theoldwizard

If you really want power, get it re-tuned to run E85. Fuel economy is terrible, but it will make a lot of power !

Big horsepower de-rating on Medium Duty !

Any day equivalent of the old quad "captain's chairs" like in the old Club Wagon Chateau ?

Change the axle ratio.

I still can not get over how lightly GM got off considering the number of deaths and serious injuries attributed to the ignition switch fiasco !

The real issue is, what is CLOGGING THE FILTER ! If is clutch material, it is too late !!

At least one engineer told me that they could do a software patch that would fix the issue, but clutch life would be dramatically shortened. IIRC, the solution was to slip the clutch as soon as any transition from "power on to power off" or vice versa was detected (slight accelerator pedal position change). A tricky maneuver because to much slipping would cause a "runaway" or lack of engine breaking..

Added that to the vehicles that had AX4S or AX4N (4F50N) transmissions and it is AMAZING that Ford did not lose more customers. I once challenged a manager in an "all hands" meeting about the reliability of those transmissions. He flat out denied there were any issues ! Later I realized that this was because Ford did not track any failures of part out of warranty. Their goal was to hit 50,001 miles. After that they did not care.

"Sourced" is not the correct word. It was a key part of the design for a LONG time because it was lighter and cheaper. One thing that never came up in public was that the transmission was designed for "B Class" vehicles like the Fiesta, with a maximum engine size of 1.6L. Most of the development was done on that size vehicles. Very little it anything was changed when they decided to put it in the Focus quoth a larger engine. Whoever spec'd it for the Focus should be the one taking all of the heat !

Depends on what you mean by "originally". I worked in Transmission Engineering in about 1985 when the very first Ford designed dual-clutch transmission prototype was built. It had wet clutches. It also used hydraulics to move the shift forks. I did not follow the development after I left that department. By the time I saw it again in about 2006, it had dry clutches and electric actuated shift forks. Both of those saved a lot of weight and cost. Luk was going to be part of a 3 way joint venture with Getrag and Ford. Ultimately, Luk was just a supplier, same as Getrag.

There are hundreds of "retired" Crown Vics still "patrolling" the streets. Just down the street from my is a black and white. No push bars !

I don't know when this started, but the dash oil pressure "gauge" s actually an idiot light. The oil pressure "sensor" is just a switch and the dash computer just puts a up a constant gauge position or zero. The only way to check pressure is remove the switch and temporarily install a gauge.

I can not help with getting your car "bought back", but each person needs to check withe their state's attorney general's office as each state has its own set of condition.

That just plain does not work in the US ! I have a friend who has been driving a Prius since shortly after they first came out. While her transportation needs are mostly home to work and back, less than 20 miles each way, there are days she has to travel all over the metro Detroit area. It is going to be many years before enough "superchargers" are installed that she could pull up to one, plug in for an hour or two while in a meeting and then jumping back in and got 50 miles across town at highway speed with the A/C blasting. Not in my of her lifetime !

Electric and autonomous are coming but to what extent ? 10 years from now, I'll bet more than 66% of Ford's revenues still come from selling gasoline and diesel powered light vehicles.

The population density does not justify the cost, just as today. 5G uses millimeter wavelength signals. Shorter distance (for the same power) and absolute "line of sight".

Despite what Tesla has already done, I do NOT believe that "connected cars" will arrive that quickly. The car makers can see too many downsides. As for industrial campuses, they already have fiber. Ford Dearborn is a good example. All engineering facilities in SE MI (with maybe the exception of the Romeo Proving Grounds) have been connect for over 10 years. Fast and proven.

My issue with electrification and AV is the order of magnitude the "experts" (Big Jim's hero Tony Seba) have predicted. At least in the US, I don't think we will see more than about 25% market penetration for light duty vehicle sales before 2030. MUCH TOO EARLY to say it is "correct" ! 5G won't be available wide spread for more than 5 years and in some locations (graphically large, but low population density) it might be well over 20 years, IF EVER. (Look at a 4G map. Lots of "white space, even today.) My gut says, 5G will be a niche, but people will pay the premium for it because it is "cool". Despite Hackett's rhetoric, he knows "which side his bread is buttered on". Major investments in SUV/CUV, with or without hybrid, look like they will pay off. This is imperative if he want to see electrification an AV actually get to production. Wall Street still has not "rewarded" him/the company. Long term investors won't buy the stock (which is at a close to a 10 year low) because they fear the dividend will be cut (as it has several times in my lifetime).

