Ford.............

[allthrottleandsomebottle]

Always bad when steam is rolling out of the hood......explorer plastic heater control valve nipple broke in a hose after 19 years of coolant and to close to the exhaust manifold.....good thing we were 5 miles from home! Didn't take long to fix.
there are (4) ports on this sucker as it also goes to the top of the oil filer.....

[Rodnok1]

So your Exploder exploded did it...

[Dan47]

19 years of service doesn’t seem all that bad? I’ve heard many manufacturers build their stuff to fail at about 10 years now.

[MadInNc]

BIL had same happen on his Exploder about a month ago.....

Plastic .....jeez

[Lakeside49]

Every single non-maintenance (belts, hoses, pads, etc.) part that goes into a Ford is tested at the upper margin of “typical” or in many cases, “severe service” (I.e. tradesmen, and police applications as Explorer, F-Series, etc.) are tested to a minimum of 150,000 miles - some are simulated in “real world” labs/fixtures, and most are are actually driven in hot (AZ) and cold (MN) test conditions. Exterior components must endure 200 hrs. of continuous direct salt-spray with zero corrosion. Easily, 2/3 of prospective Ford component suppliers - often their CEO’s - pack up and walk out in disgust that the durability specs are “unfairly too ridiculous and expensive to achieve” (requiring capital to restructure their aftermarket or OE processes that their existing OE customers seem very pleased with. The design spec won’t budge. If data shows premature failure in a component in the field (again, F-Series, police. etc.) the spec is raised. These folks can’t afford to have any downtime and a lot of Ford’s engineer’s family earn/ed their living in the trades and understand the ramifications of a breakdown (and, wrath of a family member). You’d be surprised how driven the company is to continuously improve quality.
When the Fusion handily beat the Accord in its first or second year nobody in the media picked it up. Doesn’t matter.

[allthrottleandsomebottle]

yeah I know it should have gone long ago........I **** with the GM guys about 20 years....

[Lakota]

Originally Posted by Lakeside49

Every single non-maintenance (belts, hoses, pads, etc.) part that goes into a Ford is tested at the upper margin of “typical” or in many cases, “severe service” (I.e. tradesmen, and police applications as Explorer, F-Series, etc.) are tested to a minimum of 150,000 miles - some are simulated in “real world” labs/fixtures, and most are are actually driven in hot (AZ) and cold (MN) test conditions. Exterior components must endure 200 hrs. of continuous direct salt-spray with zero corrosion. Easily, 2/3 of prospective Ford component suppliers - often their CEO’s - pack up and walk out in disgust that the durability specs are “unfairly too ridiculous and expensive to achieve” (requiring capital to restructure their aftermarket or OE processes that their existing OE customers seem very pleased with. The design spec won’t budge. If data shows premature failure in a component in the field (again, F-Series, police. etc.) the spec is raised. These folks can’t afford to have any downtime and a lot of Ford’s engineer’s family earn/ed their living in the trades and understand the ramifications of a breakdown (and, wrath of a family member). You’d be surprised how driven the company is to continuously improve quality.
When the Fusion handily beat the Accord in its first or second year nobody in the media picked it up. Doesn’t matter.

Maybe the above is true for a work grade vehicle. Had a Ford passenger grade vehicle in the 90's and it was great until it had years on it and mileage.

Electrical stuff would fail and having the Ford factory tech manuals for it I would try to fix. No luck. Everything check OK according to the manual the numerous times I went through the procedure.

Read an article at the time which said that, Ford main concern for components was price and the lowest bidder got it. Toyota main concern was quality and they developed a long term relationship with suppliers.

My WWII generation Dad, uncle and aunt all said , they had a Ford at one time and had problems with it, and never bought another. I added myself to that list.

[MEANZ06]

Love my old Ford truck. Told my girls keep it forever or bury me in it

[Lakeside49]

Totally agree. Depends on the year they owned their vehicle/s. All (100%, no exception including Jap/Koreans) had their dark days of quality challenges. Ford shocked it’s traditional supplier base in the 80s by increasing design and durability testing from 50,000 miles to 100,000 miles, probably to match Honda and Toyota, leaving the other US OEMs at the time behind. Then, in it was increased to a punishing 150,000 miles in the late 90’s. I remember some suppliers, and briefly, some Ford engineers, freaking out and suppliers wanting to significantly increase their costs - which was not easily accepted, hence the article you might have read.
Btw, if you want to “experiment” with a modern Ford or Lincoln vehicle, PM me and I’ll share one of my (4) personally allotted annual employee “X-Plan, “Family & Friends” new vehicle discount PIN codes for you or an immediate family member. It will normally save a few bucks and eliminates any need to negotiate.

I am not dissing any other OEMs. The industry newcomer, Elon Musk recently announced interviewed with talk show host, Joe Rogan (while sipping whiskey together). Rogan was sucking up about how amazing Tesla was doing in Aerospace, interplanetary plans, energy, finance and such - and, he asked Musk “what has been your greatest challenge so far?”, he instantaneously said “automotive”, explaining that it was “incredibly complex”. He said that “only Ford and Tesla have not declared bankruptcy, and only by the skin of our teeth.” So, just showing up every day to run the enterprise (I ran aftersales parts, and service shop process improvement) is a challenge for any OEM. But, I can attest that Ford’s ‘challenger complex’ (aka, inferiority complex) and deeply held “family owned/diverse” company culture is totally and deeply focused on the end customer - in NA, and overseas. Ford-Lincoln has a lot of great frontline Dealers, though it remains a daily, highest priority challenge given the entire industry’s large, impersonal Dealer group trend; and, all Dealer’s ability to attract and retain top talent to serve the customer who could have defected from the “Ford family”. Even our best Dealers, with today’s smaller families are often challenged to find a qualified son/daughter successor or outside manager/owner when they decide to retire, mostly because of the required hard work/acumen, expense, education/lengthy apprenticeship period, and natural passion/enthusiasm required to succeed in the OE automotive business. Anyway, the company is definitely out to adapt, win and succeed for another 118 years,,,God willing.

[markids77]

Originally Posted by Lakeside49

Totally agree. Depends on the year they owned their vehicle/s. All (100%, no exception including Jap/Koreans) had their dark days of quality challenges. Ford shocked it’s traditional supplier base in the 80s by increasing design and durability testing from 50,000 miles to 100,000 miles, probably to match Honda and Toyota, leaving the other US OEMs at the time behind. Then, in it was increased to a punishing 150,000 miles in the late 90’s. I remember some suppliers, and briefly, some Ford engineers, freaking out and suppliers wanting to significantly increase their costs - which was not easily accepted, hence the article you might have read.
Btw, if you want to “experiment” with a modern Ford or Lincoln vehicle, PM me and I’ll share one of my (4) personally allotted annual employee “X-Plan, “Family & Friends” new vehicle discount PIN codes for you or an immediate family member. It will normally save a few bucks and eliminates any need to negotiate.

X plan is cool. Walk in, choose a vehicle, say I'm an X plan customer and get a real price almost instantly. Say yes or leave as the deal is the deal. Refreshing.