Yeah, I'll try not to go off, and this is related to the paint defect thread I just posted...

Ford needs to get its butt together when it comes to assembly and attention to detail. I have worked as a quality engineer in automotive, mostly for parts supplied to Toyota, but also a few to Honda, Mazda, and Ford, and feel I have a pretty good grasp as to what is acceptable and not acceptable when it comes to manufacturing and shipping to the customer. They're shipping unacceptable defects. And trust me, EVERYONE has issues from time to time, I get that. But these are easy to engineer out and should never have shipped.

I haven't had the car even a week, picked up at Granger in Iowa and got it home 3 days ago. Just got it all washed and started detailing last night and the total lack of attention to detail is rather shocking, and I'll be honest, its sucking the fun out of a new car (my first brand new car in 15 years).

So far:
1) pin on the end of an active grill shutter sheared off, leaving one grill shutter dangling. I suspect this was bad from the factory as I noticed it cleaning bugs at the first fuel stop on the way home from Iowa.
2) Massive paint defect (size of a quarter) in the bed with bubbling and cracked paint. Other paint areas where there are contaminants under the paint/clearcoat (dirt, appears some kind of little bristle in one spot)
3) I was looking at grill shutter and checking oil when I got home..... the clamp attaching the intake hose from the air filter box to the engine was never tightened down.
4) massive dash rattle somewhere by passenger airbag or vent. Noticed this about 3 miles after leaving granger. Possibly related, the trim around the same vent (where the American flag is) is completely misaligned.
5) minor - one powerboost emblem is noticably crooked
6) minor - slight dent in bottom of radiator. Not cracked but you can see it has bent a few fins.

Really this is just me venting, but at least the first 3 items should be totally unacceptable to deliver. Not tightening a clamp?! How hard is it to poke-yoke that one? Huge paint defect right in the bottom of the bed the size of a quarter?! Give me a break. That one should EASILY have been found in the factory. I get covid has created some real problems for everyone but this stuff is unacceptable for any automaker. You shouldn't be having dust and contaminants in your paint shop.

Again, I get stuff happens but this is easy stuff here. But the worst is you start wondering what other clamps aren't tight, what other connectors are loose? What else did they forget to install a bolt or a nut somewhere?

Like I said fun out of a new car purchase and make you wonder what was overlooked that I cannot see just doing a detail on the car.

And first appointment at my local dealer for the grill shutter and rattle ... July 6. Over a month from now. I didn't notice the paint defect until after I made that appointment so will have to talk to them about this one too.

Get it together. It's unacceptable on an EcoSport and it is extra unacceptable on your bread-and-butter moneymaker, and it instantly puts seeds of doubt into the customer's mind... never a good thing from a customer satisfaction standpoint. I expect this stuff will get taken care of but I shouldn't be making warranty appointments for multiple, significant, problems within 5 days of ownership. A little rattle here or there, sure, it happens....but this is stuff that never should have left Dearborn this way.

 

just wait for DJfilm to say you're imagining it.

 

Chech your ATF, they're still not filling all of them. Mine was down a quart and I found it as Ford no longer has that on the list of pre delivery checks. (or so my dealer says) Asked them why the axles and transfer case wasn't checked and they didn't have an answer. Rear axle was a quart low also.

 

I guarantee you it's not just Ford, and it's not just the automotive industry. I'm customer facing in rotating equipment and the amount of parts we receive and ship just that are non conforming just from what I see is embarrassing. These industries are running by having to scrounge stuff together from whoever happens to have something in stock. There's no more "oh we need a new x order one and get it in a few weeks" it's more like years. And then you have to go to alternative sources and the quality isn't there.

This may not have been an official statement, just something I read somewhere, but supposedly Ford has said their quality will not be back up to standard for another year or two.

 

I just bought a used 2021 and having become more familiar with the truck, I'm thinking the same thing. Check this one out...this is my paint on the lower body panel near the rear tire.

 

When I got my truck, I had a loose nut rolling around inside my driver's door, small dings on the hood, a scuff on the interior b-pillar trim, dash rattles, door panel rattles, the rear axle u-bolts weren't fully tightened, my wiper arms were loose, and the under-body insulators weren't properly attached.

During my ownership, the timing cover on my 3.5 started leaking oil on the passenger side at about 6,000 miles, my 400W power inverter has stopped working, there's an internal memory fault in my instrument cluster, my bed lights stopped working because Ford installed the wrong software in my BCM, outgoing calls don't work properly anymore due to an OTA update, and my bluetooth doesn't work properly anymore due to an OTA update.

Build quality and customer satisfaction clearly aren't priorities at Ford, but the competition charges more and isn't problem free either. I you want a good vehicle with minimal issues, you shouldn't buy a new one, quality is way down in the past few years.

 

This is the future folks! Quality is job 1

 

At the risk of getting political, quality is not likely in a world where many people think that work, or at least effort, is optional.

 

Well, a couple days after owning my new 23 Platinum it had dumped about 1/2 the oil in my garage floor, ten days in the shop. I've come to the conclusion the first few months of new vehicle ownership is about getting the kinks worked out, not enjoying that fresh new car smell and smooth sailing. My last new truck was way worse (22 Tundra Plat.).

 

The lack of attention to detail is a cultural issue, not a quality control issue.

The systems have all broken down and it is up to the individual to provide their own quality control.

I am generally happy with my new truck, but what passes for new vehicle incoming inspection and delivery at the dealership is very minimal.

I accepted delivery but I had to drop the car off and get a service loaner so the truck could spend 3 days at the body shop to fix some deep scratches in the passenger door and numerous scratches in the clear coat.

it looks like someone (factory or dealership) ran the truck through a mechanical car wash, then they overbuffed it in a lame attempt to fix the damage.

I guarantee if I hadn’t brought it to their attention during delivery, as soon as I drove it off the lot, they would have said ‘tough scheiss’ we didn’t do that.

There was a half dozen other things that didn’t pass muster either and I am still working them out in my mind as to what course of action to make them less painless to address.

in short, I feel your pain.