So what are the recent and past major design blunders that cost Ford in terms of warranty and loss of customers?
The most recent one I recall is the terrible DCT fiasco.
Going back over the years:
Bad paint problems.
The F-150 spark-plugs with the very long section that were almost impossible to remove without breaking them off and spending a long time on each one with special extraction tools. I recall quotes of $700.00 just for the labor to change 8 spark-plugs IF YOU COULD FIND A MECHANIC WHO WAS WILLING TO DO THAT JOB.
The Ford SUV vehicles that allowed exhaust gas into the cabin.
The small rims with tires that were too high and had serious control problems and there after market fix that did not work, of telling the owners to run low tire pressures.
The Crown-Vick police vehicles with exploding gas-tanks when a troupers car would be rear ended while parked along side of a highway. At least they came up with a fix of a styrofoam block that prevented the pumpkin from rupturing the gas-tank. But they never included that fix in vehicles to the general public.
The switch on the master-cylinder that would cause a fire. ( Which could happen even when the vehicle was not being used, even if it was parked in a garage attached to a house. )
The ignition switches that could catch fire. ( Which could happen even when the vehicle was not being used, even if it was parked in a garage attached to a house. )
The variable venturi carburetor that seamed to never work right.
The engines had valve seals that leak too much oil into the combustion cylinder and smoked like a car that had 150,000 miles on it even though the actual miles were very low. ( Though some of those vehicles may have been making that much smoke because of the bad variable venturi carbs. )
And of course the gas-tanks on the pintos that would go up in flames with even a small rear-end crash.
I am sure there are some things that I missed. Maybe some can add to the list. Were the windshields that had special sun blocking layers that did not hold up and had to be replaced with a different type of windshield made by Ford or was that a different vehicle maker?
My brother use to say that there was something on his F-150 engine that would repeatedly break if he demanded a lot of power from it while towing his RV.
Didn't some of there engines have a system of cylinder deactivation that had plastic pieces in it that would break and cause the engine to be stuck in a mode where not all of the cylinders were firing. Or was that a different brand?
