fuzzymoomoo

That's not surprising, going from producing full size SUVs (expedition/Navigator) to compact cars has to be equal or greater of a challenge as going from steel to aluminum construction. I can't speak to what went on here at MAP back then, it was before my time here. Btw, who said they're taking shortcuts? Inspection might be a little more lax pending massive safety hazards, but as long as it can be fixed at the dealer level, they're probably letting more stuff leave the plant than they normally would.

Here's a little insight on how much money is lost on one lost production day At max capacity, DTP makes about 75 trucks per hour, that's 1.25 every minute, or one every 45 seconds. That's a total of 803 over a 10.7 hour shift, for at total of 1606 PER DAY! Now, assuming an ATP of $35,218, that's $56,560,108 in lost revenue per day if they don't run at all. So do you really think they would shut an entire plant down while they figure out a bumper alignment issue? I don't think so.

You missed my point. Many people are assuming that all assembly lines are created equal, they aren't. A lawnmower was the first example I could think of And yes, a few people suggested shutting the plant down to figure out what's going on.

You people are acting like this is a ford exclusive problem. It isn't. Every manufacturer, no matter what the product is, has issues at the start of production. An assembly line isn't as simple as many of you seem to think, there's a ton of variables and things go wrong. If one part of the process isn't quite right, it's ama how quickly problems can snowball, sometimes undetected. It's why warranties exist. F250, you say waiting 8 months to buy a brand new product is unacceptable, and that's fine, I know there's plenty more people out there that share that view. There's also plenty of people out there that don't necessarily care, or those like me who aren't willing to take that risk. Just know that right or wrong, like it or not, there is a risk and again, that is why warranties exist I'm witnessing first hand how complicated a new product launch is here at MAP. Granted, the new Focus launch isn't nearly as complicated as the new F-150. That being said, there still hasn't been a day where I haven't seen a group of engineers wandering around and making adjustments since MY2015 started production back in December. The more complicated the product being produced, the harder it is to get everything working right. A car is a lot harder to produce than say, a lawnmower.

^well that was a bit unnecessary

The people that buy a Rolls-Royce don't buy it for looks, they buy it because it's a Rolls-Royce.

It actually severely angers me at how shortsighted American society can be. Watch, expedition/navigator (and other gigantic SUV) sales will explode this month due to the shortsighted nature of people. What approximately 0% of those people realize is that gas prices WILL climb again and these are the same people that will be bitching and moaning about how it costs them $200 every week to fill up their tanks.

I think they have a better idea of what the product mix will ultimately be based on Silvererra sales.

My guess is that they are earlier builds, and as they produce more, you will likely see the issue slowly being corrected (unless an immediate fix is found) Stuff like this is why its not always a good idea to buy a new model in the first 6-8 months of production. There is ALWAYS bugs that need to be worked out, some more serious than others. Its a risk you take by doing so.

Eh? Did I miss something or were you talking to someone else?

Save for a few models here and there, have they ever done that with Caddilac?

Lol. Makes it easy to multitask when you do the same thing 600 times a day, 4 days a week for 1.5 years

Thank you Richard, I wanted to get that detailed, but I can only respond when the line stops right now

99% sure they're mounted on brackets. I have no idea exactly how adjustable those brackets are

Dean, I can't speak to that, I've never worked at DTP, I don't know their exact process.

Yes and no. There's so many moving parts to the assembly process, with every tweak of the process, there's hundreds more that need to be made. So, yes they probably caught it early, determined it's not a safety issue and are still working on a solution that has a minimal disruption to the process as a whole

Don't forget too that it's likely not a safety issue or they would order a stop sale

Your sarcasm detector must be broken

Yeah, that's about what I had in my head. I think that would sell enough to justify its existence

I'm learning that most don't read the contract, or even the summary of the contract.

Really? I only saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago

I saw that ad too with my fiance, and she just turned to me and said 'is that GM trying to talk down the F-150?'

There is a final inspection, but I get the impression that they tend to let a little more stuff go in the name of getting units out the door faster during a launch. This isn't stuff you generally hear about 6 months into production, and I don't think Ford is the only company that does this either.

If they do, it's at the beginning of final inspection (CAL). That's where the one at MAP is that I was alluding to earlier.

You obviously haven't been in the back seat of one. I'm 5'10" 175lb and I have a very hard time getting back there. Shorten the wheelbase up you have nothing left. Also, where exactly in North America are you going to build it?