range Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 FORD REVS IN QUALITY SURVEY Interesting summary of the VDS results. Ford revs in quality survey Lexus leads, but Blue Oval brands all top industry average Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News Ford Motor Co.'s three domestic brands all received above-average marks in J.D. Power and Associates' influential annual survey of vehicle dependability, but several General Motors Corp. brands slipped in the rankings and all Chrysler LLC brands remained well below the industry average, led by a steep decline for Jeep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron W. Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 "They're close to the point where the reality of quality is becoming a non-issue," he said. "The challenge that they face -- and that, frankly, all of the domestics face -- is the image of their quality is still lagging reality." This is what I see as the biggest problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 This is what I see as the biggest problem. And that will take time. No amount of advertising or awards is doing to fix that overnight. Only through consistent improvement will there be a change to this perception. It seems now Ford's biggest challenge going forward may be trying to keep itself from being lumped in with Chrysler and GM, as there now appears to be a pretty significant quality gap between Ford and the other domestic manufacturers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 This is what I see as the biggest problem. always wondered why they didn't use their footage of ALL brands of 1/2 tons ( including TINdra ) going over their torture track....would raise a LOT of eyebrows.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
range Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 Those who were predicting Ford's success in the Initial Quality and CR results would not translate into increased Dependability results were wrong. Yet another BON prediction bites the dust. ======================= Ford's quality chief, Bennie Fowler, said the numbers prove that the gains Ford has made in initial quality over the past few years -- which have been reflected in J.D. Powers' initial quality surveys and studies by other groups such as Consumer Reports -- are real and sustained. "Some of our competitors were saying initial quality doesn't matter," Fowler said. "Hopefully this will silence the whispers. We're on par with the best in the world, and the data is there to prove it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryll40 Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 And that will take time. No amount of advertising or awards is doing to fix that overnight. Only through consistent improvement will there be a change to this perception. It seems now Ford's biggest challenge going forward may be trying to keep itself from being lumped in with Chrysler and GM, as there now appears to be a pretty significant quality gap between Ford and the other domestic manufacturers. Chrysler, for sure, is making POSes. Ford should be commended for quality. How come Mercury is so far ahead of Ford, yet they are the same vehicles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 (edited) Chrysler, for sure, is making POSes. Ford should be commended for quality. How come Mercury is so far ahead of Ford, yet they are the same vehicles? less numbers, less surveys, more personal treatment in service drives should there be a need....kinda like Lexus's versions of Toyotas... Edited August 8, 2008 by Deanh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suv_guy_19 Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 less numbers, less surveys, more personal treatment in service drives should there be a need....kinda like Lexus's versions of Toyotas... No trucks also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 No trucks also. in reality the majority only send in surveys if they feel the need to bitch about something...the more surveys the more cahnces of substandard ratings.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
range Posted August 8, 2008 Author Share Posted August 8, 2008 No trucks also. Thats exactly correct, trucks and SUVs have more abuse and therefore more 'issues' according to this survey. Because Mercury only has the Moutaineer (which don't even come in 4x4) the stats for Mercury is higher than the truck-heavy Ford brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryll40 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Thats exactly correct, trucks and SUVs have more abuse and therefore more 'issues' according to this survey. Because Mercury only has the Moutaineer (which don't even come in 4x4) the stats for Mercury is higher than the truck-heavy Ford brand. Yeah but Lexus has THREE SUVS.....two of them "hulking". And 3 years ago they were selling like hotcakes. And as to "only people with complaints sending the the survey, by and large"...that doesn't make sense either. It's all based on percentage. "Less cars, less surveys" is faulty logic. Could be that LM does give better customer service, hence more satisfied surveys. Or could be Mercury sells more to women, who might be more inclined to give compliments versus "he-men" who can't be bothered with such non-sense on their F150. Something is definitely odd. The the 4 Mercury vehicles are all exact Ford clones. Quality should be similar. One other thought...for years Grand Marquis has been pushed mainly to consumers while Crown Vic was special order only to the consumer. Perhaps older GM customers are more inclined to respond...and since Grand Marquis is just a warmed over 30 year old car the bugs are out. And the BOF durability might be especially appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suv_guy_19 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Yeah but Lexus has THREE SUVS.....two of them "hulking". And 3 years ago they were selling like hotcakes. Yes, but see there's a difference in what those SUVs are used for in comparison to most Ford trucks and SUVs. Your much less likely to do use your Lexus for hard work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryll40 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 (edited) Yes, but see there's a difference in what those SUVs are used for in comparison to most Ford trucks and SUVs. Your much less likely to do use your Lexus for hard work. Now THAT is VERY true. Yet the same can be said for BMW and Mercedes and THOSE makes did not do well (particularly Mercedes). Edited August 9, 2008 by Daryll40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
range Posted August 9, 2008 Author Share Posted August 9, 2008 Yeah but Lexus has THREE SUVS.....two of them "hulking". And 3 years ago they were selling like hotcakes. and 3 is probably the total number of Lexus's that have ever accidently strayed onto a dirt road. The difference is Ford trucks are more often used for work, real work, not just cruising to the country club. This difference is not just speculation on my part, its mentioned by JDPower themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVT_MAN Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 (edited) I believe that GM has terrible quality. I didn't used to, but after being in one, now I do. We just rented a 08 Chevy Impala (we wanted Taurus but they didn't have any) for a 4 day trip to Mackinaw City / Mackinac Island and we came away super UNIMPRESSED. I can't see how those cars sell so well outside of fleet duty. The plastics are downright horrendous to the touch (especially compared to my Fusion), the metal is so thin and flimsy that I was able to put a dent in it by pushing in on the metal WITH MY THUMB (that was a REAL shock, for real, how thin it was!), and the car, despite 22,000 miles already had squeaks and rattles marring the entire car! The metal deal was really pretty bad .. I mean, I found that the trunk, the rear fenders, and the front fenders all had that super thin metal. What is the deal? Is GM trying to save weight or what? That flimsy metal just isn't cool! Even the sun visors feel cheap. When you move them away from the headliner they make this horrible clunking noise, as if you just ripped them from the headliner or something ... Oh yeah, and the seats were AWFUL. My mom has chronic back problems and has no problem being somewhat comfortable in a car like my Fusion or either of our Jaguars. From the get go, she was complaining about the horrible support in the seats ... it never got better the entire trip. (And keep in mind, my mom grew up riding around in GMs like her 1964 Buick w/ a Wildcat V8, so she doesn't have some anti GM bias ... she even had a 1978 Camaro - she was appalled at how horrible the car was.) I had a positive impression of the Chevy Impala based upon its clean styling before riding in it, but I hated it after spending the weekend with it. It did have one solid advantage, and one alone: A LARGE, HUGE TRUNK. That is the only positive thing about the entire car that I could see throughout the weekend. Edited August 10, 2008 by SVT_MAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 in reality the majority only send in surveys if they feel the need to bitch about something...the more surveys the more cahnces of substandard ratings.... That's not how JD Power works. They don't rely on 'reader response'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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