Exactly.Lol, I don’t see any political debate
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Exactly.Lol, I don’t see any political debate
oooh oooh, i know what an exec said here. "Guys, I just heard about this generative AI thingy. Let's not pay apple and google royalties on their products, and get this AI thing to make our own version of their products!" it's free right?An example of the cluelessness of vehicle manufacturing management is the statement from GM that they will be removing AndroidAuto and CarPlay from their vehicles because they feel they can ‘do it better’.
In 2023 intentionally screwing up a product of the company you work for that directly feeds your family and pays your bills is a very, very sad situation indeed.The UAW has no concern for quality. They teach their members that the manufacturer is screwing them on a daily basis. I know a UAW worker that has a daily contest with other workers to see how many intentional screw-ups they can sneak past quality control each day. Since the quality control guy is also union, the number is quite large.
I don't think the problem from the original poster is union or supply chain related, but primarily interest rate. After 20 years of artificially low interest rates, lots of industries feeling shocks. We have to remember everybody does everything on credit and hence having lots of inventory, is lots of percentage points of interest payments flying away each month. Since none of the big US car companies are making net money, and many suppliers are tight on cash too, nobody wants to hold any supply.
Add that factories don't build one shock, but only when they get a big order of 400 or so, will reshuffle an assembly line to that product. Hence you see why we always have months of delay. We are simply seeing the direct cadence of the factories because nobody wants to hold inventory.
(The only place covid is still echoing is chips, where car companies in their arrogance cancelled hard and furious in early 2020, expecting their suppliers to handle the brunt of the variability. Problem is the big chip manufacturers had plenty of other customers and hence the car companies and OEM's lost multi-year slots. Hence chip issues will take a few years to sort out.)
Of course, I'm not defending Ford here, but I think what we are seeing here is the painful adaption of going back to normal rates. The biggest problem seems to be the lack of feedback towards Ford. Normally you'd expect Ford to have to carry the burden of not having inventory. That will force them to incorporate this into design and part choices of future cars, or at least incorporate the cost of inventory.
I'm surprised the topic starter had to pay for this out of his own pocket. I get that Ford prefers that and that too many crappy dealers rather throw their hands in the air instead of battling with Ford. But, isn't that what warranty is about? I ask that as a serious question: is this a difference between factory warranty and the extended warranty? It seems to me they should either provide alternative parts or provide a rental and cannot just keep a car stranded for 6 months. Or can they legally just do that? That would make factory warranty worth very little.