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Old 09-05-2012, 05:16 PM   #1
XDCX
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Default Ford issues their Third Recall on the 2013 Ford Escape

News reports are indicating that Ford has issued their third recall on the recently launched 2013 Ford Escape. The current recall involves about 6100 vehicles that may overheat due to an improperly installed plug in the engine's cylinder head. Here's a link to a report with more details - click here

The earlier recalls concerned a problem with the Escape's carpeting that could interfere with the brake pedal and another recall addressing problems with a splitting fuel rail. The fuel rail problem gained the most media attention since Ford advised owners to stop driving their vehicles until they were inspected or repaired.

Ford has been on a roll lately and I think they deserve all of their success. That said, three recalls on a 2013 vehicle should set off some alarms in Dearborn.
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Old 09-05-2012, 08:01 PM   #2
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News reports are indicating that Ford has issued their third recall on the recently launched 2013 Ford Escape. The current recall involves about 6100 vehicles that may overheat due to an improperly installed plug in the engine's cylinder head. Here's a link to a report with more details - click here

The earlier recalls concerned a problem with the Escape's carpeting that could interfere with the brake pedal and another recall addressing problems with a splitting fuel rail. The fuel rail problem gained the most media attention since Ford advised owners to stop driving their vehicles until they were inspected or repaired.

Ford has been on a roll lately and I think they deserve all of their success. That said, three recalls on a 2013 vehicle should set off some alarms in Dearborn.
Ford has been having quality problems lately. The MyFordTouch system has been hammered by Consumer Reports and the Focus has had build quality problems from what I've read on-line. I don't know if Ford is building the vehicles faster to keep up with demand or if this is more of the typical Detroit early celebration pattern, but Ford needs to get a handle on these problems.

Ford had a good story to tell when it could claim that its quality was right there with Toyota and Honda. Now, it is impossible to do so being that Ford has dropped toward the bottom on the latest quality surveys while Toyota and Honda are cemented at the top.

I hope Ford gets things figured out because with a red-hot Toyota coming on strong, the last thing Ford needs to do is stumble.
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Old 09-06-2012, 06:11 AM   #3
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Did I hear the word "CITATION" (by GM) whispered???
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Old 09-06-2012, 12:15 PM   #4
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Did I hear the word "CITATION" (by GM) whispered???
The Citation launch was a little before my time but I do recall those were very bad years for quality from the Detroit 3.

The only thing I remember about the Citation is when the Governor of Washington, Dixie Lee Ray, required the State Patrol to purchase a small fleet of Citations and use them as patrol cars. The Governor was pro-environment and wanted to reduce fuel consumption.

Not surprisingly the decision didn't last long when it was determined the Citation was a miserable police vehicle.
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Old 09-06-2012, 12:18 PM   #5
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Ford has been having quality problems lately. The MyFordTouch system has been hammered by Consumer Reports and the Focus has had build quality problems from what I've read on-line. I don't know if Ford is building the vehicles faster to keep up with demand or if this is more of the typical Detroit early celebration pattern, but Ford needs to get a handle on these problems.

Ford had a good story to tell when it could claim that its quality was right there with Toyota and Honda. Now, it is impossible to do so being that Ford has dropped toward the bottom on the latest quality surveys while Toyota and Honda are cemented at the top.

I hope Ford gets things figured out because with a red-hot Toyota coming on strong, the last thing Ford needs to do is stumble.
Great comments - I agree 100%.

In fairness to Ford the problem with the fuel rails was likely a supplier issue and I'm not sure about the carpet problem.

Concerning the current recall regarding the cap in the cylinder head, I read another report that Ford determined the "root cause" was the part in question was sometimes installed by hand when the machine that was supposed to install the part failed. Ford has corrected the problem by ensuring that 100% of the parts will be installed by machine only.
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Old 09-06-2012, 06:32 PM   #6
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The Citation launch was a little before my time but I do recall those were very bad years for quality from the Detroit 3.

The only thing I remember about the Citation is when the Governor of Washington, Dixie Lee Ray, required the State Patrol to purchase a small fleet of Citations and use them as patrol cars. The Governor was pro-environment and wanted to reduce fuel consumption.

