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bluebeastsrt

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I'm in for the next mental breakdown from the other guys once they read this!
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Zathras

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As posted already, the difference between the "mechanical" and "design" categories is confusing--and it looks like Mustang still has some room for improvement on the "mechanical" ratings.

I've only had my car two weeks but I do have to say, as delivered, nothing was actually broken, or not working "as designed". So that's a plus. But it does have a creak in the seat and an intermittent rattle in the center dash, and some panel fits that aren't great.
 

TomcatDriver

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It's a Ford. If you want better quality, spend a lot more money, or have less content and performance.
I think lack of quality is a case of penny wise - pound foolish. Poor quality costs money for the manufacture in the long run. Directly, it costs in warranty repairs and recalls, and when the margins are paper-thin, a few multi-thousand dollar reparis can eat the profits of dozens of sales. Indirectly, quality is like marketing money (or anti-marketing money). How many people buy Toyota's because they are boring, but reliable? When you see that '95 Camary tooling along like it was 1996 you can't help but think that a Camary is probably a good choice for a standard sedan. Conversely, when you see a 5 year old car sporting flaking clear-coat and burping smoke you make a little mental note to avoid that brand. 5 years ago I got a Chevy rental with 10K miles and the interior was already falling apart.
 

v8hgt

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It's a Ford. If you want better quality, spend a lot more money, or have less content and performance.
That argument doesn’t stack up. Other Ford products, eg focus, Fiesta etc don’t have random panel gaps and they tend not to have oil coolers that mix coolant with oil so liberally resulting in engine failure or accidents due to the oil spraying all over the road. These cars are also sold cheaper than the premium brand rivals. You can’t even blame it on the American way, because BMW and VW etc have plants in the USA, employing American workers and they seem to be able to do a quality job. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mustang, but ford does a piss poor job of bolting the parts together and when they do get a design defect in a core component as all manufacturers do from time to time, they don’t appear to be capable of fixing it.
 

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benanderson89

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I love my mustang, but ford does a piss poor job of bolting the parts together and when they do get a design defect in a core component as all manufacturers do from time to time, they don’t appear to be capable of fixing it.
Its a two factor problem.

The first is that the car is extremely cheap for what it is. To lower the price of a car you need to reduce costs across the entire line; this includes Quality Control and aftermarket care.

The second issue is directly responsible for the first; American and Canadian buyers demand that it be cheap. Its The Mustang, and there would be hell-on if the average joe on the streets of the US-of-A wasn't able to afford a base Eco Boost. Europe, Asia, Africa etc. don't care about it being stupidly cheap. Its very clear from sales figures that they don't care even when the base price is north of $40k.

What the states pays for a base Mustang ($25k) is what a European would pay for a base Focus hatchback. That's why the Focus is better built; the money goes towards quality on a smaller vehicle, not reducing quality to add more metal to a larger vehicle.
 

bootlegger

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Nice. Kia is killing it. Who would have thought? The old "It's still a Kia" doesn't have much relevance anymore. I like the fact that Subaru is absolute last. I can smear this in all of my Subaru buddies faces just to troll them. Hell. Maybe I will print it out and take it to their meeting this evening LOL. I'm going to assume since Subaru has grown by like %300 every year that their production increase has in return degrade their quality.
I had less confidence in my 2011 subaru than I did in any of my 1980s GL wagon beaters. Mine never quite ran right.
 

bootlegger

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Looks like a race of the incompetent. If I were an engineer that worked on the design of the Mustang, I'd be really pissed at the careless way they throw them together.
As a development engineer, I will tell you that we don't let it get to us. Sometimes I will see a plant process change for cost reduction that causes some boneheaded failure, and I just shake my head. But you always have to step back and remember there is a risk analysis calculation for every process, and every group in the chain has their own set of goals that they don't get to determine. Development and manufacturing have a complicated relationship. :headbonk:
 

bootlegger

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Its a two factor problem.

The first is that the car is extremely cheap for what it is. To lower the price of a car you need to reduce costs across the entire line; this includes Quality Control and aftermarket care.

