Ford needs to reimplement Dr. Demings Teachings and Principles on Quality (See Below)!
I wrote these statements in the 1980's - I do NOT have a definition for Quality, only a comment " Q is the difference between What Is, and What Should Be. No more, no less, just stick with your customers (internal and external) and treat your suppliers as equals.
"Designing a Quality Program can never start to soon, but it can start too late."
Updated 6/16/2026 - The most recent recalls from Ford and Jeep (Don't park in a building or by other vehicles) come with Fire issues. Others, have dangerous seat belt failures (Do not Drive Order) and yet others cause the vehicle to lose steering and suddenly stop.
Updated 3/13/2026 - Two more recalls both affecting my vehicle, plus my rear liftgate continues to not close the majority of time. No recall on this as of yet even though it's an ongoing problem according to the internet. https://www.yahoo.com/autos/safety-and-recalls/articles/ford-recall-over-83-000-163546571.html
Updated 3/11/2026 - Ford is not putting on the break for recalls this year. Just a measly 4.3 million trailer brake light problems. https://www.yahoo.com/autos/safety-and-recalls/articles/ford-recalling-4-3-million-162500387.html
Ford says it's being Proactive not Reactive. Silly me shouldn't you be upfront-active by building quality up front in your design process before cars are built. Fixing problems after the fact is very costly. Ever hear of the 1-10-100 Rule? This means Ford has NO prevention type process measures at critical points in the systemic production process to let workers/engineers know there is a problem without waiting for inspection (1-10-100 rule), think of this as dollars, $100 means end of process (Proactive by Ford's definition), $10 means caught in mid production and $1 defect caught at beginning of process. Unknowable cost is when product is shipped to customer(s) also known as warranty work and recalls.
Updated 3/09/2026 - Yep, more recalls (6000,000+) and Management is all excited about the huge bonus they will receive this month. - https://www.fox5dc.com/news/ford-recalls-600000-vehicles-wiper-defects-affected-models
And ... https://apnews.com/article/ford-car-recall-rearview-camera-display-69a846973b55f00b8e7b584c7b25cd6b - This involves 1.74 million vehicles.
Updated 2/20/2026 - Ford announced last week that Salary Workers will receive a 130% pay bonus in March 2026. The increase is based on an improved initial quality metric. It measures repairs for the first 90 days of ownership. Sorry, that is not an adequate Quality Metric for a pay incentive.
How about recalls? Guess what car company has led the list for years? Check this out - https://www.autoblog.com/news/10-car-brands-with-the-most-recalls-in-2025 For 2025 it cost more that 1.9 billion dollars in recalls.
13 million plus! 4 times the amount of second place Toyota. Oh, Ford will blame suppliers and workers, but they don't realize Ford Management owns the system for a car from start to finish and that includes everything in between. https://www.carscoops.com/2026/02/ford-bonuses-recalls-quality-gap/
Happy New Year -
Updated 1/22/2026 - More Recalls - Just another 108,700... Guess What? It includes me!
This has to do with the Liftgate Hinge Cover. Mine went missing last summer (2025) and I had no idea how it could just be gone. The fix was a new part (I waited a month). I could not believe they put it on in the Service Area Bay. It is held on by VELCRO. Yep, VELCRO - no other attachment or sealant. Just clip in and push down! Is that advance engineering or what!!Updated 8/28/25 - Two more recalls this week! Urgent - Brake Fluid Leak
More Recalls - Just another 850,000...
I have owned and leased a Ford for the past 30 plus years. I have never seen it this bad. My last lease 2022 Edge had 3 recalls. I had to wait weeks for an appointment and trying to get a loaner if the work took longer than a day was near impossible.
I loved my Edge (I leased three, before that Explore's and Escapes), but Ford decided to discontinue the Edge this year. However, the 3 recalls (One not being fixed after 2 tries) led me to turn it in with 17,000 miles on a three-year lease. I recently leased a new Ford, and a part flew off (Attached with VELCRO) the car after only owning it for one month, it has almost been a month for the part to be approved for warranty (You have got to be kidding). Now I am waiting for the part to be painted (It's been over a week). You would not believe the service bay where they are working on cars, it's filled with F-150s and Mavericks.
7/11/25 - 850,000 new vehicle recalls.
4/18/25 - Five more in one day...
Ford continues to set the recall record.
4/07/2025 - Recalls Mounting ...
https://www.carscoops.com/2025/04/ford-cant-stop-recalling-cars-drops-4-recalls-again/
Ford continues to have recall woes. Yet, I see nothing that explains the reason for so many other than the parts and suppliers they use are sending faulty parts.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-recalls-33k-bronco-sport-110900998.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
There are no end-to-end quality measures or plans built into their processes or systems.
qualityg says “What Gets Planned and Measured Gets Done”
1/23/2025 - More Recalls
Ford is recalling over 272,000 Bronco Sport SUVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years and Maverick pickup trucks from the 2022 through 2023 model years. These vehicles have defective batteries that could suddenly fail while the SUV or pickup is in use. The batteries were made in China!!
1/11/2025 - Original update
Ford Motor Company needs to reimplement Dr. Demings Teachings and Principles on Quality!
I have owned six different Ford vehicles over the past 20 years. The quality of the vehicles has gotten worse over the past five years. In fact, Ford leads all car manufactures in recalls.
This article was just published 1/8/25 - https://www.motorbiscuit.com/ford-recalls-f-super-duty-other-suvs-cars/
I personally have had three experiences (Recall - Power Module and Battery) this year with problems on my 2022 Ford Edge (I love the Edge and terribly disappointed that Ford will no longer make this model). My dealership is swamped with Ford Escapes (Including Hybrid), Mavericks, F -Series Trucks and Edges with many recent recalls in the past 2 months. Getting an appointment takes weeks if not months. P/S - My rear lift hatch closes on its own. I brought it in two times, and they say its fixed. I say it's not.
This has led me to remember back in the 1980's when Ford Motor company had Dr. Deming help them with their Quality efforts.
Ford Motor Company called upon Dr.
Deming to help. According to Don Petersen, former CEO and board chairman of
Ford, Deming's approach was the key to the turnaround in the fortunes of Ford.
Waste was reduced, labor relations improved, customer satisfaction increased,
and Ford was able to stay in business and compete again. Petersen is
unequivocal about the basis for Ford's success: "People want to do a good
job. Dr. Deming's ideas and concepts, as we got them going through our system,
gave people more and more this feeling that they had a better chance to do a
good job. The rate of improvement, in many ways, was much greater than anything
we could anticipate."
Many Deming disciples from Ford Motor Company began distinguished quality careers based on the teachings of Dr. Dr, Deming. Most notably was Dr. Edward Baker. Perhaps it's time to bring him back!
https://deming.org/our-team/edward-martin-baker/
It's time Ford Motor company management reevaluate their Quality Principles and begin to implement for an end-to-end perspective.
