Ford Engineering Questions Answered
02-28-2017, 05:31 AM
#41
I am an engineer that works for a major aerospace manufacturing concern. The item I am designing is already laid out to me as to what the specification, performance, cost, easy of manufacture, quality and installation area predefined I am working in. Ease of maintenance is the last on the list unless the end user customer wants to pay for it in other areas to move that up the list.
Production, quality, finance and engineering has to find the balance in any product it makes with some departments being winners and some be losers. No one area gets everything they want.
I would imagine vehicle manufacturing is no different.
Production, quality, finance and engineering has to find the balance in any product it makes with some departments being winners and some be losers. No one area gets everything they want.
I would imagine vehicle manufacturing is no different.
Shocking!
(I'm joking just in case people don't get the sarcasm)
02-28-2017, 05:36 AM
#42
Senior Member
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Jack-Daniel (02-28-2017)
02-28-2017, 07:43 AM
#43
The ignorance of most who want to blame engineering for this or that giving them grief in the real world is misplaced not knowing the process of how something got there.
02-28-2017, 12:10 PM
#45
Well an OEM shock is about $57 replacement cost and a rancho is a $44 cost. Seems like they could easily work out a logistics deal with a shock manufacturer to put a better shock on. Go to any service department and mention crappy shocks and they will agree with you.
I added a topper to mine over the weekend and it did help smooth out the ride, it no longer bounces over every bump, but I haven't towed with it yet, so the verdict is still out. I replaced the shocks on my 14 after 30K miles due to the truck doing figure 8's while towing. Put a set of 5100's in the rear, problem solved.
I added a topper to mine over the weekend and it did help smooth out the ride, it no longer bounces over every bump, but I haven't towed with it yet, so the verdict is still out. I replaced the shocks on my 14 after 30K miles due to the truck doing figure 8's while towing. Put a set of 5100's in the rear, problem solved.
I have a friend that is a procurement agent for a major car manufacture I cannot name. He solicits bid for parts that meet a list of specs. The quotes that are responses to the bids eventually lead to supplier contracts. I texted him about the shock thing because nearly every vehicle I get has poor shocks. A recent one had defective ones at 260 miles. After a little research, he texted back.
The answer is $12. I've cut open OEM shocks and many have simple single stage "shim over an orifice" valves. The OEM engineer didn't "design" anything about these shocks. His work was on a spec page, and it was handed off to a supplier who agreed to meet the specs.
The more protracted answer is that shocks don't sell trucks. If it rides good enough to make it past the test drive, and it doesn't fail in a way that causes a warranty claim it is a success. At least they aren't that hard to change if the ride is annoying.
02-28-2017, 01:17 PM
#47
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Texas, its a whole other country
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I have a friend that is a procurement agent for a major car manufacture I cannot name. He solicits bid for parts that meet a list of specs. The quotes that are responses to the bids eventually lead to supplier contracts. I texted him about the shock thing because nearly every vehicle I get has poor shocks. A recent one had defective ones at 260 miles. After a little research, he texted back.
The answer is $12. I've cut open OEM shocks and many have simple single stage "shim over an orifice" valves. The OEM engineer didn't "design" anything about these shocks. His work was on a spec page, and it was handed off to a supplier who agreed to meet the specs.
The more protracted answer is that shocks don't sell trucks. If it rides good enough to make it past the test drive, and it doesn't fail in a way that causes a warranty claim it is a success. At least they aren't that hard to change if the ride is annoying.
The answer is $12. I've cut open OEM shocks and many have simple single stage "shim over an orifice" valves. The OEM engineer didn't "design" anything about these shocks. His work was on a spec page, and it was handed off to a supplier who agreed to meet the specs.
The more protracted answer is that shocks don't sell trucks. If it rides good enough to make it past the test drive, and it doesn't fail in a way that causes a warranty claim it is a success. At least they aren't that hard to change if the ride is annoying.
