Ford turning profit .. did they cut too many corners?

[twintornados]

....The statistics say all Fusions are pretty good. I'm just wondering if anybody else here has had issues with their vehicles.

Issues...yes, but nothing that I would consider out of the ordinary.

[SVT_MAN]

Or maybe the owner has been tugging too hard...

 

It certainly wasn't me who was tugging too hard. My passenger door wasn't used at all since February ... until that Saturday when my dad used it. But even then, he didn't seem to use excessive force.

Edited July 24, 2010 by SVT_MAN

[suv_guy_19]

Or maybe the owner has been tugging too hard...

 

Ok, I apologize, but.....

[LoveTaurus]

Damp! Really wasted my time reading all of the replies! (did they cut too many corners?)

 

Just joking

 

Now, just show us the New Explorer please......

Edited July 24, 2010 by LoveTaurus

[theDuff]

Our parts department stocks the door handles which means they are prone to failure. It has to be a pretty large blip on the radar for them to stock anything. (They don't have much space). I've probably replaced a half dozen or so. The odd thing is if you need to replace one, there are others that need to be replaced on the same car. I have yet to replace any on '07+ Fusions but that doesn't mean another tech hasn't. I think the plastic engineering wasn't there at the time and they have since remedied this.

 

As far as your latch concern .... that's news to me. Look at it this way though. Would you rather the latch fail in the way that yours did, or have the opposite where it comes unlatched intermittantly or never latches completely?

[06mariner]

I got 22,000 miles out of my front and rear brakes on my 06 Mariner ....there's nothing wrong with the car, it's called being an aggressive driver and admitting to the fact. My dad got 43,000 miles out of his first set of brakes on his Jeep Grand Cherokee that was notorious for warped rotors, and he drives FAR slower then I do. Different driving styles result in totally different outcomes for the life of parts. Jaguar X-types also had that door handle problem you mentioned and my friends back door did the same thing yours did.....I wonder if the parts were shared with the Fusion? Anyway, like someone else mentioned, you have the first model year of the Fusion and you bought it second hand....who knows how it was driven prior to your ownership. Ford in 2006 is not Ford now ....they are steadily improving their products. Give them a chance, I GUARANTEE you they are doing a lot better job building cars then most of the competition.

[BrewfanGRB]

Our parts department stocks the door handles which means they are prone to failure. It has to be a pretty large blip on the radar for them to stock anything. (They don't have much space). I've probably replaced a half dozen or so. The odd thing is if you need to replace one, there are others that need to be replaced on the same car. I have yet to replace any on '07+ Fusions but that doesn't mean another tech hasn't. I think the plastic engineering wasn't there at the time and they have since remedied this.

 

Now, THIS is interesting and to me, a bit more than anecdotal. (Surely, the parts manager of theDuff's Service Department has his finger on the pulse of the demand of parts there and if they only stock what they regularly use, to have something a door handle stocked at least raises my eyebrows).

[twintornados]

Now, THIS is interesting and to me, a bit more than anecdotal. (Surely, the parts manager of theDuff's Service Department has his finger on the pulse of the demand of parts there and if they only stock what they regularly use, to have something a door handle stocked at least raises my eyebrows).

...But remember, it is a part that is used in several lines of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles....

[SVT_MAN]

Our parts department stocks the door handles which means they are prone to failure. It has to be a pretty large blip on the radar for them to stock anything. (They don't have much space). I've probably replaced a half dozen or so. The odd thing is if you need to replace one, there are others that need to be replaced on the same car. I have yet to replace any on '07+ Fusions but that doesn't mean another tech hasn't. I think the plastic engineering wasn't there at the time and they have since remedied this.

 

As far as your latch concern .... that's news to me. Look at it this way though. Would you rather the latch fail in the way that yours did, or have the opposite where it comes unlatched intermittantly or never latches completely?

 

This doesn't surprise me .. especially since I had to leave my car at the dealer for a few days because they did not have the part in stock. The curious part is that they thought they had the part in stock when I scheduled the appointment, but then when I took it in, it was out of stock and they had to emergency order it for me. It still was a few days before it was fixed. Like I said, I realize that this is just my perception .. but it seems like this problem might be somewhat common.

 

I certainly agree with your latch sentiment though. Obviously things can always be worse .. but that sort of goes without saying.

Edited July 25, 2010 by SVT_MAN

[theDuff]

I should probably clarify myself. When I said "failure", I didn't necessarily mean broken. I have seen one interior door handle "broken" where the lever was literally broken in half. Every other time the lever has bent a little and the chrome starts deforming and bubbling. They still are fully functional but, left alone, will probably break like the one that I have seen.

[SVT_MAN]

I should probably clarify myself. When I said "failure", I didn't necessarily mean broken. I have seen one interior door handle "broken" where the lever was literally broken in half. Every other time the lever has bent a little and the chrome starts deforming and bubbling. They still are fully functional but, left alone, will probably break like the one that I have seen.

 

My other door handles did what you described too. Haven't had that issue since I had those replaced under warranty.

