I guess Ford really screwed up.

[billybob_81067]

you expect cars to last 200k plus miles with little maintence your crazy. most vehicles start having problems at around 80k miles, atleast most american. i mean heck my buddy spent 50k on a duramax diesel and that thing went back to the shop about 50 times in the first year for problems.

I know of plenty vehicles that have gotten to the 200k mark with very little maintainence. Heck we BOUGHT my 93 F-150, my 95 powerstroke and my dad's 96 F-150 all with over 200k on their clocks. The only one that's in the shop is my 93 cause it got t-boned a few years back and is going a major upgrade/overhaul

I betting your buddy's duramax was one of the first duramaxxes right? All companies have problems when releasing a new powerplant. Especially the diesels it seems. And even though its a chebby (yuck!)... I'm sure you're exaggerating the amount of trips to the shop.

Also some people plain do not know how to drive a diesel. There was a guy we loaded out with hay in a brand new Ford with the 6.0 powerstroke in it and he said he's already on his 3rd engine. I looked in the cab and guess what... no pyrometer. Here he is running hotshot loads weighing around 20,000 - 25,000 from Texas to places all over the country and he doesn't even know what his exhaust gas temperatures are getting to.

[Army]

you expect cars to last 200k plus miles with little maintence your crazy. most vehicles start having problems at around 80k miles, atleast most american. .

I've 214,000+ on my '96 Ranger, daily driver. Rear U-joint went out-----20 minute fix in my driveway. Rear main seal leaked a little-----20 minute fix in my driveway. "Door ajar" ding ding needed a shot of lube----5 minutes to dis/reassemble driver door. After cat o2 sensor died at 140,000 miles-----10 minute fix in my driveway (front cat o2 sensor is still fine)

New oil every three months. Annual tranny flush. Radiator flush every two years. Tires rotated every other month. I still get 26-28mpg on the highway, 24 city on the 2.3l Lima engine.

Still running original brakes and clutch. My maintenance is minimal but thorough.

You were saying something?

[BeaverEater]

ok so you've got 2 examples only. my buddys a mechanic and there are vehicles coming in there all the time with only like 120k miles that need almost complete rebuilds. ya there are vehicles that will hit the 200k mark, but they are few and far between. honestly i think its kind of like a crap shoot when you buy a car. some will last a long time, and others will die earlier. and oh ya, most imports will last longer than domestic cars. i know of 3 celicas that have well over 300k miles and have yet to have any major work done to them.

ya he got the duramax the year after i came out figuring that all the bugs would work out. boy was he wrong. but ya it was his third diesel but first chevy. he will never buy a chevy again and went back strictly to ford.

[lather]

Unions killed Ford.....and most other major manufacturers that have out-sourced.

Prove me wrong.

Why dont you prove yourself right?

Do you have a copy of the CBA between Ford employees and management?

Ford management couldnt possibly have anything to do with Ford's failures lately now could they?

[Lohman446]

you expect cars to last 200k plus miles with little maintence your crazy. most vehicles start having problems at around 80k miles, atleast most american. i mean heck my buddy spent 50k on a duramax diesel and that thing went back to the shop about 50 times in the first year for problems. and ya, if your looking for an efficient and reliable vehicle, id honestly go for a jap car. 10k more on a vehicles cost could easily add a lot of years to the vehicle, just people dont really want to spend that. the only reason i would buy a domestic car would be if i would buy it for a hot rod, or if i would buy a truck. if i wanted a reliable daily driver, i would get a civic or something like it.

Yeh, I'm an idiot, I have no experience with vehicles. Tell you what, fail to maintain those Celicas like most Americans fail to maintain there cars and guess what, when the timing belt blows at about 110K miles, you will need an engine. That is the maintenance issue. But a friend of a friend... I am a mechanic, I manage an auto repair facility. Your third person "friend of a fried" expertise... not going to cut it.

[Army]

Why dont you prove yourself right?

Do you have a copy of the CBA between Ford employees and management?

Ford management couldnt possibly have anything to do with Ford's failures lately now could they?

Not being union or a Ford employee, it would be a bit difficult for me to get a copy of all that.

However, I'll let the union speak for itself:



All that says, is the union agrees that their monetary demands are too high, putting Ford, Chrysler/Daimler in the position of closing plants if the union does not back off it's demands. As you can see, the UAW has agreed to back off somewhat, allowing Ford and Chrysler to not close as many plants as they wanted to.

You will also see, that the Japanese plants have successfully resisted unionizing, thus keeping their vehicle prices down below domestics.

Wanna know where I got this sob story of union woes?

Socialist Workers Online.

figures

[sbpyro]

looks like GM ain't doing much better

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/01/26/gm_quarterly_net_loss_mushrooms_to_48_billion/

I think it is time that the american auto industry take a very good look at what is happening and rethink the culture that it has bred.

