Could this be a simple reprogram on your windows? Is there a procedure to follow to reprogram your windows, such as holding the switch for so many seconds after it reaches the bottom and so many after reaching the top? Seems like I remember having to do this on a Ford before.
At Ford Quality is Now Problem 1
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The problem at Ford is cultural - the bean counters rule and despite bringing in a former Toyota guy as CEO(Jim Farley) and the fore mentioned JD Power person it can’t be fixed at the C-suite. It’s a company culture thing.
Jim Farley came in from Toyota - I drive a Toyota and bash them all the time. However, Toyota values direct communication with their subordinates, egalitarianism(IE management and their employees at the plant work, eat and socialize with each other and park/arrive/exit at the same entrance) and employees are empowered to stop the line if a quality concern happens and to fix it. Basically, if you notice it, a customer will as well. At Ford and other unionized auto makers, management and the rank & file are siloed, any complaints are handled via grievance and there’s generally an attitude of IDGAF with the union guys - they’re in, tenured and it will take an act of god to get rid of them. Management is also to blame - yes, the UAW is an layer between management and the executives but they don’t have insight into the assembly line and make improvements in the name of maximizing revenue/profit vs. improvements for quality.
The quality of American cars has improved over the years but it’s not where the Detroit 3 claims vs. the Japanese(minus Nissan) and the Koreans(minus GM Daewoo). Ford did much better when Allan Mullaly(former Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO, he was the dad of the 777) was at the helm. As soon as he retired, Ford went back into bean counter mode as they did in the Jacques Nasser era.
Jim Farley came in from Toyota - I drive a Toyota and bash them all the time. However, Toyota values direct communication with their subordinates, egalitarianism(IE management and their employees at the plant work, eat and socialize with each other and park/arrive/exit at the same entrance) and employees are empowered to stop the line if a quality concern happens and to fix it. Basically, if you notice it, a customer will as well. At Ford and other unionized auto makers, management and the rank & file are siloed, any complaints are handled via grievance and there’s generally an attitude of IDGAF with the union guys - they’re in, tenured and it will take an act of god to get rid of them. Management is also to blame - yes, the UAW is an layer between management and the executives but they don’t have insight into the assembly line and make improvements in the name of maximizing revenue/profit vs. improvements for quality.
The quality of American cars has improved over the years but it’s not where the Detroit 3 claims vs. the Japanese(minus Nissan) and the Koreans(minus GM Daewoo). Ford did much better when Allan Mullaly(former Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO, he was the dad of the 777) was at the helm. As soon as he retired, Ford went back into bean counter mode as they did in the Jacques Nasser era.
Hyundai/Kia has good aesthetic design work, marketing, and biz strategy but idk if I would put them on that tier when every 4cylinder they have ever produced has been somewhere between sub-par and disaster for a OEM that mostly sells 4cylinders. The EV's they have bet everything on also seem rushed and sub par from a powertrain standpoint so far, but we will see. As a person that has first hand experience with asian business, in my experience the Koreans are less focused on absolute quality in a holistic sense, and instead have more cutthroat/pragmatic business sensibilities and a better feel of Western market demands when compared to the Japanese. The foundation of their post-war industry was laid by ethnically Korean ex-Japanese imperial military officers and Japan affiliated businessmen, so their organization and processes are extremely similar, but the culture when it comes to the products/service/design is different.
Back to Ford/big 3, among the things mentioned in this thread, IMO their domination of the full size pickup market has left them complacent for years. For GM/Dodge, its almost as if they have conceded they have no chance of making passenger vehicles on par with other makes, and thus the strategy for most of their non-truck/muscle car vehicles seems like to have their corporate bureaucracy choose from a catalog of foreign cars under their partnership/ownership umbrella to slap their badge on. GM/Chrysler muscle/sports car and V8 divisions are the last remnants of what was great about American vehicles. Ford instead went with the "global car" strategy in the post-financial crisis/emissions era, which initially had me optimistic, but like you described in your post the company culture is still more on the of decaying post modern American corporation side of the spectrum than not.
This is typically a way to make them look "good enough" without paying much. Afterall it is almost too expensive to rebuild the transmission and they are probably not going to lose money to build trust in customers. Honda at least would rebuild and replace your transmission till like 100k.
I'd stick to my old boring design just to be safe, or a Prius that has been proven for 15 years.
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I don’t have FORScan yet but I don’t want to mess with anything and gave the dealer say I messed something up.
A parallel can be drawn with Samsung and LG who initially sold garbage electronics in the US but oddly enough latched on cell phones to lead them where they are at today. Hyundai depended heavily on Mitsubishi, while Kia pre-Hyundai was a affiliate of Ford/Mazda. Samsung started out as a noodle maker.
Yea, I get the impression Detroit sticks to what is popular and lucrative for short-term profit. Cars have been an afterthought and that’s how Japan trampled all over them. Ironically, Chrysler was hoping Mitsubishi would save them in the 1980s around the time the K-car was introduced. GM tried the “world” car game but instead introduced bastardized German/Korean/Japanese cars from Opel, Daewoo and Suzuki/Isuzu, the former(Suzuki) is now controlled by Toyota and Opel is now Stellantis. Ford probably saw the most success with the Escort, Focus, Fusion(current Mondeo) and current Escape but the first attempt to bring the Mondeo over as the Contour was a flop, so was the EcoSport. Trucks and muscle cars are easy to build, they can outsource major assemblies and don’t need much skilled interaction or robotics.
Also - agreed the Koreans are hitting out of the park with aesthetics but if it’s like my experiences with Samsung phones, my parents and friend’s LG/Samsung appliances the repairability and parts availability leaves much to be desired.
