Jump to content
News
Reviews
Discussons
Activity
Create New...
Close
  • Drew Dowdell
    Drew Dowdell

    By Drew Dowdell •

    2020 Explorer and Aviator Quality Issues Hit Ford

      ...all is not well...

    The 2020 Ford Explorer and 2020 Lincoln Aviator are likely the most important vehicles in Ford's lineup after the F-150.  These new SUVs mark a turn for Ford in styling and technology. The problem is, early reports indicate that there is trouble brewing in Chicago, the plant where they are built.

    The two SUVs are just now arriving at dealerships, but have already been the subject of recalls for seats, missing manual park release covers, and other issues.  The issues have become so bad that Ford is trucking them from Chicago to their Flat Rock Assembly for further examination.  Dealers around the country have been notified of delays on their shipments due to unspecified manufacturing issues.  Ford is providing no details on the subject.

    A Ford source involved with the repairs says that Ford is using X-Ray to try and diagnose chassis issues, transmission issues where the vehicle doesn't properly go into Park or not properly activating the parking brake leading to the possibility of a roll-away, air-conditioning systems that blow heat only, Aviators with automatic suspension issues where the vehicle arrives in suspension failure mode, and transmissions that leak so much fluid "it looks like a crime scene".  Aside from the serious issues, even the mundane issues appear; missing badges and trim, or having the wrong wheels. 

    Ford has called in workers from plants in Kentucky, Dearborn, Wayne, and Sterling Heights to help at Flat Rock to complete repairs. Flat Rock normally builds Mustangs and Continentals, but from Friday to Sunday, workers spend their time processing Explorers and Aviators. 

    Ford can't stop production of the vehicles even though they have a build-up of thousands of defective vehicles because the revenue is booked when the vehicle leaves the plant. Stopping production would reduce book revenue this quarter. Ford already was downgraded to junk bond status earlier this week.

    Go to articles

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    Paolino
    On 9/15/2019 at 6:39 PM, daves87rs said:

    Sliding back to 80s quality i see. 

    Stil remember slamming the door, and reopened a door on an Escort wagon, and all the door trim fell off....

    And a 8 year old doesn’t have that much power either......

    Flat out spit my tea on the laptop.  God this sounds like my 1987 Plymouth Sundance...

    • Haha 2
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    USA-1
    2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

     

    Saw a commercial for the Aviator last night, not a bad looking front end, ugly side view greenhouse and the back end is typical Ford SUV fugly. Thought to myself oh the poor sucker who buys one of those POS's is going to be in for one rough ride...if they ever get to ride in it. HA!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    David
    1 hour ago, USA-1 Vortec 6.2 said:

    Or a new FoMoCo product,  but yes I agree, never the first year especially if an all new platform and design. 

    Based on the extreme testing that Rivian is doing from South tip of South America up through Central America to finish in North America, at the pace Rivian is going to have a bullet proof Truck / SUV, Ford might just have their first Quality Truck in the First Year on a New Platform since Rivian will be building it side by side with their truck.

    I think it might even be higher quality than Tesla.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    USA-1
    20 minutes ago, dfelt said:

    Based on the extreme testing that Rivian is doing from South tip of South America up through Central America to finish in North America, at the pace Rivian is going to have a bullet proof Truck / SUV, Ford might just have their first Quality Truck in the First Year on a New Platform since Rivian will be building it side by side with their truck.

    I think it might even be higher quality than Tesla.

    I really hope they do! We need Ford to survive, competition is a good thing. Not that hard to beat Tesla quality right now though is it? We need Tesla to do well too and finally become profitable!

    • Agree 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Drew Dowdell
    35 minutes ago, dfelt said:

    Based on the extreme testing that Rivian is doing from South tip of South America up through Central America to finish in North America, at the pace Rivian is going to have a bullet proof Truck / SUV, Ford might just have their first Quality Truck in the First Year on a New Platform since Rivian will be building it side by side with their truck.

    I think it might even be higher quality than Tesla.

    Woah there fella... Rivian needs a working factory first before you can judge quality.  Right now they're using custom, one-off build trucks. 

    • Agree 3
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    David
    31 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

    Woah there fella... Rivian needs a working factory first before you can judge quality.  Right now they're using custom, one-off build trucks. 

