DFMEA - Real Life Drama

[optomist1]

Some intriguing reading... a bit long but full of twists and turns, and very current and instructive. Enjoy...

Ford knew Focus, Fiesta had flawed transmission, sold them anyway

 

[outdoorsNW]

I read the article and it is rather damming of Ford management.

 

[Marc]

Was on national news tonight.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

Risk Based Thinking will never trample Profit Based Thinking

 

[Ronen E]

Risk Based Thinking will never trample Profit Based Thinking

In a sense they are one. If one considers profit, they should consider the risk affecting it. Scandals of this sort have a tendency to surface eventually, with PR and sales implications I presume.
This might be cynical of me, but Ford may have actually considered the overall profit/risk implications when they made their decision (caveat: I didn't read the article; but this seems to be a recurring theme with auto manufacturers and big companies in general).

 

[Miner]

Ford hasn't learned. Remember the Pinto rear end explosions and the memo that surfaced where they calculated the value of a human life?

 

[Mike S.]

Disgusting behavior by Ford. Behavior that is sadly probably more prevalent than we know by many companies, large and small.

I never want to buy a new model of any vehicle -- after a year or preferably 2 look at repair history and see if there is anything like this to be avoided. Consumer Reports does a pretty good job compiling reliability data.

 

[Miner]

The last new car I purchased was 1999. They priced themselves out of my market. I usually buy 5 year old cars and drive them till they drop.

 

[Coury Ferguson]

I am not a Ford fan anyways. I prefer the GM cars.

What Ford did is unforgivable from my perspective.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

Through my years, I have noted that the cars become much more "disposable" now. The older cars had 1/16" sheetmetal and lasted for ever, even here in the rust belt. You never really heard of a transmission failure (clutches yes, we were hard on those), or a coil spring breaking (2007-2013 Nissan) or gas tanks exploding on impact (Pinto and Jeep). The mechanical structure of a car back then lasted well past its lifetime. Today, I have a 2014 Dodge caravan with a dead transmission at 70k, a 2005 Sentra with major electronic issues, (since junked), and a 2009 Nissan Rogue on its second bad CVT transmission.
The older stuff is simpler, mechanical, and just better. Gievn the chance again, I would have passed on teh new caravan and gotten a 1950 international pickup, already restored and done, and probably saved a bunch of money besides.