Ford is not the only one.   I had a Nissan Altima rental recently that had a ridiculous lever to move the seat!

I'll both agree and disagree with you on that my friend. Xiaomi SU7 and YU7 look better than Ford's anonymous unibody blobs, but Ford's icons like Mustang/MME and Bronco have the two Xiaomi vehicles beat in the exterior styling department.   SU7:   YU7:

Ford would instantly become the market leader. 

Feds Investigating Nearly 1.3 Million Ford F-150 Pickups with Serious Transmission Problems - Autoblog   The Blue Oval is facing a new headache over older pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary investigation into 2015-2017 Ford F-150 trucks on 21 March 2025 due to reports of issues with 6R80 or 10R80 automatic transmissions that may unexpectedly downshift without warning or driver input. The NHTSA has now upgraded that query into a full investigation, covering 1,270,970 examples of the pickup, after more than 60 percent of surveyed owners reported problems to the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). While this is not yet a recall, the frequency of complaints may lead to one.    

They didn't put the gas struts on the Bronco at all, just a prop rod.  I wound up buying the "Ford Performance" gas struts for it that actually lift the hood higher than the prop rod did.

A few months ago I said all these losses were on paper and somebody blasted me and said Ford can't do that.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the xiaomi su7 and yu7 with a ford badge. They look better than anything ford is making now.

If the mount the prop rod halfway down the fender, they would save almost 50% of the cost over one that is mounted to the front shroud.

Isn't this part of the $19 billion write down that was already announced?

Don’t give them any more terrible ideas.