    Are you sure as their news section says they have mules that were built off their assembly line and the pictures of the testing they doing through the Americas is based on those stampings except for the custom placement of various testing spots for the charge port.

    47 minutes ago, USA-1 Vortec 6.2 said:

    I really hope they do! We need Ford to survive, competition is a good thing. Not that hard to beat Tesla quality right now though is it? We need Tesla to do well too and finally become profitable!

    True, I want Tesla to survive, but Musk makes that really hard with his eccentric ways.

    I think with Rivian building mules and testing that once they get the bugs worked out, Ford should get a quality truck from them.

    • Agree 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Drew Dowdell
    9 minutes ago, dfelt said:

    Are you sure as their news section says they have mules that were built off their assembly line and the pictures of the testing they doing through the Americas is based on those stampings except for the custom placement of various testing spots for the charge port.

    True, I want Tesla to survive, but Musk makes that really hard with his eccentric ways.

    I think with Rivian building mules and testing that once they get the bugs worked out, Ford should get a quality truck from them.

    Even if that is the case, it is still too early to judge quality yet.  Hopefully with Ford looking over their shoulder, Rivian will get a new product out the door without issues.

     

    …..oh.....

     

    .... wait....

    • Haha 2
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Drew Dowdell
    5 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

    I wonder how far along Rivian is to production in the Normal, Ill factory they bought...

    I just looked it up and apparently they started stamping metal body parts in late July. 

    • Like 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    ccap41
    12 hours ago, dfelt said:

    Based on the extreme testing that Rivian is doing from South tip of South America up through Central America to finish in North America, at the pace Rivian is going to have a bullet proof Truck / SUV, Ford might just have their first Quality Truck in the First Year on a New Platform since Rivian will be building it side by side with their truck.

    I think it might even be higher quality than Tesla.

    You realize everybody does the extreme testing, right? This isn't a new thing Rivian is doing. 

    https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/11/02/chevy-ford-ram-truck-tests/1809135002/

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    25ThTA

    This topic deserves an update.  Is this still an issue?  The reason I ask is that I'm shopping for a new car for my wife and the Aviator is in the lead as far as features, price and looks.  My first choice was the XT6 but the Aviator has some features that are important.  The air ride with lowering when in park for easy in/out is one.  The instrument panel is another.  The Aviator is completely electronic and Cadillac's is just a Chevy cluster with a tiny LCD between mechanical speedo and tach.  I waited so long for a decent size SUV from Cadillac and it's lacking right out of the gate.

     

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    David
    33 minutes ago, 25ThTA said:

    This topic deserves an update.  Is this still an issue?  The reason I ask is that I'm shopping for a new car for my wife and the Aviator is in the lead as far as features, price and looks.  My first choice was the XT6 but the Aviator has some features that are important.  The air ride with lowering when in park for easy in/out is one.  The instrument panel is another.  The Aviator is completely electronic and Cadillac's is just a Chevy cluster with a tiny LCD between mechanical speedo and tach.  I waited so long for a decent size SUV from Cadillac and it's lacking right out of the gate.

    Reading this which is one of the latest news stories, you might want to wait on the Aviator till the next model year comes out.

    https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/16/2020-ford-explorer-lincoln-aviator-quality-control-issues/

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    25ThTA

    Thanks David.  The autoblog article is also from September.  i'm wondering if they've fixed the issues at the plant.  I got the impression they had some disgruntled workers there.  I guess we can't expect much from Chicago auto union workers as far as taking pride in their work goes.

     

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    David
    15 hours ago, 25ThTA said:

    Thanks David.  The autoblog article is also from September.  i'm wondering if they've fixed the issues at the plant.  I got the impression they had some disgruntled workers there.  I guess we can't expect much from Chicago auto union workers as far as taking pride in their work goes.

     

    I will say this, I was excited to see the Aviator in person and had checked in with two different Ford/Lincoln Dealerships as I am in the middle of the area, so either one is the same distance pretty much for me and still they have not gotten any as of Early December. They keep getting pushed back on when the new Aviators are supposed to arrive. I take that as a sign the quality issues are still not resolved yet.