The second issue is directly responsible for the first; American and Canadian buyers demand that it be cheap. Its The Mustang, and there would be hell-on if the average joe on the streets of the US-of-A wasn't able to afford a base Eco Boost. Europe, Asia, Africa etc. don't care about it being stupidly cheap. Its very clear from sales figures that they don't care even when the base price is north of $40k.

What the states pays for a base Mustang ($25k) is what a European would pay for a base Focus hatchback. That's why the Focus is better built; the money goes towards quality on a smaller vehicle, not reducing quality to add more metal to a larger vehicle.
Even the expensive cars have a load of issues. My friend has had a BMW X5 for 3 years, and it has been in the shop for months at a time.
 

NoVaGT

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That argument doesn’t stack up. Other Ford products, eg focus, Fiesta etc don’t have random panel gaps and they tend not to have oil coolers that mix coolant with oil so liberally resulting in engine failure or accidents due to the oil spraying all over the road. These cars are also sold cheaper than the premium brand rivals. You can’t even blame it on the American way, because BMW and VW etc have plants in the USA, employing American workers and they seem to be able to do a quality job. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mustang, but ford does a piss poor job of bolting the parts together and when they do get a design defect in a core component as all manufacturers do from time to time, they don’t appear to be capable of fixing it.
You're having an emotional reaction, rather than using your logic.

I promise you, there are not a huge number of Mustang failures, percentage wise. The perceptual issue is spending too much time on the forums and Youtube, and assuming that what you read and see on the internet represents a statistical cross-section of Mustang owners and their cars.

That is no the case. Not. Even. Close.

95% of Mustang owners are not on the forums or YouTube, never mod their cars, drive them relatively sanely, and therefore you never hear about how their car just drives them through their lives normally. Most people that come to the forums and Youtube to discuss their Mustang, are those that mod, beat on, break, and complain about their cars.

And yes Fiestas, Focui, and every other Ford car have their issues. I've owned most of them over the years, the Mustang is not a problem child in comparison. Mustangs don't have any "core problems" that need addressing, other than who buys them.

"These cars are also sold cheaper than the premium brand rivals." Yes? They are CHEAP cars. Price, content and quality, pick two of the three, because you cannot have all three. Ford sacrifices quality to provide great content at a low price, and you should know that before you buy one.
 
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BmacIL

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As a development engineer, I will tell you that we don't let it get to us. Sometimes I will see a plant process change for cost reduction that causes some boneheaded failure, and I just shake my head. But you always have to step back and remember there is a risk analysis calculation for every process, and every group in the chain has their own set of goals that they don't get to determine. Development and manufacturing have a complicated relationship. :headbonk:
Spot on. It is frustrating to get pulled into a quality review meeting with executives and have to explain, "well, we told them to build it this way, but they don't/won't for reason _____". Often that reason makes some sense, but has risk of issues in assembly. As you and I know, it always ends up being engineering's fault lol :headbonk:.
 

IPOGT

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The engineers usually think they have it right, and for the most part, they do. It was my job to prove them wrong....)

Its when marketing gets involved that things usually go to s_hit.
 

GasPedal

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That argument doesn’t stack up. Other Ford products, eg focus, Fiesta etc don’t have random panel gaps and they tend not to have oil coolers that mix coolant with oil so liberally resulting in engine failure or accidents due to the oil spraying all over the road. These cars are also sold cheaper than the premium brand rivals. You can’t even blame it on the American way, because BMW and VW etc have plants in the USA, employing American workers and they seem to be able to do a quality job. Don’t get me wrong, I love my mustang, but ford does a piss poor job of bolting the parts together and when they do get a design defect in a core component as all manufacturers do from time to time, they don’t appear to be capable of fixing it.
About the oil... I just bought a Mustang. Anything I can do to catch this early/prevent it?
 

NoVaGT

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About the oil... I just bought a Mustang. Anything I can do to catch this early/prevent it?
Have you ever heard of this before reading it here? No. Most of what is on the internet is incorrect and/or over-blown.

Ignore it, there's no issue. And you have no oil-cooler, he was talking about EU cars.
 

thehunterooo

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Have you ever heard of this before reading it here? No. Most of what is on the internet is incorrect and/or over-blown.

Ignore it, there's no issue. And you have no oil-cooler, he was talking about EU cars.
Bro I lose sleep over my oil pump gears every night.
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