[J-150]

Now, THIS is interesting and to me, a bit more than anecdotal. (Surely, the parts manager of theDuff's Service Department has his finger on the pulse of the demand of parts there and if they only stock what they regularly use, to have something a door handle stocked at least raises my eyebrows).

 

 

 

 

What's the difference between this, and reading on a Fusion owners forum that 6 people had broken door latches?

 

 

 

Yes, we know that 6 out of a few hundred thousand is nothing, but it does point to an issue when broken door latches are not a 6 in 200,000 complaint on any Ford model.

 

 

 

Just like cruise control switches. Just how many, out of the millions used, actuially caused a fire? But it was enough for a recall.

[BrewfanGRB]

What's the difference between this, and reading on a Fusion owners forum that 6 people had broken door latches?

 

Yes, we know that 6 out of a few hundred thousand is nothing, but it does point to an issue when broken door latches are not a 6 in 200,000 complaint on any Ford model.

 

Is this a serious question? Let me put it this way: What's the likelihood of all 6 people on the Fusion owner's forum who have this complaint living in the same city or even region? Statistically, very, very low. To me, 6 individuals throughout the country on one forum having a complaint is irrelevant.

 

Now, if a dealer (who doesn't stock parts unless it for a known problem or a wear item) has received enough jobs to replace the door handles that they actually stock the part, that seems to me that it's a bit more than 6 people spread all over the country.

 

In reality, neither anecdote probably really means anything significant--but my point is the latter story at least gives me a bit more pause than one individual questioning whether his broken door handles means there are systemwide quality issues.

[Extreme4x4]

Except that, as others have stated, the same door handle is used on many different vehicles.

 

Also, many have stated that there was some problem with the bubbling of the "chrome." This would mean that they would be replaced for asthetic reasons, and not due to failure.

 

While I understand that the OP is disappointed in the problems that his 2006 Ford had, I don't really understand the correlation that this has anything to do with cost cutting in current cars = extra profit. There is absolutally no evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, to support this supposition. As a matter of fact, there is plenty of evidence of the exact opposite. Basically, that as vehicles have seen improved quality over the last 4-5 years, Ford improvement has been more than the average............. thus their steadily improving statistical scores (weighted against the average.................. which is very important here).

 

My 1994 F150 Lightning had a pretty poor fit and finish on its interior. Yet, we still bought a 2001 F150 Lightning, which had massively improved fit and finish. By your example, I should have immediately eliminated the 2001 from consideration, based on my issue with the 1994. The reality being, that a good company will constantly work to improve their processes, and fine tune their quality controls. We are seeing this with Ford, with their continuing improvement in all quality dynamics.

 

I will take that evidence over an individual owns opinion any day. No offense intended.

 

BTW, my 2008 F250 CC 4x4 V10 Lariat now has 18,100 completely troublefree miles. Not one issue. Not one rattle. Not one annoyance. It would appear that my Ford ownership experience is more the rule, than the exception.................. and I will be sticking with Ford for the conceivable future.

[twintornados]

Just like cruise control switches. Just how many, out of the millions used, actuially caused a fire? But it was enough for a recall.

Dude..they were replaced due to leakage of brake fluid that had the potential of causing a fire...big difference. I am one of the ones that had a door handle break on mine...it broke, I picked up a replacement handle, fixed it, no more problems. Here is a hint for you, all cars will have things that will break on them, foreign or domestic. I used to have a saying when I worked at Montgomery Ward in the Auto Express...

"They're all good when they run, and they're all junk when they break...it doesn't matter what it says on the hood."

[J-150]

Dude..they were replaced due to leakage of brake fluid that had the potential of causing a fire...big difference. I am one of the ones that had a door handle break on mine...it broke, I picked up a replacement handle, fixed it, no more problems. Here is a hint for you, all cars will have things that will break on them, foreign or domestic. I used to have a saying when I worked at Montgomery Ward in the Auto Express...

"They're all good when they run, and they're all junk when they break...it doesn't matter what it says on the hood."

 

 

 

 

No shit.

 

Re-read what I posted. What it means is that every model of car will have some issues that are more likely to happen than on other vehicles.

 

Doesn't mean it is a huge issue, but it does mean that you shouldn't be surprised when it happens to yours. The Duff openly stated that they are now stocking these parts. That tells me that this partuclar dealer knows that it has happened to enough Fusions that they should stock the parts. That's pretty convincing that you are more likely to hae a latch failure in a Fusion than an F150, even if the failure is only 6 in 10,000

[Ford Jellymoulds]

Dude..they were replaced due to leakage of brake fluid that had the potential of causing a fire...big difference. I am one of the ones that had a door handle break on mine...it broke, I picked up a replacement handle, fixed it, no more problems. Here is a hint for you, all cars will have things that will break on them, foreign or domestic. I used to have a saying when I worked at Montgomery Ward in the Auto Express...

"They're all good when they run, and they're all junk when they break...it doesn't matter what it says on the hood."

 

Both my Fords are 37 years old l brought my Escort in 81 and my Capri in 91, l still have not managed to break a single handle yet.