    Now with that said, this made me wonder if they are listed yet and so I did a search of Harrison Ford / Lincoln in Lynnwood Washington and they now list 27 new Aviators in inventory, all have default ford marketing pictures but two black ones that are actual pictures taken on the lot.

    https://www.harrislincoln.net/new-inventory/index.htm?compositeType=new&model=Aviator

    So I guess they are finally hitting the lots, but I wonder what all went was tweaked after manufacturing to make them right. Cheapest one is $61K and the most expensive one is $80K with the bulk of them all at $75K. Wow makes one think about getting a Navigator or Escalade then.

    • Agree 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    David
    6 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

    I know somebody who owns a new Aviator so they are available. 

    He's had it for a couple months now. 

    Find out if he has had any issues or how often it has had to go back to the dealership. Would be interested to know as his will be one of the ones that has been worked over off the assembly line per the news stories, they are still going to secondary QA check departments and then onto another site to get fixed. Very sad.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    ccap41
    11 minutes ago, dfelt said:

    So I guess they are finally hitting the lots, but I wonder what all went was tweaked after manufacturing to make them right. Cheapest one is $61K and the most expensive one is $80K with the bulk of them all at $75K. Wow makes one think about getting a Navigator or Escalade then.

    It's worth the consideration but both of those start at 75k so you very likely wouldn't be getting the options you're getting on a 75k Aviator. 

    6 minutes ago, dfelt said:

    Find out if he has had any issues or how often it has had to go back to the dealership. Would be interested to know as his will be one of the ones that has been worked over off the assembly line per the news stories, they are still going to secondary QA check departments and then onto another site to get fixed. Very sad.

    I don't think it's gone back for anything...yet.. It was delayed a couple different times from his initial delivery date but I think that was the only hiccup. He ordered his and I think he got everything except the hybrid system, Black Label. 

    Oh wait, he didn't have to go back for it but there was a paint issue that delayed the delivery(on top of whatever the initial delay(s) were). 

    • Thanks 1
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites


    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

    ×



  • Posts

    • oldshurst442
      Beautiful Cars Appreciation Thread

      By oldshurst442 · Posted

    • Robert Hall
      Airplanes

      By Robert Hall · Posted

      Watched the MH 370 documentary a few nights ago.  Very interesting story, still so much unknown about the why and what happened....
    • surreal1272
      Dodge News: Dodge Last Call of the Charger/Challenger 2023 product line revealed!

      By surreal1272 · Posted

      (Resharpens knife for next bubble popping)   And "YES" to the rest of your post. I am just tired of the fanboy logic being thrown out there without even a lick of simple research and data to back up said "logic".    For crying out loud, go ahead and price a Chevrolet SS right now. They sold for $50K new and I routinely see those sell for that price with more than 30K miles on them. Lower mile examples go for even more. His logic is easily flushed down the toilet with a simple google search.   Even the Camaro ZL1 has staying power and 20 years from now, it will continue to go higher with the Camaro ceasing production and being a low production trim itself.  
    • smk4565
      Ford News: Tesla Has Nothing On Ford and their Next Generation Electric Truck-Project T3

      By smk4565 · Posted

      This is good stuff, I am glad Ford is expanding and helping the push to eV, the faster we go all EV and EV costs come down the better.  Also it is good they are investing the education side, because this country as a whole needs more people in Manufacturing, auto repair, auto body repair and trades in general.  We kind of got away from making things here and a lot of the people doing trade jobs are older, once they retire we are screwed if there aren't young people doing it too. 2 million EV's by 2026, Tesla is already there.  GM and Ford will probably have a good battle for #2 EV maker, what I don't see from Ford is the volume vehicles outside of F150, which the Lightning as it now is far outsold by the ICE version.  Mach-E isn't a volume product, Ford needs the $30k Escape EV that can sell huge numbers.  Lincoln is a dead brand, you aren't getting volume there.  Ford could do well with pickups and vans for the commercial market.
    • David
      Dodge News: Dodge Last Call of the Charger/Challenger 2023 product line revealed!

      By David · Posted

      @surreal1272 Common Man, your popping his conspiracy bubble of false narrative about pricing on items that are not Tesla or Mercedes AMG Fan boy crazy prices cause an American Company has built auto's that are collectors items. 🤣 Here is just a portion of what I found in my neck of the woods and I see no price reduction like SMK is saying.

  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online

This is the Call To Action(CTA)

×
×
  • Create New...

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search