02MustangGT Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 2 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said: New today: my MIC roof has developed the "snakeskin" texture of another early build, where the honeycomb core actually shows thru the outer laminate panel. The raw seam down the back of my clamshell also shows signs of delamination and a lot more material shedding. I've had it 3 weeks. Wait…that’s normal now? This whole launch has been a joke no matter how you feel about the Ford employees working to assemble a great product. I refuse to blame this on a supplier at this point. Ford made the final decision on the hardtop construction and chose the supplier…then decided to deliver defective tops to the customer. I sincerely hope those who have taken delivery of their Bronco are compensated appropriately. I suppose it’s a good thing that only 100’s rather than tens of thousands of Broncos are “in the wild” thus far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 8 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said: Wait…that’s normal now? This whole launch has been a joke no matter how you feel about the Ford employees working to assemble a great product. I refuse to blame this on a supplier at this point. Ford made the final decision on the hardtop construction and chose the supplier…then decided to deliver defective tops to the customer. I sincerely hope those who have taken delivery of their Bronco are compensated appropriately. I suppose it’s a good thing that only 100’s rather than tens of thousands of Broncos are “in the wild” thus far. Seriously? Premierdrum posted photos on BroncoG6 last week and the roof was in good shape and went to shit since then. There are Broncos that where built A MONTH AGO that still haven't shipped to customers yet...most likely because of this. My Bronco was built 18 days ago I and still have no fucking clue as to when I get it, and most likely its because its done at the mod shop and now has roof issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 It's rough, but I suppose a brand new model with new components from a new supplier launching during a global pandemic had a ton to do with this. The truck is awesome and I love driving it. People stop me daily to talk about it. They smile. It's fun to look at and more fun to drive. The roof is being poorly manufactured, the fruit of a business relationship that has already fractured beyond salvation. The design behind the roof was likely too complex to pull off in real world manufacturing situations. Webasto assured Ford they could and Ford trusted them. I have to believe these will all be replaced at some point, as they're not exactly repairable and are already falling apart. I'm still enjoying every bit of driving it while they sort out the mess. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02MustangGT Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 7 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: Seriously? Premierdrum posted photos on BroncoG6 last week and the roof was in good shape and went to shit since then. There are Broncos that where built A MONTH AGO that still haven't shipped to customers yet...most likely because of this. My Bronco was built 18 days ago I and still have no fucking clue as to when I get it, and most likely its because its done at the mod shop and now has roof issues. Seriously what? Ross also posted yesterday that those with orders should relax and that all is great in the world of MAP production. It’s a shit show. There are roofs on Broncos that were delivered to customers with defects day 1. Do you blame the supplier? I don’t. Good luck taking delivery of your Bronco and being satisfied with the MIC roof. I will happily wait this out with soft top orders but hope that FORD decides to compensate those who have defective tops. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 28 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said: Seriously what? Ross also posted yesterday that those with orders should relax and that all is great in the world of MAP production. It’s a shit show. There are roofs on Broncos that were delivered to customers with defects day 1. Do you blame the supplier? I don’t. Good luck taking delivery of your Bronco and being satisfied with the MIC roof. I will happily wait this out with soft top orders but hope that FORD decides to compensate those who have defective tops. If your Continental tires started to shred after 3 weeks would you blame Ford or Continental? If webasto assured Ford they could build them correctly and then couldn’t then Ford is only guilty of picking the wrong supplier. Remember the pre production tops were fine so it’s not like this was just overlooked for months, Even if the problems were evident at the factory what difference would it make? You think they should have stopped production and not shipped them? Now that would be a nightmare. This isn’t something that can be fixed in a few weeks. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02MustangGT Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 57 minutes ago, akirby said: If your Continental tires started to shred after 3 weeks would you blame Ford or Continental? If webasto assured Ford they could build them correctly and then couldn’t then Ford is only guilty of picking the wrong supplier. Remember the pre production tops were fine so it’s not like this was just overlooked for months, Even if the problems were evident at the factory what difference would it make? You think they should have stopped production and not shipped them? Now that would be a nightmare. This isn’t something that can be fixed in a few weeks. You keep mentioning “3 weeks”. There is undeniable evidence that defective tops were delivered to customers. Is that a supplier problem or a Ford QC problem? Probably both, but Ford chose the supplier and construction of these tops so now it’s their problem. How do you know pre-prod units were fine? I’ve said this before and you can defend Ford all you want…in this case, I didn’t buy a product manufactured by Webasto (or whoever), I purchased a Ford vehicle manufactured by Ford. