Rusting bodywork

[Veteran]

I have been promised a call back from ford customer service today to discuss my rust. If things don’t go well would anyone be up for joining me on a Mach 1 tour of dealerships? I’m looking to get vinyl lettering made up for my car detailing age, mileage, garaged, rusty bits and fords response, then follow the Mach 1 round the local dealers and park as close to it as legally possible. If there were a few mustangs suitably covered in lettering that would be amazing. Shame we missed the Mach e launch as that would have had bigger impact in the press.

I understand you’re pissed at Ford, but Doing what you’re gonna do won’t make Ford change the quality or lacking customer support.
Youre just gonna stress yourself out.
Just sayin.
But hey, it would be fun watching people’s response.

The service I get from BMW is about 500% better than Ford. The quality is light years ahead. But sadly I like my mustang more than myM car.
Sometimes one just cannot win .

Sponsored

 

[Silver Dragon]

The issue is that Ford have gone into a higher sector of the market (in UK and Europe least) with the Mustang where customer expectations are a lot higher.

They haven’t made the necessary policy and procedure changes to meet those expectations and debut of the Mach 1 won’t change that.

I agree though the car is the star but everyone has a point beyond which they will not tolerate any more and it sounds like V8HGT is close to that!

 

[Supersolo]

My thoughts are Ford U.S. design, do not understand or care for european market requirements or expectations.

Someone once posted here that Ford did not include front parking sensors as they did not research or realize it would be a very desirable feature in europe. A marketing dept failure!
Similar with the heated front windshield.

Such an apparently arrogant lack of interest in RoW markets, from Ford U.S. pretty much answers the quality issues for me. In their market, most Mustangs are low cost & therefore not expected to be durable & good quality.
Ford is a bank now, focused on the finance side of things, with a small, loss making, car manufacturing concern, on the side.

A friend has a new Focus.
I can immediately see & feel the Euro Ford is better designed, specc'd & built, compared to my Mustang GT.

Another thing I've learnt is Ford push off as much warranty cost onto the franchise as they can.
Which possibly explains a reluctance at dealer level, to fix stuff.

Options seem to be:
Try to get Ford to fix whatever & the hassle that goes with.

Suck it up & fix it yourself.

Buy something else.

 

[GT 550]

There's a difference between features and faults. If folks don't like what Ford is putting down in terms of the overall offering, they shouldn't pick it up. On the other hand, corrosion on a car of this age is unacceptable irrespective of brand, market segment, or manufacturer.

 

[Supersolo]

There's a difference between features and faults. If folks don't like what Ford is putting down in terms of the overall offering, they shouldn't pick it up. On the other hand, corrosion on a car of this age is unacceptable irrespective of brand, market segment, or manufacturer.

My thoughts are Ford U.S. design, do not understand or care for european market requirements or expectations.


Such an apparently arrogant lack of interest in RoW markets, from Ford U.S. pretty much answers the quality issues for me. In their market, most Mustangs are low cost & therefore not expected to be durable & good quality.

A friend has a new Focus.
I can immediately see & feel the Euro Ford is better designed, specc'd & built, compared to my Mustang GT.

The S550 was first the Mustang Ford sold in the U.K.
Hence, customers had only previous experience of Euro Fords to go on.
This is the acid test.
New customer's expectations based on experience of Ford Europe products, now disappointed by Ford U.S. design & durability.

 

[GT 550]

I don't understand bagging Ford for offering a car without the coveted front parking sensors or heated windscreen and calling it a marketing dept failure...they got your money didn't they?

As for the durability/corrosion, yes. But that's what I said previously ie unacceptable no matter the car.

 

[Gregs24]

Correct me if I'm wrong but corrosion like this after such a short period is uncommon (and disgraceful) on relatively new cars in the EU/UK. Not sure what consumer law is like over there but it might be worth exploring that path.

Interestingly corrosion of Aluminium panels (which these are) is more common than corrosion of steel panels. Many car makers have experienced the same problems (Jaguar in particular) and it is a lot harder to fix than rust as well. Unlike rust it is cosmetic and rarely becomes structural, but repainting will only be a temporary fix as in the pre-facelift Mustang the issue is contamination of the aluminium under the paint before painting. Any stone chips should also be repaired as soon as possible whereas these days steel panels even when chipped only rust slowly if at all.

I'm not defending Ford, but don't assume they are the only car maker having problems with Aluminium.

Regarding paint finish - the cars coming out of Germany and Spain are way better than those coming out of Flat Rock. The paint on my son's Fiesta is the same colour as my Mustang (Magnetic) but far better applied and a much deeper lustrous finish. Our Valencia made Kuga is also much better.

 

[Supersolo]

I don't understand bagging Ford for offering a car without the coveted front parking sensors or heated windscreen and calling it a marketing dept failure...they got your money didn't they?

As for the durability/corrosion, yes. But that's what I said previously ie unacceptable no matter the car.

