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Ford Recall 3 Million vehicles...

Discussion in 'IATF 16949:2016 - Automotive Quality Systems' started by Andy Nichols, Jun 16, 2022.

  1. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Andy Nichols, Jun 16, 2022
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  2. qmr1976

    qmr1976 Well-Known Member

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    And this is why I never buy Fords...LOL...just kidding. I did have a Ford Mustang convertible when I was young and the only issue I had was with the torque converter, which caused a lot of vibration in the steering wheel.

    I just wonder if this can be attributed to the labor shortage that seems to be common throughout all industries these days. Not to mention, when a company decides to downsize, Quality seems to be the first place to make cuts. Although important, a lot of people see Quality as a necessary evil but won't hesitate to sacrifice it to increase the bottom line. We all know where that eventually leads....you may see more money in the short term, but in the long run it will cause a company to suffer an increase in production cost, due to bad parts being shipped. Increase in production doesn't really mean a whole lot if the majority of parts are bad.
     
    qmr1976, Jun 16, 2022
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  3. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Anyone in the auto supply chain knows that Ford make suppliers jump through hoops: Ford Q1, IATF 16949, APQP/Core Tools implementation to name a few. None of this is new. So, I'm left wondering:

    Does Ford actually practice this stuff themselves?
    Does Ford actually look at what the supplier submits?
    Does Ford have a clue if the supplier is doing things right, when they implement these quality (prevention) tools?

    Clearly, these fabulous tools aren't getting the job done, which normally means the people using them have little/no clue. After all, a good workman NEVER blames the tools.

    I hope that some deep and meaningful discussion takes place about who completed the PPAP submission at any suppliers involved. Who reviewed it at Ford. Was an FMEA completed at Ford? Did the team have a clue? And so on...
     
    Andy Nichols, Jun 16, 2022
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  4. Bev D

    Bev D Moderator Staff Member

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    Unless and until Ford determines and releases the causal mechanism we only have conjecture. Which is fun but ultimately not helpful.

    It is possible that one of the suppliers short cut the FMEA/development/validation process. (I am pretty vocal about using subjective guessing for determining the occurrence and the detection as well as the weaknesses of the RPN calculation)

    It is possible that the Ford reviewer is not an expert engineer who might catch a gap.

    It is possible that this is one of those unthought of causes that could result in a failure (at a very low occurrence rate it wouldn’t be caught under typical validation testing conditions…)

    Right now Ford is doing the right thing by recalling the potentially effected vehicles. They are doing it rather quickly unlike the longer time for the tire/suspension problem of several years ago.
     
    Bev D, Jun 16, 2022
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  5. John C. Abnet

    John C. Abnet Well-Known Member

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    From content within the link that @Andy Nichols provided...

    "Just one of many recalls..
    This is not the first time Ford has dealt with this troublesome part. In fact, it’s the fifth since 2018 concerning a shift cable part."

    There's a Japanese expression that seems appropriate here ..
    kikai sonshitsu (Kikai o ushinatta). It means "opportunity lost".

    Hmmmm

    Be well.
     
    John C. Abnet, Jun 16, 2022
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  6. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    Agreed, however, I'd hazard that it's not conjecture when we know - factually - that FMEAs are simply cut 'n' pasted across platforms, it isn't a cross functional teams (in the correct sense of the term) who performs them, management don't know anything about them (even at the highest pay grade in Engineering) etc. Let's not overlook the fact that the auto industry has long used some of the MOST EFFECTIVE quality tools in the toolbox, yet has some of the worst performance from them...

    I'd hope some senior Engineering/Supply chain/Quality Management are terminated as a result.
     
    Andy Nichols, Jun 16, 2022
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  7. Miner

    Miner Moderator Staff Member

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    Given the age at which these failures are occurring, it is very doubtful that these are manufacturing issues. More likely to be design related reliability issues.

    What about the Hyundai exploding seatbelt pretensioner? Pretensioners are usually 100% mechanical. Why would anyone decide to incorporate an explosive device into a seatbelt?
     
    Miner, Jun 16, 2022
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  8. Andy Nichols

    Andy Nichols Moderator Staff Member

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    I believe it's fairly common across manufacturers - to achieve the desired speed. Airbags are "explosive" and I believe it's just an alternate application of that, to seat belts.
     
    Andy Nichols, Jun 16, 2022
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