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 1 hour ago, 02MustangGT said: Ross also posted yesterday that those with orders should relax and that all is great in the world of MAP production. It is though. I would know, I'm there every day. There's the usual beginning of production growing pains but from my end and what I see right now it's no worse than what we went through when we launched Ranger from a production standpoint, and that launch was pretty smooth. 1 hour ago, 02MustangGT said: Do you blame the supplier? I don’t. You absolutely should though. This is an example of a supplier over-promising and under-delivering. Obviously the deck was stacked against them with them building an entire new plant for this program in the middle of a pandemic and they simply did not rise to the occasion. Even Flex-N-Gate, as little as I think of them, was able to come through. Like Akirby said, the biggest thing Ford is guilty of here is choosing the wrong supplier. Not the first time and probably won't be the last. All they can do is minimize the damage as much as possible and hopefully learn from their mistakes. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 8 minutes ago, 02MustangGT said: I didn’t buy a product manufactured by Webasto (or whoever), I purchased a Ford vehicle manufactured by Ford. Thats a very narrow way of looking at it. There's HUNDREDS of vendors/suppliers that built parts for every vehicle that rolls off the line and Ford cannot micromanage all of them. That's a good way to ruin your reputation and increase costs for no reason. There has to be a certain degree of trust that the chosen vendor can do the job and do it right. Clearly this one is an epic fail. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02MustangGT Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) 16 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said: It is though. I would know, I'm there every day. There's the usual beginning of production growing pains but from my end and what I see right now it's no worse than what we went through when we launched Ranger from a production standpoint, and that launch was pretty smooth. You absolutely should though. This is an example of a supplier over-promising and under-delivering. Obviously the deck was stacked against them with them building an entire new plant for this program in the middle of a pandemic and they simply did not rise to the occasion. Even Flex-N-Gate, as little as I think of them, was able to come through. Like Akirby said, the biggest thing Ford is guilty of here is choosing the wrong supplier. Not the first time and probably won't be the last. All they can do is minimize the damage as much as possible and hopefully learn from their mistakes. Good to know that production is running as expected. Not doubting that anyway. Ford had countless months (more like years) to get this right. My point, and you know this, supplier issues (such as webasto) are not what the general customer is concerned with. Customers are concerned with defective products (whether it’s a top or whatever) that bears the name of the manufacturer. In this case, it’s Ford. I have no doubt that Ford will make this right, but some of you need to admit that it’s a bad look and this entire launch (Covid or not) has been less than ideal. Edited July 21, 2021 by 02MustangGT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-dubz Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 So what’s the plan going forward with the MIC roof? I saw over on bronco6g premierdrum say the mod top was already given to a new supplier. Is the MIC top staying with Webasto? 2 hours ago, PREMiERdrum said: The roof is being poorly manufactured, the fruit of a business relationship that has already fractured beyond salvation. The design behind the roof was likely too complex to pull off in real world manufacturing situations. Webasto assured Ford they could and Ford trusted them. if the design of the MIC is too complicated, would a new supplier even fix the issue? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) The MOD tops are different and going to a different supplier now. The MIC roofs are complex but can be made as designed, Webasto just has demonstrated no ability to reliably do so. I don't know what the future holds but they'll be replacing thousands of MIC tops in short order with... something. Edited July 21, 2021 by PREMiERdrum 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Motor Trend has an article on the hardtop problems that PREMiERdrum detailed in this thread, as well as other quality control gaffes. Teething Problems: Ford Bronco Owners Reporting Issues With Hardtop (motortrend.com) Looks like Ford is back to its usual routine of completely botching a new product launch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 7 minutes ago, rperez817 said: Motor Trend has an article on the hardtop problems that PREMiERdrum detailed in this thread, as well as other quality control gaffes. Teething Problems: Ford Bronco Owners Reporting Issues With Hardtop (motortrend.com) Looks like Ford is back to its usual routine of completely botching a new product launch. Sure... Lets see...super popular subject that will generate clicks increase ad revenue...lets run a story on EVERY little thing that pops up. Outside of the roof issue, which is a complete clusterfuck, reporting a single, two or three identical problems out of 800 produced and sold Broncos works out to a less then 1% failure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 3 hours ago, akirby said: If your Continental tires started to shred after 3 weeks would you blame Ford or Continental? Ford if the tires are OE, Continental if the tires are replacement. Or myself if I drove the vehicle over something I knew would shred the tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 7 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: Outside of the roof issue, which is a complete clusterfuck, reporting a single, two or three identical problems out of 800 produced and sold Broncos works out to a less then 1% failure. How do you know that the actual number of problems is only 1, 2, or 3? Best to wait until Consumer Reports or J.D. Power get enough owner data to do their vehicle quality and reliability surveys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 6 minutes ago, rperez817 said: How do you know that the actual number of problems is only 1, 2, or 3? Best to wait until Consumer Reports or J.D. Power get enough owner data to do their vehicle quality