Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ram and Asian brands capture best interiors awards

[mettech]

Surprises abound in WardsAuto’s list of the 10 best new vehicle interiors, starting with which automakers missed the list and who made the cut.

Not a single European automaker made the list, nor did Ford. That opened the door for an unprecedented seven Asian brands to join Cadillac and Chevrolet from General Motors and Chrysler’s Ram truck brand.

 

The dearth of Europeans may be surprising, but it’s largely explained by the fact that German luxury brands didn’t introduce many new cars last year, said Tom Murphy, executive editor of WardsAuto World online magazine and point man for the awards. “The absence of the Germans changed the dynamic and opened the door for some new winners.”

 

Ford and Lincoln introduced several important new vehicles — the Escape, Fusion and MKZ — but quality problems kept them out of the top 10.

“Some of Ford’s fit and finish problems were pretty severe,” Murphy said.

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20130421/COL14/304190184/1210/Business01/Mark-Phelan-Cadillac-Chevrolet-Ram-Asian-brands-capture-best-interiors-awards

[akirby]

I stopped reading when I saw this under the hideous picture of the RAM interior:

 

Ram 1500’s emotive interior sets high standard.

[aneekr]

Ford and Lincoln introduced several important new vehicles — the Escape, Fusion and MKZ — but quality problems kept them out of the top 10.

“Some of Ford’s fit and finish problems were pretty severe,” Murphy said.

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20130421/COL14/304190184/1210/Business01/Mark-Phelan-Cadillac-Chevrolet-Ram-Asian-brands-capture-best-interiors-awards

 

Has Ford resolved the fit and finish problems mentioned in Phelan's article? The two 2013 Fusions I rented in Los Angeles recently had many misaligned, flimsy, or improperly installed pieces inside and out, like the D pillar trim cited on Wards' MKZ tester:

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20130421&Category=COL14&ArtNo=304190184&Ref=V3&Profile=1210&MaxW=300&Border=0&Mark-Phelan-auto-interiors

Edited April 24, 2013 by aneekr

[BORG]

Would be nice to understand why cars like the MKZ did not make the list when it's clearly the industry innovator. Much of it may come down to MFT/MLT which is almost universally hated by the press, unlike other infotainment systems.

[RichardJensen]

These awards are nice if you win them--but you shouldn't feel validated by the award, or slighted if you don't win.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that there were fit and finish issues with the '13 Fusion. About the best thing I can say for the disaster that was the Focus/Fusion/Escape/MKZ run of launches is that it's unlikely to happen again--unless Ford unwisely detatches NA product from EU product again, and then attempts to reintegrate them again.

[BORG]

These awards are nice if you win them--but you shouldn't feel validated by the award, or slighted if you don't win.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that there were fit and finish issues with the '13 Fusion. About the best thing I can say for the disaster that was the Focus/Fusion/Escape/MKZ run of launches is that it's unlikely to happen again--unless Ford unwisely detatches NA product from EU product again, and then attempts to reintegrate them again.

If it keeps happening, why would it not happen again?

[NickF1011]

Much of it may come down to MFT/MLT which is almost universally hated by the press, unlike other infotainment systems.

Well, we know it's universally hated by you. And I dare you to find a reviewer who has absolutely nothing bad to say about the infotainment systems used by any competitors. NOBODY has gotten it 100% right yet. Can't see where that would have really factored into these awards at all anyway.

[wildosvt]

Well, we know it's universally hated by you. And I dare you to find a reviewer who has absolutely nothing bad to say about the infotainment systems used by any competitors. NOBODY has gotten it 100% right yet. Can't see where that would have really factored into these awards at all anyway.

 

Find a tablet of any make with a 100% positive feedback. You won't.

[RichardJensen]

If it keeps happening, why would it not happen again?

 

It doesn't 'keep' happening, it has happened twice, and in both instances the underlying reason was basically the same: Ford underestimated the difficulty of adapting overseas platforms for US assembly. If Ford doesn't, in the future, replace an existing platform with an EU-specific (or in the Escape's case, a Mazda-specific) platform that has to be adapted for US assembly, then this won't happen again.