What I always heard, t was Jack Telnack. Father of the original Taurus and the "jelly bean" Thunderbird.

I am sure of that ! Just wondering who ? CEOs have NOTHING to do with styling and features ! Maybe marketing and packaging. Their job is to make sure the "right people are in the right place" to make those decisions. I still say announcing to the world that Ford is getting out of the sedan business was STUPID. Not actually doing it, but announcing it that way.

A Board of Directors typically only looks at the dollars. If they are rolling in, they are not going to question the CEO.

They may have been IT in that they know a lot about computers, but they WERE NOT from Ford's IT organization. "Mobility"/electrification/self driving vehicles are NOT part of the IT organization. Sadly, IT is an area that needs to be taken out "behind the woodshed", but Mulally, Fields and Hackett have let it "fester". When Sarbanes-Oxley because the "law of the land" Ford was scare sh!tless. They told the head of IT at the time, to come up with a plan for the BUSINESS end of the company to be fully compliant (any violations of Sarbanes-Oxley could mean actual JAIL TIME for top executives). After the plan was put together, reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors the people in It said, "We would like to do the same for engineering." They quickly got the stamp of approval. From an engineers stand point, IT is a nightmare ! Yes, they do a good job on basic "office automation" (pretty much all Microsoft products) and basic CAD. Their telephone support is a NIGHTMARE. 100% off shore and 0% are native English speakers. They are closely monitored on how many "tickets" they open and close. A ticket can be closed even when a problem is NOT solved and the end user has no feedback mechanism. In fact, demanding to speak to a supervisor creates a new ticket ! If for some reason a tech needs to come to your desk it will be 48 business hours. Worst of all, upper level management has their own "tech support", on call 24/7 and they have been know to drive to an execs house to help "Johnny" with his 6th grade PowerPoint presentation (I know a person who has done this, not recently but it has happened). These stories are accurate (I know people still working there) and are just scratching the surface.

Bill Ford was, rightfully, scared to death that his FAMILY would lose the company (Remember it really IS a family business) !! The one story was, before Mulally took the job, he told Bill that "I can make Ford profitable again, but it will be a smaller company". The other story is, when Mulally left, Fields was his hand picked candidate. Supposedly, he told him, "Things are running fine. Don't screw them up !" Taken to the extreme, NOTHING was done ! Product plans kept getting pushed back (cost savings) and chimneys grew. When things are going well, and money is rolling in, who is going to tell Bill that chimneys are being re-created ? And even simpler thing would be watching office space square footage in Dearborn. In 2007-2008, Ford vacated almost every rental property that they were occupying and the closed one of their largest engineering buildings. It took years, but slowly that turned around. The engineering building got partially remodeled (and the name changed back to what HF-I named it, Ford Engineering Laboratory). Rentals were occupied (Ford Land owns a large shopping center in Dearborn. When Lord and Taylor folded, it because a Ford office.) The two positives I'll give Big Jim are getting out if the unprofitable ROW markets that are likely never going to be profitable (Russia, South America, etc). Doing SOMETHING about getting electric car business back into gear ! If the new Explorer and all of the vehicles that will use that similar hybrid powertrain layout (front engine, electric motor, transmission) are successful, this will be a key moment in modern Ford engineering history. I would like to know whose idea it was to take that concept, added it to a beefed up Mustang platform ! I sure hope it works !!

Those numbers seem out of whack, but if we are talking "worldwide", maybe not. Ford has effectively pulled out of Russia, India, Brazil and Venezuela. They have shrunk engineering and manufacturing to almost nothing in England and are trying to figure out how to get engineering out of Germany (very difficult because of labor laws). All of these make Ford a smaller but more profitable company, short term. Something Mulally did when he took over, but Fields allowed to rebuild. The question is, how does this affect Ford worldwide and the growth of the company 5-10 years down the road ? Remember that Big Jim has a "bromance" with (Mr. "no more internal combustion engines by 2030") Tony Seba.

Don't blame Mulally, The 33% reduction in white collar was BRUTAL ! It was Mark Fields who basically did NOTHING and allowed the fiefdoms to rebuild.