Maintenance
Farley aims to tackle Ford's warranty costs in bid to boost profit
Quality is once again Job One at Ford Motor Co. Taking a page from the automaker's ad slogan of the 1980s and '90s, Ford's new chief executive, Jim Farley, is aiming to rein in rising warranty repair costs that are a key reason why the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker's financial performance in North America has lagged that of its archrival, General Motors Co. As part of its new effort to cut warranty costs, Ford has told suppliers it will charge them upfront for half the cost of a warranty probl
Massachusetts voters pass right-to-repair expansion opening up car data
One election night issue that has appears to have an answer already is the passage of Question 1 in Massachusetts, which asked voters to strengthen laws guaranteeing people are able to repair things they own. In this case, it focused on cars, preventing manufactures from locking third party repair shops and car owners out of advanced telematics data that’s increasingly being collected by vehicles via driver assistance tools.
These are the cars most likely to have major powertrain problems
These are the cars and trucks that are most likely to have serious problems with their engines or transmissions, which equals costly repairs.
These are the automakers least likely to flash a check engine light
These are the top 10 car companies least likely to have vehicles that flash a check engine light.
Top 10 brands with the lowest repair cost to fix a check engine light
A check engine light can be caused by a number of issues, some minor and inexpensive and others potentially catastrophic. See which brands have the lowest average repair costs here.
Electric vehicles are changing the future of auto maintenance
Moving from internal combustion to electric power does more than reduce tailpipe emissions: it will fundamentally shatter today’s auto maintenance and service sector. With one-fifth the number of powertrain parts and an almost total elimination of oil (a), the typical automotive dealer will suffer 35% declines in maintenance and service revenue, or roughly $1,300, for an EV versus an internal combustion engine vehicle over a five-year period (b). Two of the top three maintenance items — oil ch