[BORG]

It doesn't 'keep' happening, it has happened twice, and in both instances the underlying reason was basically the same: Ford underestimated the difficulty of adapting overseas platforms for US assembly. If Ford doesn't, in the future, replace an existing platform with an EU-specific (or in the Escape's case, a Mazda-specific) platform that has to be adapted for US assembly, then this won't happen again.

It has happened on the Focus, Escape, Fusion, and MKZ (not to mention the original Focus and Escape launches). That's two-three years worth of major launches all suffering similar and apparently unsolved launch/supply chain problems. I don't expect this to change for Edge, MKX, Taurus, MKS, Mustang, F-150 at launch either...until they don't of course. I realize Ford has never really cracked a trouble free launch of global products, and they can still fix this starting with the Edge. But until they do, I have no expectation that Ford hasn't sorted this out yet. You also have to remember that the MKZ is domestically produced and suffered even larger setbacks.

Edited April 25, 2013 by BORG

[BORG]

Find a tablet of any make with a 100% positive feedback. You won't.

 

I have never owned any electronic I hated more than MyLincoln Touch. And I seriously own it all, I'm sitting here with two Galaxy S4s because the international version has an Octo-core CPU.

 

My NEW '13 MKX is now loosing it's geo-location while in Navigation, which makes it useless. It made a trip to the dealership (incidentally to fix an A/C hose that got chewed up by an alternator) and they told me there is fix coming with the next software update. This means I'm keeping an LTE iPad mini with me on business trips as a backup. I guarantee you the iPad mini is more reliable than what Ford has stuck in my dashboard.

Edited April 25, 2013 by BORG

[ANTAUS]

To be fair, if you look at Wards interior awards of the past, FoMoCo has had the most award for best interiors overall.

[mettech]

Wards hints that it is "QC" that keeps Ford products off the list.

 

Wish Ford would go back to "Quality is Job 1".

[aneekr]

Wards hints that it is "QC" that keeps Ford products off the list.

 

Wish Ford would go back to "Quality is Job 1".

 

+1

The four Ford Motor Company products nominated for the award (complete list of nominees here) have interior designs that are attractive and modern. So it's especially disappointing that QC issues like uneven panel gaps, ill fitting trim, sharp edges, and the like have been prevalent with these vehicles. As alluded to in post #3, I rented two 2013 Fusions during a business assignment in the LA region (one 2.5L SE, one 1.6T SE with Luxury Package). The fit and finish flaws in both Fusions were startling - my own 2010 Fusion did not exhibit any such issues. And those flaws can't be attributed to them being rental cars - both had < 500 mi. on the odometer upon pickup.

 

Once Ford gets the quality problems sorted out, I'm sure we will see more Ford products on the list of Ward’s 10 Best Interiors winners.

[NickF1011]

I have never owned any electronic I hated more than MyLincoln Touch. And I seriously own it all, I'm sitting here with two Galaxy S4s because the international version has an Octo-core CPU.

Perhaps you are just expecting too much then? No in-car infotainment system behaves like a tablet and I doubt in-car electronics will ever be as cutting edge as standalone products, as standalone product refresh times in the electronics market are much faster.

 

Especially after the most recent update to MFT, I'm more happy with it than ever. Can it do what my Galaxy Nexus does? Of course not. But it was never supposed to.

[silvrsvt]

Especially after the most recent update to MFT, I'm more happy with it than ever. Can it do what my Galaxy Nexus does? Of course not. But it was never supposed to.

 

I'm a bit of a late comer to MFT and I've only experienced 3.5.1 version of it and my biggest complaint which isn't really major, is that sometimes the person who is calling me doesn't show up on the right handside of the IP...it displays unknown caller and unknown Number, when in the main MFT display it displays it properly.

 

I've had the Nav tell me I was off my route and not driving on the road, but I attributed it to GPS signal being degraded due to the trees, and its only happened once so far. I'm not a big fan of the Search for POI on Navigation either, but that isn't a MFT problem and I can pull the addresses up using Google Maps on my iPhone.

