Ford Motor Company has hit a bump in the road with its number one selling truck, the F-150. Across metro Detroit, there are thousands of 2024 F-150s waiting to be shipped to dealers.
Seeing stockpiled vehicles was a common sight during the pandemic because of the microchip shortage.
This time, Ford tells me it's not a chip shortage. Instead, they say it's a quality control issue. Issues like F-150 owner Jamie Drnest had.
"The day I went to bring it home from the lot, the A/C compressor to a dump on it, so I couldn't even drive it home," Drnest said.
He said he loves his truck, but issues keep popping up.
"I've got an issue with it now and I am trying to take it to the dealer for a coolant leak.
Automotive industry expert John McElroy said quality control has been a problem for Ford over the years. In January, Ford issued a recall for over 112,000 F-150s between 2021-2023.
"This latest problem with the F-150 is definitely going to hurt the company from a financial standpoint. It's something I know they're working on but they haven't solved yet," McElroy said.
Ford CEO Jim Farley, who took the helm in 202, has said many times that quality control is a big issue for him and is working to address the problem to get it right. McElroy said they need to dig deeper.
"Blaming it on suppliers is easy enough to do, but why are suppliers having these kind of quality problems. Are there last-minute design changes? Is Ford trying to source the cheapest parts it can possibly buy? I don't know, but they need to dig deeper than it has so far," McElroy said.
I reached out to Ford for comment. They said in part, "Thousands of trucks are in transit and for the last several weeks we've been ramping up shipments as we complete thorough launch quality checks to ensure these new F-150 trucks meet our high standards and delight customers."
