OldFordJim

How do you know if you have the Forward Collision warning and brake support? Is it standard or an option. I didn't know it was available on the Escape.

Got a new '17 Escape about a month ago. Titanium, with the LKS and AS/S, but not the ACC. Also with Navigation, Panoramic Moon Roof, Trailer Towing, though I didn't need it, but it was on the car. Like the new look and I agree with one of the posters saying it seems quieter and more solid and the added hp in the 2.0 is nice. The Escape is just downright quick. I had a '15 Escape that my wife and I both loved, but this one is even better. When I got the '15, my favorite feature was all the ways you could open the tailgate. On the '17, it has to be the heated steering wheel. What a nice thing to have on a cold day. Love the new layout inside. Gauges and big screen are virtually the same, but the new steering wheel is better than before, as is the console and climate controls. Glad they did away with the little dials on the console for the heated seats and moved them to right in the mix with the climate controls and they're buttons now. For some reason the seats seem different. They seem to be bigger than on the '15, offering more support under your legs and they're very comfortable. Mine is with the Canyon Ridge color and the black interior. Also has a different sound. All the different chimes for seat belts, cros traffic alert, etc are different, much softer sounding and more soothing. Ford has another winner. The Escape seems to be getting better and better.

Good choice. A Mustang GT in bright red is always a winner in my book. But the color I like on the new ones is called Guard. To me, it looks like a mix of a little green with gray and looks fabulous in GT form.

I have a 2010 Focus and just got my car back today after having the transmission replaced. Luckily, it was still under the power train warranty and didn't cost me anything. My trouble began about 3 weeks ago, taking my son to work. After I dropped him off, I started to accelerate and the car hesitated, then jerked forward a little. Did it again a bit later then was fine. But it began making a rubbing noise in low gear. When it shifted up into the higher gears it was fine. I also noticed that when taking it out of park and putting it back in, you could hear a little grinding. Ended up taking it to a couple of places just to get it checked out and they noticed the rubbing noise. I set up an appointment at a local Ford dealership for about 2 weeks later. I still drove the car and other than the noise, it seemed to work fine. Then, last week, pulling out of a parking lot, my wife and I heard a grinding, but after that it seemed fine. Went to another store and pulled into a space and couldn't get it into Park. In fact, I couldn't get it past Neutral. My wife tried, and she got it in there and it was fine after that, except the original noise was louder. I stopped driving it till I took it to the dealer and as they moved the car, they could hear the noise plain as day. That was this past Monday. They called me yesterday to give me an update and said they would be replacing the trans with a new one, which they did today. I read the report the mechanic wrote and it looked the trans had some serious problems. Far more than I thought. Hopefully, the new one will give no trouble. Thinking about selling it in the near future and moving up to either an Escape or Fusion. Dealer gave a 2012 Fusion to use for the last few days and I really liked it, as did my wife. And I sure like the looks of the new Fusion.

I recently had to replace the battery in my '10 Focus SEL. Before that, the readings for AVG MPG was just under 26mpg. Since I put the new battery in the readings for it have been in the 19-20mpg. When the car is idling, you can see the mpg readings drop by tenths. I know the mileage readings aren't accurate, but these are downright erratic. It's like when the old battery was dead and the new battery went in, it goofed some things up. Is there something that can be done to correct this or is that the way it is. And it only seems to be the avg mileage readings affected.

Eighteen months, ay. Well, if that's the case, I'm either ahead of the curve or living on borrowed time. I've been retired for 12 yrs now and still going strong. But as you said, the money has to be right. It would take some hard thinking and figuring to see if it would be worth it.

My wifes nephews wife works at Sheldon Rd and he said she put in for Louisville and they're hoping she gets picked. She has family in Kentucky and Tennessee, so they're looking forward to going.

Don't know how many retirees are on here, but in light of the news last week about GM considering a plan to buy out current retirees pensions, I thought I'd ask how people feel about that. According to the news article, it could be either hourly, salary, or even both. The reason for it would be to lower GM's pension obligations with the pension fund currently being underfunded. And you know full well, that if GM does this, Ford would probably follow suit to keep GM from having too much of a competitive advantage. And the article also stated that GM and the UAW talked about that during contract talks and that there's a letter stating that this could happen in the future.

I thought the one part of the X-Plan was called the Friends & Family. And that it allowed those family members such as cousins, aunts, and uncles to be able to take advantage of a lower purchase price. I've never understood Fords reasoning on this. Under the A & Z, family members that are allowed to buy, include step brothers & sisters, who are not blood related. Yet, cousins, aunts & uncles who are blood related, were left out. And wasn't it just a few short years ago that grandparents were added to the list. Before that, they were also left out. I believe ALL family members should be eligible to buy on A or Z.

