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Ford initial quality beats Honda, ties Toyota... according to Ford

Dan Roth — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:33:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Trends, Etc., Ford

Most auto pundits will tell you that Ford has made great strides in quality over the last few years. Ford's own studies, performed for the automaker by third party RDA Group, show that the efforts continue to pay off, with Ford pulling even with Toyota in initial quality and breezing by Honda. It's a little bit like a cigarette company funding studies on smoking safety, but the results aren't far-fetched.

The five cars that Ford touts as segment leaders in initial quality - Mustang, Taurus, Taurus X, Milan, and Ranger - have been praised in the open waters of the media, though the Ranger has been left behind as its competitors have upsized, and the Taurus X is not long for this world.

For the first quarter of 2009, problems-per-vehicle have dropped by 5% to 1,228 per 1,000 vehicles, meaning that there's a good number of Ford vehicles that show no initial quality defects whatsoever. Toyota's 1,150 per 1,000 rate of things gone wrong is considered equal to the performance of the Ford models, and Honda's not too far behind at 1,422, despite Ford saying its showing is "significantly better" than Honda's. Initial quality is only part of the deal, of course, with long-term quality scores telling more of the story. Of course, initial quality helps too, and besides, it's easier to ace the long-term test when you start off with a bang. Press release after the break.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading Ford initial quality beats Honda, ties Toyota... according to Ford

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Ford global warranty costs slashed by $1.2B over last two years

Chris Shunk — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:57:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Ford

There are several metrics to determine if a manufacturer is producing high-quality vehicles. J.D. Power surveys and Consumer Reports are useful consumer tools, but one statistic tells the automakers how well they're doing perhaps more than any other: warranty costs. At the turn of the 21st century, Ford was dumping billions of dollars into warranty vehicle repair, but the Blue Oval says that recent quality gains has cut warranty costs by $1.2 billion over the past two years. In fact, since 2004, warranty repair work has been reduced by 50%. Amazingly, the warranty cost reductions come as Ford has increased warranty coverage from 3 years and 36,000 miles to 5 years or 60,000 miles.

Ford says it has improved quality by scrutinizing every part of the vehicle creation process. Computer-aided design and engineering is cutting cost while also delivering more precise data, and the Blue Oval's global product development system delivers standardized engineering. Ford has improved its processes at the plant level as well. Each of the automaker's facilities has a variability reduction team that weeds out oddball processes, removing the chance for error.

18 of Ford's 24 models have fewer Things Gone Wrong than the year before, and every vehicle since 2005 has better quality than its predecessor. Ford promises that new models like the 2010 Taurus will continue the tradition of improved quality, giving the Blue Oval a solid shot at passing the Japanese competition in J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. The result for Ford is much-needed cost savings, but the larger victory comes from the fact that customers are spending less time in service and more time on the road. Hit the jump to read Ford's press release.

[Source: Ford | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty]

Continue reading Ford global warranty costs slashed by $1.2B over last two years

Ford global warranty costs slashed by $1.2B over last two years originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford ties Toyota in Strategic Vision 2008 Total Quality Awards

John Neff — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:32:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Ford, Toyota

Strategic Vision has announced the results of its annual Total Quality Awards and is touting the performance of Ford this year versus perennial powerhouse Toyota. Both brands have three vehicles each that lead their segments, which include the Edge, Mustang Convertible and F-250/350 for Ford and Toyota's Yaris, 4Runner and Sequoia. The Volvo C30 also led the Small Specialty under $25,000 segment and the Mercury Sable the Large Car category, while the Scion xB was tops in the Small Multi-Function segment and the Lexus RX350 tied with the Land Rover LR2 in the Near Luxury SUV segment. Though all of those brands are technically owned by either Ford Motor Company or Toyota North America, none were counted by Strategic Vision in the battle of the Blue Oval versus the Japanese Juggernaut, though the automakers still would've tied if they were (if Land Rover were not counted as owned by Ford). Meanwhile, the Medium Car segment was lead by the Volkswagen Jetta, though the new Chevy Malibu jumped to second place (how are the Jetta and Malibu in the same segment?), and Honda had only one car make the list, with the Odyssey being named the best Minivan. Follow the jump to view the leaders of all 19 segments.

While most surveys like this count objective stats like the number of problems encountered during initial ownership, Strategic Vision introduces additional criteria by which to judge vehicle quality like the buying experience, what it's like to own a particular car, its performance and driving and even exterior and interior styling. There's a lot of subjectivity in those additional criteria, which tends to skew the results as a whole regardless of the 20,655 buyer-strong sample pool that was surveyed on the 2008 vehicles it bought during September, October and November of last year. Also, as we were reminded by this post, keep in mind that most automakers are actually clients of Strategic Vision, Ford and Toyota included, so there's also money passing hands between these companies. The appearance of conflicts of interest notwithstanding, new car buyers love lists and automakers work hard to land on them, so you decide for yourself how much weight to give to Strategic Vision's 2008 Total Quality Awards.

[Source: Strategic Vision]

Continue reading Ford ties Toyota in Strategic Vision 2008 Total Quality Awards

Ford ties Toyota in Strategic Vision 2008 Total Quality Awards originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 May 2008 11:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford touting quality equal to that of Toyota and Honda

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:57:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Marketing/Advertising, Ford

The Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based RDA Group has found that Ford is on par with top-level stalwarts Toyota and Honda when it comes to vehicle quality. Ford managed 1,284 "things-gone-wrong" (TGW) per 1,000 vehicles during the first three months of ownership this year, statistically matching the two top Japanese brands, which are tied at 1,250 TGW. Though it certianly won't be the last word in the ongoing debate as to who makes the best cars, it is at least a good sign for Ford. Perhaps what's most impressive is that 36 of 40 Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda nameplates improved this year versus 2007. Ford's performance in this study marks an eight-percent improvement over the previous year, at which time they were tied with Toyota, but trailing industry-leader Honda. While Ford is glad to see quality improving, every automaker would surely like to sit alone at the top of the quality rankings, and Ford is no different.

Ford builds some pretty good vehicles these days, but faces a large perceived quality gap, as only 41-percent of consumers consider Ford vehicles according to their own internal data. For that reason, expect Ford to tout these new quality findings as part of their Drive One campaign.

[Source: Ford]

Ford touting quality equal to that of Toyota and Honda originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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