Even though the reliability of American cars have improved

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/23/Autos/american_cars/

The reputations of these brands are coming back to haunt them right now.
The way things were done before is just not cutting it any more.
I believe it is the complacency of the big three that has put them in the situation that they are at. The need to constantly improve is what made toyota as sucessful as they have been. Remember the big three shrugged off Japanese imports when they first came to this country. They practically laughed when toyota stated that anyone on the production line could stop the line if there was a better way to do things. Heck toyota is even allowing it s competitors inside their production plants to see how they do things because they know that by the time that their competition gets to their level they have already improved beyond that point. Having worked in a place where there is a union, I can see the difficulties of trying to innovate things when you can't move a box from one table to another.

just my little rant

[UTDragun]

My uncle had an '88 cavalier 4 banger stick and it had 350k with original everything and never had any problems out of it ever.

Ive owned 3 cadillac's over 300k miles, and I run them very hard. 1 was supercharged and the rest were stock. Only problems ive had was one of the transmisson gears on the supercharged one became rounded out. And on my current one, I had to replace an EGR valve. Oh and their all 10+ years old.

Whomever said 4.6l v8 pushrods aren't reliable should be slapped.

[ShooterJM]

Why dont you prove yourself right?

Do you have a copy of the CBA between Ford employees and management?

Ford management couldnt possibly have anything to do with Ford's failures lately now could they?

The average worker at the St. Louis plant was making $65K a year. You don't think that's a tad overpriced?

[Recon by Fire]

Yes, and not how none of these job concessions or anything else will effect any UAW seated members in any way. Sacrificing, er...I mean protecting the little guy!

[Lohman446]

The average worker at the St. Louis plant was making $65K a year. You don't think that's a tad overpriced?

Getting a job at GM / Chrysler / Ford was considered a gold mine for a semi-skilled trade. Face it, many of the tasks on the line are repetetive, require little thought, and are simple enough. Obviously not all of them, and no doubt some very very smart people do them, but many of the jobs were not a "skilled" trade. That being said, the salaries did/do seem a tad bit excessive when compared to the salaries of skill trades in the same areas of the country. 65K in California, probably not a lot, in St Louis, probably pretty good money.

[lather]

The average worker at the St. Louis plant was making $65K a year. You don't think that's a tad overpriced?

If you are not planning on owning your own house, sending your kids to college, or taking a yearly vacation then yes, thats overpriced.

I mean America doesnt need the working middle class right? Let's blame the American worker for all of Big Business' inability to compete sucessfully.

I make a decent living in relatively important job to the community (at least I think so ). Im in a Union, I am productive (like the vast majority of my counterparts), and I want to see my company be sucessful.

My union wages will someday allow my children to go to college and hopefully have more choices in what they want to do in the working world than I did. It gives my coworkers and their families more opportunities for a brighter future as well.

[hardr0ck68]

personally if i have to chose between a corupt union killing a company or a corupt company killing (figurativly used not literally) its workers i will take the union any day!

The nature of things tends to be any American institution is corrupt, politicians, lobbiests, corporations, and unions. So to hell with it, if i have to chose, im gonna chose the corrupt institution that may give me a buck for joining.

Or maybe i will just run for office, say i love guns and hate unions. Tell the white middle class majority that they are being screwed by people who dont love America; then take bribes and lease government lands to timber companys.

[Recon by Fire]

personally if i have to chose between a corupt union killing a company or a corupt company killing (figurativly used not literally) its workers i will take the union any day!.

I don't think Ford kills too many employees...

The nature of things tends to be any American institution is corrupt, politicians, lobbiests, corporations, and unions. So to hell with it, if i have to chose, im gonna chose the corrupt institution that may give me a buck for joining.

This is not n American phenom, it is akin to every society where humans are involved. It is a human flaw, not an American flaw. And NO union is going to pay you a buck to join, it will be quite the opposite! You will pay them for the priveledge if being at their mercy and continue to do so every payday...don't complain either or they will make sure you never work.

Or maybe i will just run for office, say i love guns and hate unions. Tell the white middle class majority that they are being screwed by people who dont love America; then take bribes and lease government lands to timber companys.

Damn them, BIG TIMBER! No timber for war!

[Recon by Fire]

But here is some stupidity from both Ford and and the UAE!
FORD_UAE Story

So Ford has banned employees from parking any non-Ford vehicle in the employee parking lot! So your employer now controls what you buy as private consumer? I guess this is a first offense for Ford in this matter but not the UAE! They have alredy banned their members from driving foreign vehicles! Someone please step in and tell me where the unions are deriving this authority and how they are protecting the little guy? They are nothing more than a gangster style protection racket.