This is true. I began collecting my SS two years ago. However, this has been going on for quite a few years. When I retired in 2000, I was told that I would have to apply for SS three months before I turned 62 and that my Supplemental Income Benefit would end, when I collected my first SS check. BUT, at a retirees meeting at my local about 3-4 yrs back, we were told then that even when our SS went into effect, we would still get the SIB until our 63rd birthday, which I did. So, for a year, I was able to "double dip" if you want to call it that and that extra money came in very handy. I don't know if it's still in effect or not as I haven't talked to anyone lately who would be in that age range. Also, my wife put in for her SS two months before me. I told her she could take it now, or wait a few years and get more. She decided to take it now because she figured that in 5 yrs, anything could happen and she could die and that money would be gone and she wanted hers now. Plus, when I started getting mine, hers went up to where she gets half of what I get.

A friend I worked with at LTP said he and his wife went to look at a Focus wanting to buy one but, were told it would take about 8 weeks to get one. Salesman told them the reason was that Ford was shipping most of the Focus's to both the east and west coasts to try and take away potential Honda & Toyota customers who couldn't get those because of what that earthquake and tsunami did in Japan, which drastically slowed production of those cars. They ended up buying a Fusion instead.

It is now 9 months after I originally posted and now I'm averaging between 26 and 27 mpg, about 95% city driving. A couple of times, I've averaged as high as 27.5 mpg.

I ended up with cancer 10 yrs ago. Had surgery and that took care of that. I don't know where it came from. Could've been from exposure to some of the chemicals they use at the plant, who knows. My wife and I decided that it was time for me to go. I was planning on retiring when I hit 40 yrs and I still could've worked till then. Just decided that maybe it was best to go out then, than later. No regrets but, as I said in my earlier post, I still like to keep up on goings on in the plant. After all, I literally spent more than half my life in there. You would be surprised at how many retirees still like to know what's going on in there or for that matter, other retirees from other plants.

Bingo! Shuffleboard! Are you nuts or something? I'd rather be bored than play that shit. As far as caring as to what happens there, I guess when you work someplace for 35 1/2 yrs, you still like to hear what's going on and such. I care what happens to company because it affects me and many others, including family that still work for the company. And I care about what happens to our union and the membership and what the future may bring.

Hmmm, all the other crap that gets posted on here and you get all worked up over what I posted. What a schmuck. What, did you find a hidden 50 gallon drum of Tri-Chlor from 30 yrs ago somewhere and you've been adding it to your coffee? I talked to my source and he said, it does not appear that anybody was fired BUT, he says the other stuff, parts being sent to the main line that had no business being sent did happen and what the plant manager said about what would happen if it did happen again was true. You see bright eyes, my source works in that area. Not the case line but, very close and he knows what goes on in that area. As for you, Twinkie The Kid, you probably don't even work there so, you know nothing of what goes on there. Oh,and the cute little photo you have in your profile, tell me, are you the one taking the crap or the one receiving it. Not that it matters any. Now I see why you call yourself Messy Marvin.

So what's it to you, shit for brains. I worked there longer than you ever will. That is, if you do. And I still know alot of people who do work there so, I get info all the time about the goings on at the plant. Dimwit!

Ok, found out a little bit more. My contact at the plant called me and told me there is still talk going on but, that the supervisor in question may not have been fired but, may have been reprimanded in some way, maybe time off. And that test cases were sent to assy and it happened on days and that the plant manager did say that if it happened again, someone would be fired. My contact also said that no name has been mentioned by anybody, that it's kind of hush hush. So, 182 or Triumph 7, have you heard anything? Also, feel free to PM me if you want to. Kind of like to know who you guys are. Maybe I know you since, I worked at Livonia myself for many years, though, I've been gone for almost 10, now.

Ok, I just talked to the person who told me and he said that is what he was told when he came to work the other day. A couple of his co-workers told him that a supervisor, whose name they never mentioned, was fired. He doesn't know if it was true or not, just that this is what he was told. That the supervisor on the 6R case line, went over to the a new case line and saw some test cases that the engineers use on the new machinery and either ran them on the new case line or just sent them to final assy and that when they were scanned, they were rejected as not ready for use or something. And that the plant manager fired him over it or gave him time off and said that nonsense had to stop. I guess that sort of thing happens with other parts, also. Like I said, the name of the supervisor was never given. So, if the story can't be verified by you guys, then maybe it didn't happen and if it's just a story or rumor, then I apologize for posting it.