02-28-2017, 01:37 PM
#48
Senior Member
Except that a defect is not an engineering issue, it is a manufacturing issue. As for poor design, just because you think it is a poor design does not mean that it is (and sometimes engineers have to live with a less than optimal design in order to meet other requirements such as space, cost, etc).
Most engineers I know are fine with feedback but when the delivery is whiny or offensive (as in attacking the engineer), it does not go over well.
See above.
Engineers are human. We have a job to do. We usually do not get to choose the parameters within which we must work (somebody else gets to do that, sometimes it is someone who has no idea how the limitations they impose impacts the design, usually, they also do not care). Trust me, we argue for things that would make the design better. Sometimes it works, most of the time it does not.
It seems that a lot of you think you could do better. In most cases, you are wrong. You might get one thing better but you would make many others worse. Of course, you also have no idea what parameters the engineer was given.
Engineers are human. We have a job to do. We usually do not get to choose the parameters within which we must work (somebody else gets to do that, sometimes it is someone who has no idea how the limitations they impose impacts the design, usually, they also do not care). Trust me, we argue for things that would make the design better. Sometimes it works, most of the time it does not.
It seems that a lot of you think you could do better. In most cases, you are wrong. You might get one thing better but you would make many others worse. Of course, you also have no idea what parameters the engineer was given.
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Schlotzky (02-28-2017)
02-28-2017, 02:14 PM
#49
The headrests need to go more vertical instead of always pointing forward a bit. I'm 6'2", my wife is 5'3" and neither of us can make the headrests comfortable no matter what angle or height we set them at.
This is a need Ford misinterpreted. They assumed people who own the truck only want to hear it themselves, which isn't true. Many people buy a loud truck/exhaust because they want everyone ELSE to hear it for [insert ego reasons here] which made piping it into the stereo system pointless for them.
Agreed, this is an annoyance that I've done a dozen times and there's no reason for it.
One of my beefs with my BMW was that the wipers hid down below the hoodline. Because of this, they couldn't be lifted off of the windshield when they were parked because the hood blocked that. When it got packed with snow and ice in there, I had to pop the hood to be able to clear the snow and ice and be able to lift the wipers.
This is a need Ford misinterpreted. They assumed people who own the truck only want to hear it themselves, which isn't true. Many people buy a loud truck/exhaust because they want everyone ELSE to hear it for [insert ego reasons here] which made piping it into the stereo system pointless for them.
Agreed, this is an annoyance that I've done a dozen times and there's no reason for it.
I would like to know why Ford could not position the wipers low enough on the windshield to have them out of the view of the driver when the wipers are "parked". Our 20-yer-old Volvo hides them below the hood, out of the way. My 2¢
-Sorry - I am incorrect - The car wipers are on the glass, just into the black border. The splined drive stubs are below the hood, and the arms curve up to the windshield.
Just now, driving "downtown" - some vehicles seem to hide the wipers completely, and others protrude far up above the hood.
-Sorry - I am incorrect - The car wipers are on the glass, just into the black border. The splined drive stubs are below the hood, and the arms curve up to the windshield.
Just now, driving "downtown" - some vehicles seem to hide the wipers completely, and others protrude far up above the hood.
One of my beefs with my BMW was that the wipers hid down below the hoodline. Because of this, they couldn't be lifted off of the windshield when they were parked because the hood blocked that. When it got packed with snow and ice in there, I had to pop the hood to be able to clear the snow and ice and be able to lift the wipers.
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Alan in bc (02-28-2017)
02-28-2017, 02:15 PM
#50
Most engineers I know are fine with feedback but when the delivery is whiny or offensive (as in attacking the engineer), it does not go over well.
See above.
Engineers are human. We have a job to do. We usually do not get to choose the parameters within which we must work (somebody else gets to do that, sometimes it is someone who has no idea how the limitations they impose impacts the design, usually, they also do not care). Trust me, we argue for things that would make the design better. Sometimes it works, most of the time it does not.
It seems that a lot of you think you could do better. In most cases, you are wrong. You might get one thing better but you would make many others worse. Of course, you also have no idea what parameters the engineer was given.
