Ford certainly didn’t need this. I’m always curious about recalls like this one where it’s a small thing like a wire harness or a contaminated ball joint or this latest cruise control issue. I know Ford makes a lot of cars and trucks and recalls are not special to just Ford but you would think that with the decades of experience building vehicles that drive in all types of climate, terrain and weather issues like placing a wiring harness on an area of the vehicle that the engineers know will be exposed to the elements without taking the steps to properly protect it would not be a problem. Recalls are going to happen from time to time but it seems to me that a lot of recalls are stupid things like this one.

 

If engineers knew what they were doing, me and thousands of other technicians from all brands wouldn't have a job.

 

You're asking an awful lot from those measely engineers.

 

Oh I'm in the same boat as you. For me, working in IT is all about fixing someone else's problem but even though my job exists only because of poor software or hardware engineering I don't advocate incompetence to justify jobs. And I'm not saying that recalls are a product of built in design flaws or rampant incompetence by engineers or by the people who build these vehicles. I'm just making a personal observation.

 

I imagine its possible that the engineers got it right and some 3rd party supplier just didn't follow specs and/or cut corners and produced a batch of bad parts.

Dont know if that is the case but I'm sure it could be.

 

Just remember, engineers dont hold the purse strings. Good engineers will validate a product through alpha and beta testing, this would reveal any potential defects. However, this requires R&D which is pricey. Ford's attempt to increase profits and cut spending has eliminated a good portion of needed R&D. An engineer only has as much time and resources as allotted by management. If the pressure is on to release a product as soon as possible and as cheap as possible, then obviously something has to suffer, quality in this case.

 

Have you seen the engine compartment of the new diesel-equipped Super Duty? I am convinced this was designed for no other reason but to make the lives of Ford mechanics a living he11......

 

Only thing I complain about with thie engineers is their lack of thinking about locations of oil filters. freaking ******

 

Yep. One thing I can look forward to every day I go to work is that I'm not a diesel guy.

 

Exactly.

You guys need to gather all of your info before you start bagging on the engineers and designers.

Taken straight from the AP news release:

Now somebody somewhere should have caught that, but it sounds more like a manufacturing issue to me (whether it be Ford or the harness supplier) and they're the ones that should be held accountable.

Trust me... you wouldn't believe some of the crap that I see happen during manufacture.

 

Didn’t set out to bash engineers or designers on this topic. There are plenty of other things to bash them on each according to his or her own tastes of course. Like the poorly designed center console in my 07 FX4 that I’m using as a garbage can right now. But I digress. I’m sure most recalls are something along these lines where the issue occurred during assembly and has nothing to do with the engineers or designers. I imagine that recalls because of design or engineering flaws are much more cost prohibitive and therefore don’t happen unless there are major safety issues unlike a simple problem like this one.

So is it just perception that domestic trucks have more recalls than non domestic or are less that reliable? I admit that when I went from my 04 Tacoma to my 07 FX4 my first and only concern was reliability. I love my FX4 and I desperately want it to last a long time.

 

Just be thankful the engineers are NOT in the union. If they were then we would have some REAL problems and every vehicle would be recalled over and over...