It's not just the 6.0 that has hurt Ford. They have been in the business of cheapening everything as much as they can get away with for years. I could name so many examples- the 6.9 injection pump, the 3.8 head gaskets, the thin film ignition module, the Taurus front suspension and power steering hoses, the Explorer roll over story, the Pinto gas tank "fix", the one ton van front steering, the Ranger air conditioning, etc, etc. They built their castle on sand. And their advertising appeals to the lowest common denominator, like the Mustang burnout commercial. They have sold an enormous number of Taurus fleet vehicles, but no company with any sense will keep them longer than 75,000 miles or three years because they become so troublesome after that. So, for example, Ford sells a Taurus with a cheap head gasket that may save them a dime on the car, and the sap who buys it has to spend $1,700 to get them replaced. The air conditioner goes out after 20,000 miles on the Ranger and the shop says "we'll have to replace almost everything, but it will only last another 20,000 miles". The power steering hoses go out at 75,000 miles on the Taurus and the factory shop manual says to drop the engine and transaxle assembly to get access to the hoses. The extended cab pickups that fold up and crush the occupants. The steering components that get recalled because they may fall of, but are replaced with ones that are no better.

That kind of stuff is what will drive ANY company out of business. Each customer has a bad experience and tells his friends. Ford could ask a lot more for their stuff if it was well built. Look a BMW. Quality is worth it. Build a quality vehicle or get out of the game because you can't keep fooling people forever. If Ford goes under they will have noone to blame but themselves.

They may also lose sales to certain people with a different (read phobic) agenda because of their PR campaign, but I don't care about that. Give me quality or I'm outta here. I'd still buy a Cummins, for example, if I became aware that a gay person also bought one (and they do). So what? I don't feel threatened. And I would not feel compelled to try to run them out of business for it either.


Wetspirit

 

Gotta link? I did a search and couldn't find it.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/25/news...loss/index.htm