So are Ford getting any better lately?
I had a 98 Explorer basic V6 rear wheel drive, ran like a train other than replacing regular wear and tear items, eventually at 130,000 miles and 12 years, A/C packed up and needed front end work so decided to trade it in and purchased a 2010 Escape ( back in 2010 ). After 3000 miles the transmission had to have a rebuild ( apparently faulty bearings ) I cannot fill the gas tank full since if I do it runs like Sh** for the next 20 miles and will stall out if I stop ( no I am not topping it off! been asked that too many times! ) In the early days I had it back at the dealership 8 times with no resolution . Last year the heater fan stopped working on the lower settings (1+2) and of course it is out of warranty and the drivers seat belt does not retract properly.
I only have 35,000 miles on it what happened to Ford reliability?

 

I don't pretend to know the complete answer to some of those problems, but you can rest assured that $$$ and products manufactured in riceland have a lot to do with the problems we all are seeing.

 

Sad to say, but it's not just FORDs that have quality/component longevity issues. And you also can't count on quality now-a-days based on a MFGs past reputation.

As an example, my friend has a 2005 Chevy Uplander that just seams to need at least 2 hubs replaced every year. They are Autozone units that use TIMKIN bearing. They just fall apart. The 1st one that I replaced had a lifetime warranty on it (which they changed to a 1 year also). The rest all have a 1 year warranty on them. What does that tell you? From what I understand, AUTOZONE has now farmed there hub assemblies out to try MOOG bearings. We'll see how they hold up.

And then there's my Freestar that went thru 5 rebuilt P/S pumps in about 7 months (all were A-1 CARDONE rebuilt units) from Ford (Ford only sells rebuilt units). Unit #6 has been doing OK for about the past 9 months.

Even my original TRIPLE EDGE wipers that had a LIFETIME replacement warranty went out the window most likely because I started calling every 6 months for new wipers as they didn't even begin to last as long as the originals did.

Of course, you can't sell any products if you build them to last any length of time.

 

Funny part is that years past rust was the big killer and manufacturers spent millions on fixing that problem, now in 10yrs time we are going to see shiny perfect vehicles in scrap yards because it is going to cost more than the vehicle is worth to fix the poor mechanicals and electronics!!! Maybe one day they will get it right.

 

Yep...And the guy down the street says "Nice shiny piece of workmanship" as you're looking at the expensive broke down buggy. Then he says "Look who's laughing now!" as he tools down the highway in his Yogu...

 

lol...