would have made sure all the problems surrounding Ford right now, didn't happen in the first place. He's like Biden and the border, its such a train wreck that he has no choice but to finally acknowledge it publicly. I cannot understand how he is still in the position he is in to this day.

Yeah, the asshat needs to be fired. Should have happened long ago.

Ford has already taken a severe blow with their investments in electrification. The demand isn't there. The infrastructure isn't there.

https://www.wardsauto.com/industry-news/ford-2023-profits-tempered-electric-vehicle-losses#
EV losses ~$5B!!!

You have a very negative culture at Chicago Assembly. Its the complete opposite to any Japanese Plant even the ones in North America. I don't see that changing soon. After the George Floyd Fentanyl overdose fiasco the Police Interceptor Utility production was completely slowed because the internal sabotage was so bad every PIU had to be taken to the TDM Mod Center and given a complete second QC before it was shipped. This may actually still be done given some of the current problems.

Chicago plant was a long term client of mine. Everything you hear about it is true. Complete shit show during and after the riots. I am amazed I have had so few issues with my 22 given my experiences there.


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And then there is their F1 sponsorship with Rebull, that money would have been better spent fixing their house. Hopefully they use the current RB issues to cancel the agreement and save face before their branded power units start blowing up in 2026....

The only issue Red Bull has is Max's father. Farley should have kept his nose out of the situation.

1000%

“Employees drive 25 miles” This will go bad

Unless they are changing the procedure this was always the case. There are several employees who are QC Analysts. They have the ability to pull vehicles off the production line and take them in for an extra level of QC. Water test, shake test, vibration test, wind test, and road test. This has been around for years. You get a special sticker on the vehicle when it arrives at the dealership stating that the vehicle was given extra QC and was driven by QC employees. Not everyone at the CAP can do this driving. Mine had the sticker on it.

Yeah and that has gone really well.

If they didnt do that, it might be worse than you claim

I love that the push for electrification is seen as the reason quality is bad on vehicles - leave the political bias at home.

It has everything to do with companies sacrificing quality in the name of profits. No one said "Build electric cars, and also build the rest like sh**".
Electrification isn't the reason they subtracted 25% of the rear diff bolts to save money on the 4 cylinder Explorer, then say "it's good enough for the 6 cylinder too!" - that would be an a**hole executive trying for a big bonus. Ford knows how to make a sturdy vehicle, one that lasts for years --- but they chose not to.

We had the same problem when they made the new Bay Bridge section. The 2nd best bid was an American company with a proven track record in the Bay, using American steel.
The "best bid" was from a Chinese company that makes cranes, not bridges, using Chinese steel.
They used the Chinese company so a politician could get a gold star for saving $5 million dollars - and in 5 years the inherent flaws costed $5M to fix and will continually fail during its lifetime.

I put the blame squarely on those in charge who are chasing profit at the cost of everything else, not "the green agenda".

There are issues with quality control at the Chicago factory. And there are issues at some Ford dealers who receive the Explorers from the Chicago factory.
Vehicles with exterior and interior obvious flaws leave the factory arrive at the dealers and the dealer Ive delt with just puts them on the lot.
They dont even lower the air pressure in the tires to recommended level.
I bought a new XLT in 2023 with flaws that I discovered. Like a smear in the paint on a rear door under the gloss coat. Like a carpet that was not attached under the center console. Came out while vacuuming. A bracket on the rear gate missing its screws.
Some how the factory doesnt catch this stuff in their QC process.
The dealer fixed everything I found. Makes me wonder what I didnt find mechanically?
Anyhow, I liked the XLT in spite of the flaws.. so I traded in for an ST in April. 2024 ST
This one too has interior and exterior flaws.
I like the car, but I cant recommend Ford to anyone. Because the quality at Ford is no longer number one. Seems to be an after thought.
The dealer will only fix what you find. I spent a lot of money and was expecting quality and the stupid little obvious flaws that Ford doesnt seem to care about, leaves a bad taste in the customers mouth. They make what seems like a good product but after you get it, you find stupid little things where they let it slip by. For over $60,000.00 Ford ought to make sure every vehicle that leaves the Chicago plant is perfect.
Its shaping their reputation for poor quality.
I'l give my ST a go. I hope they paid attention to detail under the hood?
Ford shoots themselves in the foot with lousy workmanship.
With lackluster QC. The dealer wont fix it unless you find it.
They wont even lower the tire air pressure before you drive it off the lot.
Maybe Ford does not care about having return customers?
Ford Quality is not happening on these explorers. Sad to say. I was expecting more from my ST but its more of the same. I like the car but come on.
Too much money for slip shod workmanship. Overall I like the ST, but, the whole experience of having to find and have fixed things the factory or the dealer should have fixed before selling it to me, soils the Ford experience.
Today I opened rear passenger side door today noticed gasket at the top hanging down bowed in the middle. I pushed back into place and pushed down hard around the whole gasket. I could hear air bubbles popping out. Seems like it was not attached with any pressure so the adhesive would grip. Put pressure on all four door gaskets and heard same popping as adhesive took hold. This kind of thing is poor worksmanship and lackluster QC. Way to go Ford!!! What ever you are doing to fix it, you better get to it.

