2025 Maverick refresh model will be held at production for quality checks, says Jim Farley

[Decayed]

The cyinic in me feels like the main purpose of this "holding" is to create an artificial shortage to increase demand.

At the very least it's cheaper for them to fix stuff before shipping rather than wait until after with a recall. It avoids negative publicity as well. The demand thing is probably a happy side effect for them.

Why did they manufacture something that needs 12 recalls in the first place? Something in their process is broken.

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[Montana]

Well, hopefully it's the "Let's take a time-out to figure our shit out" move we (they) need.

It won't be. But hopefully...

 

[Bohefus]

All of my Hondas have required some significant maintenance (suspension, $1k+) before 100k miles and have maintenance milestones that are pretty necessary and pricey to maintain your Honda properly.

Toyotas seemingly get worse as the years go on but they don't require the maintenance Hondas do. I've had 3 Toyotas go over 150k without any major issues pop up.

Pre-CVT Nissans were also pretty reliable

You are either really old or you own a small dealership. 3 Toyota's over 150,000 , "All of my Hondas" & "Nissans".

 

[710-oil-614]

You are either really old or you own a small dealership. 3 Toyota's over 150,000 , "All of my Hondas" & "Nissans".

I drive a lot, have been hit by three drunk drivers, and I have swapped vehicles out frequently at different points in my life.

My 2025 Civic Hybrid will be my 17th vehicle.

 

[Bohefus]

Via Bloomberg:

Earlier this year, Farley pioneered this “build-and-hold” approach with the newly redesigned F-150 pickup — Ford’s best-selling vehicle. More than 60,0000 fully built F-150s sat in parking lots around Detroit for weeks so engineers could check them for quality problems. Ford reported a 65% decline in earnings before interest and taxes in its internal combustion engine unit while holding one of its most profitable models.​

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But the extra quality checks also allowed the automaker to avoid 12 recalls, Farley said, including software glitches and assembly problems.​

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Now, Farley is holding another marquee model, a redesigned version of the Explorer sport-utility vehicle, for extra tests. He plans a similar approach later this year with updated editions of the Bronco Sport compact SUV and hot-selling Maverick small pickup.​

Scarcity creates more demand for anticipated releases of new or updated vehicles. Dealers will probably go back to market adjustment fees. Ford will probably raise the price also if they can get away with it.

 

[cavemold]

I think this is a smart move by Ford. My main question is what took so long?

That’s good question I think they re organized their QC mangment etc

 

[cavemold]

Scarcity creates more demand for anticipated releases of new or updated vehicles. Dealers will probably go back to market adjustment fees. Ford will probably raise the price also if they can get away with it.

You’re not wrong but I dont think that’s why . 4.5billons reasons why they did this

 

[cavemold]

I drive a lot, have been hit by three drunk drivers, and I have swapped vehicles out frequently at different points in my life.

My 2025 Civic Hybrid will be my 17th vehicle.

Damn glad you’ve made it

 

[Bohefus]

I drive a lot, have been hit by three drunk drivers, and I have swapped vehicles out frequently at different points in my life.

My 2025 Civic Hybrid will be my 17th vehicle.

Wow, I can see that swapping out a lot of vehicles would lead to this but how do you have such high mileage on them and so many?

 

[cavemold]

Interesting. They kind of did this last November with a week or two of trucks piling up in Mexico around the turn signal recall and that was a bit of a mess.

So maybe this why they did this earlier this time ?

 

[icegradner]

since a lot of problems only surface after sale I'm skeptical.

Hard to say, a lot of the early problems with the Maverick could have easily been caught before sale, such as:

1. Uneven tailgate cables
2. Poor solder joints on Hybrid inverter cables
3. Vehicles that were randomly missing parts, that should have been there
4. Drilling through fuel tanks after doing spray in bed liner.
5. Improperly mounted rear seat-belts.

 

[cavemold]

I do think it’s good idea and hopefully it means lot less more recalls the AWD hybrid is coming so I get why they did this early

 

[PlantMan]

So if they hold initial production, how do they know what needs fixing? Do a few test mules actually give them enough data? I'm skeptical, but then I recently retired from Boeing (BDS, the defense/intelligence side of the business).
Are they really going over each vehicle looking for missed defects? If so, that doesn't say much for QA on the line.

 

[icegradner]

So if they hold initial production, how do they know what needs fixing? Do a few test mules actually give them enough data? I'm skeptical, but then I recently retired from Boeing (BDS, the defense/intelligence side of the business).

You have the engineers that designed the thing go through the initial build run(s) with with a fine tooth comb. It might not be cheap, but neither are endless recalls.

 

[710-oil-614]

Wow, I can see that swapping out a lot of vehicles would lead to this but how do you have such high mileage on them and so many?

For 5+ years I was averaging 40k per year. For another 5+ year I was doing 20-25k per year. That's just a bit over a decade.

Not every vehicle has been new so some of those early Hondas and Toyota's came to me with 40-50k on them.

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