F250

Missed my sarcasm. I agree. Besides if it's one thing I hate more than trucklets it's foreign trucklets.

No, No, No Wrangler only sold 12,911 last month. Ford has Edge, Flex and Expedition...yea right. What would really be HOT is for Ford to import their Thailand Ranger...yea, that will go over with American truck buyers.

Then leave the market to Jeep. They do it right by focusing on building the best vehicle of this type on the market and no other company can compete. God knows a lot of companies have tried through the decades and been run out of the market by the original. Toyota just dropped their FJ40. Ford should leave the Bronco in the past and not stick the name on some cobbled up poser.

Exactly. Clearly this guy isn't the brightest light on the tree.

Yes, aftermarket wheels sunroofs and other crap. When collision repair is needed you have to try to find these parts from an SET/GST dealer have them shipped up and hope they are still available. SET/GST do not even accept Toyota's own extended service program using their own JMA/Fidelity aftermarket crap.

The customer comes first! The dealer has not been given authorization from Ford to fix the problem for the customer the dealer isn't saying they can't or don't know how to fix it. As far as Ford holding up the customer so they can figure out the cause of the problem that's brilliant. Hey Ford pull the trucks off the line (NOT a sold special order) and figure it out on your dime. But we're just stupid customers, we should shut up pay the price and take what we get. It's 1957 all over again...

And what good does that do all the F150 customers??? No excuses Ford. F150 is FAR more important than Explorer authorize the dealers to make it right. By the way broken brackets on Explorers = returnable failed part not adjustment only. Need to deliver new F150s that look like they haven't already been in a parking lot BAM.

This is a much longer (45:00 minutes) and detailed video of F150 assembly at DTP but it was made in 2012. 15:43 to 15:58 for bumper installation. Raptor testing at the end is interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khbb1vBz_U0 Notice something at 33:31 and 33:35 ? I don't know somebody is watching so I'll just flop the headliner assy on the painted hood vs oh..the camera is right behind me so I'll carefully hand the headliner across and install it.

Stop using words that I have to look up. Oh, and this would be an adjustment only with no defective part to return. Means Ford would be trusting the dealer on the claims unless they reviewed or inspected each before authorization. Also If 10 get through and only 3 customers complain well that saves Ford a lot of money fixing only the ones that demand it. The truck I pictured is an XL chances are it will be sold to a company for work use and nobody will care about the bumper.

All true but with one detail, you specified SET is independent and it is but SET and GST are the only 2 that remain independent. All the rest were bought back by Toyota years ago.

Virginia Beach

I'm sure Ford is not complaining. They make a hell of a lot more profit on an Expedition than a Fiesta.

Virginia is different, damn near everyone here isn't from here. The federal government owns and operates Virginia. North near DC is where 6 of the top 20 wealthiest counties in the country are. All down the east coast are massive federal government facilities like the worlds largest naval base in Norfolk, the largest east coast master jet base in Virginia Beach (24 squadrons are based here) Quantico, Langley the list goes on. So many of the people at these military bases are assigned here and move in and out of the area so the ratio of vehicles in the state changes around more than most. Depends on when they did the counting. The domestics seem to have a good percentage here.

Cool video thanks for the link. The guy at 2:52 must give the trucks the official "caress" he should catch this stuff. But I really want the guy at 3:25 job! I could do that! sarcasm

My dealership has only 3. This XL S-Crew was the only one that had not been prepped yet so this is as-delivered. In the big picture if this is the only or biggest problem the new F150 has I'll be very happy. These trucks are damn good looking in person as is the new Mustang...

:grouphug:

Doesn't work that way. customer: Align the panels and I'll buy it dealer: Sign here and we'll fix it. customer: OH no, fix it then I'll sign dealer: Oh you can "trust us" we'll make it right customer: If you won't fix it to close the deal what guarantee do I have after I sign. The only leverage I have is the deal... Then the silent staring at each other starts. Remember Ford will send the all-important survey to the customer after the deal asking how pleasant their buying experience was. I went through something like this years ago with a Mercury Marine dealer.

Yea, you'd never engage in "immature knee jerk grandstanding" The good news is my 2006 F150 which I bought new was delivered with properly aligned body panels and still looks great today. Apparently this level of fit and finish is a lost art. Oh well that's progress. Since you have the answers Richard what should Deanh tell his customer? The customer wants a straight truck, Ford has not authorized adjustment before delivery. The customer may walk out. To save the deal does the dealership fix the thing knowing afterwards they won't get reimbursed from Ford?

If I had to guess I'd say Ford is rolling the dice on this. Dealer gets 5 new trucks in. 1 needs bumper or other panel adjustment. Dealer asked for authorization. Ford says not yet. Why? Because truck is not sold yet, no customer so no customer complaint. Ford does not trust dealer. Ford thinks dealer may be trying to get paid on something a customer might not complain about. Ford thinks sell truck and then only if customer complains we might authorize then. Sound plausible Dean?

Fuzzymoomoo. Lawnmowers... lawnmowers, really? Building pickup trucks is definitely more complex than building lawnmowers. I'm in SE Virginia we build complicated machines here to...every American nuclear aircraft carrier has been built here. Each carrier has 2 nuclear reactors and displaces over 100,000 tons so it takes a while to pop one out. Trucks are built in a climate controlled plant not out on the waterfront. If you drop a tool or part you pick it up, in a shipyard it could fall 70 feet and kill someone. The old timers in the yard would put a boot up your ass if you screwed up...I do mean literally. You think Ford management is difficult? How would you like to answer to the government. Anyway, nobody expects Ford to stop the line for one crooked bumper but from an outsider point of view why not set aside trucks with issues and have them resolved before they are shipped. If the problem is consistant then stop and make corrections so they don't build thousands of problems. Otherwise what's the point of having QC inspectors, are they there to just keep score? Finally, authorize dealers to fix the issues ASAP.

And this is coming from a Ford truck fan/customer. Nobody can deny this launch is critical for Ford probably the most important this decade. Ford took enough time and certainly spent enough money to get it right. Beyond it being Ford's most profitable vehicle the aluminum gamble is being watched closely. Excuses don't fix problems.

I can't believe you said that. The book of excuses I've been reading here just entered the realm of total BS. The silver 2015 F150 Platinum with the crooked-ass front bumper pictured earlier cost some customer over $56,000! What does Ford expect a customer to pay for a quality built truck then? And the statement "Don't buy an early production vehicle wait 8 months or more so we can get it right" is interesting...maybe Ford should offer a "Hit or miss quality early model discount" on the Monroney sitcker. I'll bet they got the bumper and everything else on this 2015 on straight!

That's the second problem Deanh states Ford will not authorize the dealer to fix the problem. ""We have several with blatantly misaligned front bumpers that cannot be adjusted without the ok from Ford. Seems they are aware, but have yet to green light the fix...are there line problems?....sort of explains why they are so slow in coming if Ford is aware of the issues?....""

DearbornDerek, on 20 Feb 2015 - 02:57 AM, said: No it isn't the bumper is mounted to the frame long before the cab is dropped. An occasional misalignment is understandable but Deanh has seen enough problems to start this topic, and not just bumpers.

I guess "Quality is job 1" is just a slogan then.