This an ST built in Jan 2024

Something anyone conplaining about tire pressure being too high -- Fpr a performance vehicle, it's a sales tactic.
Overinflated tires spin more easily - breaking traction, chirping, smoking, etc.

The other things are true, the tire inflation is subjective.
(Hell yes a $60K vehicle should be spotless)

Apparently, they ship them from the factory with tire pressures in the 40's
to prevent flat spots while they sit around. The fact that the dealer does not even check the pressure and lower it to 33 before selling it or after the sale is just emblematic of how things are done. Or not done. Mine had its pressure at 46psi. Took it in for service. They gave me a print out checklist of what they checked. The checklist stated 35 psi in each tire.
Got in the car.... pressure was at 46 still. I asked the service guy how I was supposed to have any confidence in anything else on the checklist since they didnt check the tire pressure? Ford service?
My experience with Ford in the last 11 months has been a Charlie Foxtrot.
They need people checking every car that leaves the Chicago factory.
Because right now, they miss a lot. And the dealers look at nothing.

Ford... where Quality used to be Number 1.

Then how about you tell Ford to take the air pressure drop procedure out of their delivery/shipping instructions?.......you know since its subjective and not a big deal.

It actually is a big deal, its also another example of workers at CAP saying "we dont give a SH$T about your Explorer"

CoHPhasor

My comment angered you? lol
My ST was a demo had just under 3000 miles on it.
So it was driven around 3000 miles with over inflated tires.
Not good for the tires. And the rides way too stiff.
They dont check the tire pressure at my dealer. They dont check or look for quality flaws.
I take it in for service and find they didnt check the tire pressure even though the checklist states they did.
If you do a search on here for tire pressure you will find many people experienced the same thing.
Their dealers never lowered the pressure.
Its a big deal and its symbolic of all the rest of the things that are not checked or taken care of
before the sale.
Bottom line is, if you dont notice it, it does not get fixed.
Hows all that build customer confidence?
FORD is dropping the ball.
Im not happy about that having paid over $60,000.00 for the vehicle.
Not making payments. I bought it. And I expected better.
What about spending that kind of money and finding all these little flaws
and having to repeatedly take the car back and have it all fixed.
That is not what you expect when you shell out that kind of money for a new vehicle.
That is why Ford says they have a plan for fixing quality.
Because its a problem.
Instead of having a plan, which is fine,
they ought to be actually fixing their quality problems asap.
Problems from the factory to the dealer.
Im a new FORD owner for the past 11 months.
Two explorers. This has been my experience and it leaves me shaking my head.
I told my salessman that I sure hope the ST does not have any of the flaws my XLT did.
He said oh no well be sure to make this one right.
Its just as goofed up in different ways than my XLT was but still goofed up.
Its a factory quality problem and a dealer problem in
that the dealers dont really preflight their vehicles before selling them.
At least mine didnt. And all of this leaves me wondering about the mechanical s of the car?
What else was done in a slip shod way that I cant see?
I rekon I will find out.
Yesterday I found unattached door gaskets, which I fixed by putting back in place and applying pressure to the gasket
so the adhesive could take hold. All four doors had unattached spots which I applied pressure to.
Seems like that will do it.