I'm not critising the spec, merely using these points as an example of how I see Ford U.S. marketing dept did not advise or was ignored by vehicle program managers, on the demands and expectations of European customers.
As evidenced by this thread.
U.K. buyers do not appear to view the Mustang product as it is seen in the U.S. and U.K. customers clearly do not expect or are not keen to accept these levels of corrosion, faults, etc, as easily as U.S. customers might.

 

[Gregs24]

I'm not critising the spec, merely using these points as an example of how I see Ford U.S. marketing dept did not advise or was ignored by vehicle program managers, on the demands and expectations of European customers.
As evidenced by this thread.
U.K. buyers do not appear to view the Mustang product as it is seen in the U.S. and U.K. customers clearly do not expect or are not keen to accept these levels of corrosion, faults, etc, as easily as U.S. customers might.

Exactly this. The Canadian built Edge had the spec and finish Europeans expect - how hard can it be for the US to manage it ?

 

[Veteran]

I'm not critising the spec, merely using these points as an example of how I see Ford U.S. marketing dept did not advise or was ignored by vehicle program managers, on the demands and expectations of European customers.
As evidenced by this thread.
U.K. buyers do not appear to view the Mustang product as it is seen in the U.S. and U.K. customers clearly do not expect or are not keen to accept these levels of corrosion, faults, etc, as easily as U.S. customers might.

I guess the US is more accepting because the cars are priced much lower and hence a expectation of cheap, for lack of a better word.
Outside the US we get charged dearly for the mustang and it’s made out to be this high end car. Which it isn’t.
Truth be told, if we paid US prices we would kinda accept the poor paint, misaligned panels, fake leather, misaligned rear glass, etc etc, because in return we get a roaring v8 with lots of character .
I think the crux is that outside the US we don’t get what we pay for. That’s why we’re having this discussion
So There are 2 fixes to please the non US owners/ buyers. Either we only pay low like the US, or they improve build quality.
Just a hunch, but I don’t think either will happen.
As much as we want Ford [non US] to hear us, even if they did, they wont care as there is always a sucker prepared to Pay for the mustang experience.
The day Ford screws up the mustang recipe , I doubt very many well sell outside the US. For now they hold the knife, and I’m ok with that.

 

[Veteran]

Exactly this. The Canadian built Edge had the spec and finish Europeans expect - how hard can it be for the US to manage it ?

Impossible And unlikely. Demand allows them to not change anything as they continue selling like hot cakes .

 

[GT 550]

The Canadian built Edge had the spec and finish Europeans expect - how hard can it be for the US to manage it ?

Probably pretty hard because they'd need to justify the extra cost required to bring it to that standard and a manufacturer doesn't need to try harder when their product is going off like free beer. Failing ac evaps and oil coolers in 15-17s didn't stop the progress of Mustang sales one bit.

Interestingly corrosion of Aluminium panels (which these are) is more common than corrosion of steel panels. Many car makers have experienced the same problems (Jaguar in particular) and it is a lot harder to fix than rust as well. Unlike rust it is cosmetic and rarely becomes structural, but repainting will only be a temporary fix as in the pre-facelift Mustang the issue is contamination of the aluminium under the paint before painting. Any stone chips should also be repaired as soon as possible whereas these days steel panels even when chipped only rust slowly if at all.

That is indeed interesting. By contamination do you mean the alloy has contaminants in it hence why repainting is only a temporary fix? Did Jag overcome it?

 

[Gregs24]

That is indeed interesting. By contamination do you mean the alloy has contaminants in it hence why repainting is only a temporary fix? Did Jag overcome it?

It is contamination during the pressing and finishing process with steel particles from the tooling. Car repair shops have exactly the same problem when working on Aluminium panels. All car makers suffer to a greater or lesser extent and sure it is possible to make the situation better as Ford themselves did post 2018. Jaguar still have problems as do Land Rover.

 

[Gregs24]

Impossible And unlikely. Demand allows them to not change anything as they continue selling like hot cakes .

The car world is littered with ex makers that thought quality didn't matter because sales were strong. It comes home to roost one day.

 

[Gregs24]

I guess the US is more accepting because the cars are priced much lower and hence a expectation of cheap, for lack of a better word.

The big problem with that is that Ford themselves make much cheaper cars than the Mustang in a much better way - my son's Fiesta being one of them. Depending on spec you can get 3 Fiesta's for one Mustang.

As an example - Ford know how to paint a car properly (they do it in Europe in the same colours and I assume the same actual paint) so why is Flat Rock so poor at it ? It isn't a money thing at all, unless they still use a tin of paint and a brush in the US ??

The car price does not equate to quality of build - there are cheap well built cars like the Fiesta and expensive poorly built cars.

I would describe my Mustang as OK build wise - the paint is OK, but no more, some of the trim had to be removed and put back on properly by me and there are a few rattles. I would say it compares to a European Ford of the mid 2000's. Compared to my Valencia made Mondeo of 2017 and it is nowhere near as good, Saarlouis built Mondeo of 2008, about the same.

Sponsored