 

Other wise it works fine...yes it could be faster, but its not like its unreasonably slow either.

 

Oh one other gripe...why does MFT want to reindex my USB Thumbdrive (what seems to happen) every time I start my car,even when it hasn't been removed?

[NickF1011]

I'm a bit of a late comer to MFT and I've only experienced 3.5.1 version of it and my biggest complaint which isn't really major, is that sometimes the person who is calling me doesn't show up on the right handside of the IP...it displays unknown caller and unknown Number, when in the main MFT display it displays it properly.

 

I've had the Nav tell me I was off my route and not driving on the road, but I attributed it to GPS signal being degraded due to the trees, and its only happened once so far. I'm not a big fan of the Search for POI on Navigation either, but that isn't a MFT problem and I can pull the addresses up using Google Maps on my iPhone.

 

Other wise it works fine...yes it could be faster, but its not like its unreasonably slow either.

 

Oh one other gripe...why does MFT want to reindex my USB Thumbdrive (what seems to happen) every time I start my car,even when it hasn't been removed?

And here's the thing about most of the gripes you have: they are all things that cars a few years ago weren't even able to do at all. Is it perfect? Nope. But it still adds tremendous capabilities to the vehicle which were previously just not available.

 

I've had the GPS issue you described once. It corrected itself after just a couple of minutes though.

 

I'll have to check the phone display on mine. I don't think I've made any or received any in-car calls since I've gotten the 3.5.1 upgrade.

 

I've never used a USB for music either, so can't comment on that. It does re-index my iPod occasionally though at seemingly random intervals. Not anywhere close to every time I start the car though. Maybe once a month.

[RichardJensen]

It has happened on the Focus, Escape, Fusion, and MKZ

 

Launch budgets and timelines for the latter products were already set before the issues with the former were known. The set of planning assumptions governing timeline and staff allocation were based on the same flawed notion that the platforms could be readily adapted for domestic assembly in both plants. They were both quite wrong, and having discovered that the assumptions were very wrong for the first pair of launches (Focus/Escape), Ford had to deal with the defective assumptions on the Fusion/MKZ launch as best they could.

Edited April 25, 2013 by RichardJensen

[akirby]

I firmly believe (based on 25+ years of software development and project management) that Ford knew darn well that they were pushing the envelope trying to get these products out the door as fast as possible (Focus, Escape, Fusion/MKZ specifically) to get the cost savings from global platforms and to take advantage of market growth in those segments. I'm sure they didn't expect the problems to be as severe or last as long as they did but I think it was a calculated risk. And if you look at the sales figures so far it would seem that it was a good business decision. Once people who had order delays actually get their vehicles and those with issues get them fixed all will be forgotten.

 

If this is the case (and I believe it was) then I expect future launches to be slower, more prepared and better executed especially knowing what failed them previously.

[RichardJensen]

Ford's future launches will also, hopefully, no longer involve bringing in a foreign platform from somewhere else and trying to make it all work

[mettech]

Ford's future launches will also, hopefully, no longer involve bringing in a foreign platform from somewhere else and trying to make it all work

 

That just leaves the F series and Mustang..

 

Maybe the Mustang in 12 years..

[NickF1011]

That just leaves the F series and Mustang..

 

Maybe the Mustang in 12 years..

 

Not really. Future platforms should be truly "global", not foreign.

[silvrsvt]

Ford's future launches will also, hopefully, no longer involve bringing in a foreign platform from somewhere else and trying to make it all work

 

 

That just leaves the F series and Mustang..

 

Maybe the Mustang in 12 years..

 

 

Not really. Future platforms should be truly "global", not foreign.

 

 

I think the point Richard is making is that the "hard" part has been done already with the introduction of the Fusion/Focus/Escape etc....there shouldn't be a design going forward that isn't already in production in the USA (and its associated supplier trail) so the adaptation of it should be much smoother the next go around.

[RichardJensen]

Yes. Thank you.