and reliability surveys. This is where those surveys get a little skewed though, especially the reliability one. It looks like there could be tons of these going back to dealers for replacement tops but the vehicle itself will still be 100% drivable and it doesn't affect the functionality at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 7 minutes ago, rperez817 said: How do you know that the actual number of problems is only 1, 2, or 3? Best to wait until Consumer Reports or J.D. Power get enough owner data to do their vehicle quality and reliability surveys. No shit sherlock, we don't have data sets to extrapolated data from but that doesn't stop you from declaring this launch a disaster either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K270 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 6 hours ago, markfnc said: Saw my 1st Bronco while driving from the Henry Ford to hotel. It was red and looked awesome. had mfg. plates on it. haven't seen one on the roads or in a lot in NC yet. I to saw my first one today. I think it was the cactus color. I was driving so I couldn't get pics. Couldn't get close enough to even see what trim level it was. Oh well, it was exciting to see one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 12 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said: Thats a very narrow way of looking at it. There's HUNDREDS of vendors/suppliers that built parts for every vehicle that rolls off the line and Ford cannot micromanage all of them. That's a good way to ruin your reputation and increase costs for no reason. There has to be a certain degree of trust that the chosen vendor can do the job and do it right. Clearly this one is an epic fail. Everyone on this site knows the importance or destruction a vendor can play but not the general public who've plunked down $50-60k for this vehicle and waited well over a year. Ultimately this is Ford's fault since it is their name on the vehicle and they've selected the vendors. I cannot believe Ford was not intimately involved in the QC process as the top went thru development, since it is such a major component of the vehicle. Glad to hear the launch is similar to one's you experienced in the past. I really hope though that they make this right for the affected customers.....something Ford has CLEARLY failed to do in the past!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Correct, to the public, this is a Ford issue, not a vendor issue...regardless of how loud we cover our ears and yell LALALALALALA. We know the issue and who is responsible, but that's not how the public sees it and trying to change that perception will be like turning the titanic on a dime. Is Ford to partially blame? Absolutely, they should never have let it get this far down the road without interjecting and ensuring the tops are of quality worthy of being on their vehicles. Also, let's be real, you don't think Ross or anyone else with these issues will go to Webasto to get this resolved; they will go to Ford. ...and I know this is a Ford site, but let's be honest, if this were happening to Jeep or GM, we'd be all over it as proof of their crappy quality. I honestly think Ford should be micromanaging their suppliers, so stuff like this does not happen (and I hope they are). As far as they should be concerned, they work for Ford, and their processes and parts should go through the same scrutiny that Ford would do with their internally sourced parts. Let's just hope Ford puts their very loud megaphone to Webasto and gets them to make these tops with better QC and solves this before it gets any worse. I hope they have Ford engineers in there overseeing everything from this point until they are dumped for another supplier. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 10 hours ago, silvrsvt said: No shit sherlock, we don't have data sets to extrapolated data from but that doesn't stop you from declaring this launch a disaster either. OK, by Ford standards, the new Bronco product launch is "normal". Otherwise, any reasonable person including new Bronco owners can only describe it as an "epic disaster". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 1 hour ago, kyle said: Everyone on this site knows the importance or destruction a vendor can play but not the general public who've plunked down $50-60k for this vehicle and waited well over a year. I believe this one is different though. The people waiting this long for their bronco are hardcore Ford fans and seem way more plugged into what is happening than the average buyer walking into a dealer looking for an Escape or F-150. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 23 minutes ago, Anthony said: Absolutely, they should never have let it get this far down the road without interjecting and ensuring the tops are of quality worthy of being on their vehicles. There were massive efforts made. I can't and won't speak to specifics but there were massive efforts made. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 24 minutes ago, Anthony said: I honestly think Ford should be micromanaging their suppliers, so stuff like this does not happen (and I hope they are). I think you missed my point from yesterday. It's impossible to micromanage every single vendor, supplier and part. There's just far to many. There are multiple processes and contingencies in place that by and large are effective. Maybe it's time to revisit a few of them since this seems to be a troubling pattern and hopefully now that we've seen verification on social media that the CEO himself is definitely aware of it some things will improve. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) 44 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said: Maybe it's time to revisit a few of them since this seems to be a troubling pattern and hopefully now that we've seen verification on social media that the CEO himself is definitely aware of it some things will improve. Hopefully Jim Farley has already taken actions to improve Ford's supplier relations in general. Earlier this year, Ford's performance in the annual OEM supplier working relations index dropped below the threshold for adequate and went into the "poor" category. Edited July 21, 2021 by rperez817 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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