My parents needed a new washer - I tried to steer them to Whirlpool but the Samsung won out over looks. But in 5 years, many parts are NLA. iFixit and Samsung recently made parts available for the Galaxy S21/22 but unlike an iPhone it’s a delicate task.
My parents needed a new washer - I tried to steer them to Whirlpool but the Samsung won out over looks. But in 5 years, many parts are NLA. iFixit and Samsung recently made parts available for the Galaxy S21/22 but unlike an iPhone it’s a delicate task.
I've owned five different Fords over the years all were average to above average in terms of reliability, except our 2000 Focus which had lots of issues I never buy the first year model after that situation. Our current 2016 Fusion awd with the 2.0 ecoboost has been the best Ford we've owned, plenty of power and the awd system has worked great for us. I've owned a little bit of everything and can honestly say my overall experience with Fords has been positive. With all the new technology across all car brands nothing is going to be perfect. My 2wd 2011 Silverado with roll up windows and manual locks and the old 4.3 V6 is a "simple" vehicle nowadays, but does what I need it to do with little fuss.
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the Prius marked Toyota’s transition to “throwaway” cars. Sure, it introduced to the hoi polloi keyless “smart” entry, shift by wire, ADAS, brake by wire and without the Prius, there would be no Tesla, no LaFerrari(or KERS in F1), no hybrid Porsches and no acceptance of xEVs in the market. The Lexus LS430 and Mercedes S-Class of the 2000s had those features but were much more. But compared to the Toyota of the 1980-1990s(except for the Tercel/Echo/Yaris which were loss-leaders against the Hyundai Accent/Kia Rio, Geo/Chevy Metro and Cavalier and the Neon), it just didn’t have the “feel” of solid.
Wasn't that generation of Escort a rebadged Mazda 323/Protege?
They have modern American consumer culture pretty figured out. Make stuff that is kind of crap but not as crap as the Chinese, and cheaper than the Japanese/Germans/domestic. Lure customers with trendy aesthetics, marketing, and a warranty that looks good on its face. Trust the American consumer to cycle through products every 2-5 years for something more shiny and trendy, adjust quality metrics to that standard. Eat the warranty if they absolutely have to if the stuff fails in that time, cause if it makes dollars it makes sense. Most companies have leaned towards this anyway because of American market demands, but the Koreans were born into it so to speak. Kind of like how Japanese pop music evolved from 70's pop, were as K-pop is more influenced by 90s RnB/Hip Hop
Yep. Made in Wayne, MI or Mexico depending on if there was a Ford or Mercury badge on it.
The first generation of the Escort was a heavily-Americanized and American-built version of the European Escort. The Merkur XR4TI was an Americanized Ford Sierra. The Focus was when it went back to its European roots.
I also found this - Ford was in cahoots with Mazda - which gave us the Escort of the 1990s, as well as the Probe and Ranger of that era. https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/mazda-plant-toyota-better-fit-partnership-ford
LG did buy the rights to the Zenith name IIRC.
Not so much for cars - the only Chinese vehicle I’ve seen besides a Buick Encore or a Polestar(basically a Chinese-built BEV Volvo) is a BYD all-electric bus. The phobia of Chinese cars is strong in the US, but they’ll buy them with a Western badge on it(see Buick and Volvo, soon Tesla with the rumored $25K car unless Giga Texas can make a car mostly automated).
But for appliances and TVs, Midea/Haier(who already owns GE Appliances)/Hisense/TCL is making more than a splash in the US. If Best Buy and Lowe’s is selling Midea appliances(rebranded as Insignia for BB) and Hisense/TCL TVs have made their way to Costco beyond the hell that’s called Walmart, Samsung and LG have a threat on their hands.
Haier, LG and Samsung brands and owned names in appliances are stylish junk. LG as improved some out of those brands.
Current big box sellers have a large profit margin in sales, so they push them heavily.
But none are a choice for my hard-earned money. Whirlpool, Maytag and Kitchen Aid are the choices for major appliances. All are owned by Whirlpool. I've no input on electronics.
In my former life I spent 46 yrs as an on-site tech. working on that stuff for the now gone major retailer.
Current big box sellers have a large profit margin in sales, so they push them heavily.
But none are a choice for my hard-earned money. Whirlpool, Maytag and Kitchen Aid are the choices for major appliances. All are owned by Whirlpool. I've no input on electronics.
In my former life I spent 46 yrs as an on-site tech. working on that stuff for the now gone major retailer.
Owen Lucas
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I’d love to buy a Ford, just not one built in the last 50 years.
And back in the '70s, the Ford Courier was a rebadged Mazda B1600 (and perhaps later a B1800 or B2000).
Not surprised. Buddy is a tech at a ford dealer, and they do waaaaay more major repairs (engine/trans.major driveline) than we do at Chrysler. Recalls I dont find as to be a major thing for the most part. There is WAY more to a newer car than one 10 or 20 years old. More parts/electronics? More things to go wrong. For the most part, recalls are little things, and take awhile to show up. Alot of our recalls are just software updates.
We bought a Probe in 1989. First we tested a Tempo, and it drove like a tractor compared to the Probe. We liked it so much, we bought a second one a couple years later. Both clocked over 200k miles. Their one weakness was a tendency to oversteer.
My 2018 Shelby GT350 blew its engine twice, and the transmission failed! I lemon law'd the car, too bad because it was a fun ride. Also learned how horrendous some Ford dealers can be.
The rear bumper was misaligned from the factory too.
That being said my 2017 Fiesta ST was fine up to 50k miles. And our family back in the day had a 2002 & 2005 F150 V6 that were solid.
The rear bumper was misaligned from the factory too.
That being said my 2017 Fiesta ST was fine up to 50k miles. And our family back in the day had a 2002 & 2005 F150 V6 that were solid.
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