I will try to find out who. It was told to me by someone I know who works at the plant. He was probably told this by someone else. I thought he told me the name but, I don't remember. If it's a false story or was just a rumor going around, then I will admit I was wrong. The person who told me works afternoons and I thought he said it happened either on days or afternoons.

That's what I heard last night. He was fired personally by the plant manager. I guess he came over from the 4 spd trans job to the new 6 spd job, on the case line. The supervisors on the 4 spd are more interested in getting the number than making sure a good product comes off the assy line. As most of them say, we'll worry about the quality later. I guess yesterday, the case line wasn't producing cases for the main line fast enough or something, not sure what but, they've just installed new machinery to lighten the load but, it's just not quite ready yet to put out parts. Well this foreman, went over, started up it all up himself and ran cases through it and sent them to assy. They used them but, gee whiz, when they were scanned, they were rejected as not being ready for production. They were junk. Plant manager heard about it, came down and fired the foreman on the spot. Then he said, this stuff will not be tolerated and that if anyone else wants to do similar acts, they will be dealt with. I've also heard that this type of action by that foreman is beginning to spread throughout the 6 spd job area. That those supervisors from 4 spd who are used to doing things the old way, are coming in there and messing things up with their quantity over quality attitude and that the quality on the 6 spd is starting to suffer from it.

My wifes sister and her husband are up here from Florida and he's retired out of Sheldon Rd and he said that before VEBA, he had a choice of BC/BS and an HMO from Humana. After VEBA went into effect, the only choice they had was the plan most like traditional BC/BS, whic he says is total crap. And down there, he gets no info about anything. If he goes to a union meeting down there, it's a combination of Ford, GM and, Chrysler retirees. He's been asking me all kinds of questions about SS, pensions, Medicaire and whatever else he can think of. I asked him if he had the retirees handbook that was mailed out after the last contract and he said he never got one. I think while he's up here, he's going to Sheldon Rd local to get some answers about things.

I had a 68 Cougar back in, 68. Got it right after I got out of the Army. Liked the looks of it and thought the hidden headlights and sequential tailights were cool. Kids liked them, too. Always wanted me to open and close the headlights. It was dark green with a light lime interior, auto, 302 and the Dan Gurney Special.

I don't think there's going to be a Mercury Tracer. I thought I read last week in one of those articles about Ford dropping the Mercury brand that they have dropped plans to build a Mercury counterpart for the Focus. And if they did build the Mustang in Wayne, wouldn't it be at the Wayne Assy plant, not the Michigan Assy plant.

I have a relative that works at Livonia Trans and he told me about a year ago or longer that an hourly employee got caught stealing paychecks from the supervisors desk. I don't remember if he was caught in the act or after the fact and it may have been more than once. But they caught him and fired him. And I don't know if there were charges filed with Livonia police or not but, just a few months ago, he was reinstated and got some gravy job somewhere in the plant.

Ok, I'm a retiree from Michigan. I find it unfortunate that you people in other states don't get to have some of the choices we have in Michigan. What I mean is, it seems that all you folks have is what used to be called Traditional care and some sort of PPO. Myself, I subscribe to Blue Care Network, an HMO. With that, I pay $10 copay for office visits and my 'scrips went up to $25 for a mail order style for generics, $50 for brand names, for a 90 day supply. I don't go through Medco, I just go to my local pharmacy that I've been going to for years. A great many of them will allow you to get your meds mail order style without the mail order. And mine, even goes a little further. If I get a generic, they give me a further discount of a few dollars to help save me some money. Everything else seems to be pretty much covered. I had read before about what Ford retirees in other states had for health insurance choices and couldn't believe it. I would like to know why you people can't have the choice of getting an HMO like we can here. Of course, some don't like HMO's because of that silly referral stuff and the fact that you can't go to any doctor you want at anytime or even hospital. I like my doctor but, I don't like the hospital she's affiliated with but, I'm willing to live with it because she takes very good care of me and my wife. But, I don't think it's the unions fault that you have poor choices for who you want your coverage with. I do think, though, that maybe the union should have worked more together with Ford to make sure we all had the same choices for our coverage. You guys should've been able to choose between traditional, ppo or, hmo no matter where you live. Now there must be hmo's available in Ohio as there are in Michigan and if so, then you all should have the choice to go with them and not be limited with what you have now. Believe me, if I only had what you guys have, I would be pissed, too.