Not surprisingly the decision didn't last long when it was determined the Citation was a miserable police vehicle.
At the time, the Citation launch really was a highly anticipated event...the factory sent out invitations to select customers and had dealers commit to staging a special preview night for them....much like Chrysler did later on several times. There was a problem however...many smaller dealers didn't get a unit in time for the show date (hmmm....another preview of Chrysler), which was embarrassing for the dealers and irritating for the customers. We made the best of it, and got our message across to the factory by putting a golf cart on the showroom floor and taping citation brochures all over it, along with all the point of sale banners and posters. We took pictures of customers posing with the "All New Chevy Citation" and sent them to the Zone Manager with messages from the customers written on the back saying how impressed they were. We were never shorted a new unit again by GM...lol
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Old 09-07-2012, 10:10 AM   #7
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We took pictures of customers posing with the "All New Chevy Citation" and sent them to the Zone Manager with messages from the customers written on the back saying how impressed they were. We were never shorted a new unit again by GM...lol
That's a great story.

Sadly, in many ways it represents an era that's passed. I doubt too many dealers today would run the risk of angering the Zone Manager because they would fear reprisal and dealer/factory relations have become so sterile that the Zone wouldn't be able to see the humor in the situation.
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Old 09-07-2012, 10:17 AM   #8
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That's a great story.

Sadly, in many ways it represents an era that's passed. I doubt too many dealers today would run the risk of angering the Zone Manager because they would fear reprisal and dealer/factory relations have become so sterile that the Zone wouldn't be able to see the humor in the situation.
Thats why I love old school dealers that tell it like it is.....no matter what!
I think it was best said by Jack Nickelson...."You want the truth? You can't handle the truth."

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Old 09-08-2012, 06:12 AM   #9
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I did similar stuff. Possibly that's why I am a dealer -ex...Hummmm!
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Old 11-26-2013, 02:23 PM   #10
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Default Ford Escape now faces its seventh Recall

This thread is over a year old and the total number of recalls the 2013 Ford Escape has been subject to has jumped to seven. Here's a link to a report concerning the latest recall - click here

While Ford may have been able to shift some of the blame for the earlier recalls on parts supplied by vendors, the latest recall involves engine fires that result from oil leaking from cracked cylinder heads. That's either a design, manufacture or assembly issue - regardless it's a 100% reflection on Ford.
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Old 11-30-2013, 01:37 PM   #11
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This thread is over a year old and the total number of recalls the 2013 Ford Escape has been subject to has jumped to seven. Here's a link to a report concerning the latest recall - click here

While Ford may have been able to shift some of the blame for the earlier recalls on parts supplied by vendors, the latest recall involves engine fires that result from oil leaking from cracked cylinder heads. That's either a design, manufacture or assembly issue - regardless it's a 100% reflection on Ford.
I don't get this, but I guess I should know by now from following the industry for 20+ years. Ford, at one time, had quality that was right in line with the standards of the industry - Honda and Toyota. In fact, Ford used to advertise that its quality "matched Honda and Toyota". However, Ford's quality has dropped over the last 2-3 years. Why?

I don't know what the internal problems are, but Ford better get it a handle on its quality issues. Of course, quality problems aren't a problem when your products are flying off the dealership lot. However, it will eventually hurt you down the road when more and more consumers start writing off Ford because of the quality problems. It's the typical Detroit way of doing business and I'm afraid it is making a comeback.

I also see that Ford has caught Chrysler-itis. This is an "illness" when a company goes from near death experience to darling of the industry in a few short years. You start thinking you are the smartest and greatest company in the land and completely ignore quality issues. Once the quality issues start coming about, you quickly deny them and point to your news clippings and records sales/profits as proof that everything is ok. Eventually, your image takes a beating and your products get to be known around the market as junk. This starts the rapid decline to irrelevancy and then apathy by the overall market. All one has to see is Chrysler's crash from "Company of the Year" in 1995/96 to bankruptcy and second-tier status as a Fiat subsidiary. Eighteen years ago, Chrysler had its head in the clouds - and look at it today. I hope Ford doesn't make the same mistake.
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Old 11-30-2013, 05:05 PM   #12
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Quality is Job 1?
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