For the past several years, quality issues have dogged new Ford vehicles, and CEO Jim Farley has made some changes to help stem the tide of problems owners are experiencing with their vehicles. Unfortunately, those changes are apparently on track to subside in 2023, and third-party studies have seemingly confirmed that the company has yet to improve its overall standing on quality. Now, results from the 2022 Consumer Reports annual reliability survey are in, and the Ford brand ranked below average once again.
For 2022, Ford ranked 18th among the 24 brands that were part of the annual survey, dropping four places from last year. As always, Japanese brands ranked highest, with Toyota and Lexus taking first and second, respectively. BMW, Mazda, and Honda rounded out the top five spots, and based on the publication’s metrics, all five brands boast above average reliability rankings for their respective lineups. The Blue Oval bested Tesla, Chevrolet, GMC, Volkswagen, Jeep, and Mercedes-Benz in overall reliability, being the lowest ranked brand to boast average reliability across its lineup.
In terms of specific models, the Ford Maverick and Ford Edge were the only models to obtain above average reliability rankings, while the Ford Explorer and Ford F-150 PowerBoost hybrid earned well below average scores.
For 2022, Consumer Reports gathered data on over 300,000 vehicles from the 2000 to 2022 model years, with some 2023 model year vehicles included as well. The survey asks members to respond to questions about 17 trouble areas on their vehicles, not limited to engine, transmission and infotainment system issues. Some Ford vehicles have fared poorly in this survey over the years, with the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator being among the lowest scoring vehicles since their introduction in 2020. Currently, The Blue Oval is revamping its quality control efforts, which are now being spearheaded by a former J.D. Power executive.
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Comments
I’d love to give them some feed back on my 22 F350. It’s got a list of things that need fixing and I’ll take it in after hunting season is over. Not very happy.
Ford has had low quality for the last 2 decades. In the last 4 years, Ford has layed off over 5,000 experienced engineers so yes quality suffers! Hiring low cost new engineers doesn’t fix quality.
I was once a Loyal Ford buyer in the 80’s-90’s. Had two Lemons in a row and went to Toyota and did not look back until 2015. Wife wanted to check out a Fusion SE and we gave Ford a try again. BAD MOVE! 22k miles cracked head in 3 places left us stranded. Ford fixed it. Then Radio broke $600 to repair out of Bumper to bumper warranty by then. started getting bad misfires at 51k and that was the end I was tired of dealing with it and went back to Toyota. Told them it was having misfires and they could not duplicate so we traded for a 2020 Camry SE. We had zero trouble out of it and were glad to have another Toyota. I asked the salesman about 2 weeks after if they sold it and he said it was getting repaired at their Ford dealership. I will not touch another one and yes I know people that had good luck, not me. I will only buy another Ford if its a Pre-1995 Classic. If Ford would have owned up to problems they know about and extended the warranties. Think I will buy another after going back to Toyota? Not happening until I see real change. I can’t believe they have allowed things to go for so long just like the transmission fiasco with the Focus.
The way to rebuild loyalty is taking very good care of current vehicle owners; making sure that they are not suffering alone due to on going unreliable vehicle issues.
My 2013 Ford C-Max hybrid is the most reliable car I have owned. Too bad it was discontinued after 2018.
Ford has won the trifecta. Ridiculous prices, no availability and poor quality. Way to go!
Quality is job #18? Maybe they can make some Q18 buttons for people to wear. 😑
I remember in the 80’s when FORD shared their moto “FORD is QUALITY ONE”.
they did no have it then and apparently, don’t have it now.
Perfect is impossible but 18th is a “D”.
WE need and deserve better
The executive who has taken over for improving quality really has his or her job cut out for themselves! Quality as most are aware is a systemic issue. With a company as large and complex as Ford, the effort will have to be nothing short of Herculean.
Alfa Romeo has better rated quality then Ford does now. 5 or 6 years ago, Alfa Romeo was at the bottom of the list and the laughing stock of the auto industry, for quality, but has worked aggressively to improve quality and it shows, and it shows it can be done. So why cannot Ford do it?
As a stockholder, Ford’s poor quality is costing me money. Let’s get it together Ford. My plan is to buy a Rattler after the 1st or the year but with quality being what it is, I wonder if that is the right move. I the Ford f150 can be number one in sales why can’t it be number one in quality?
We Love our Edge! 2018. Very good quality. So let’s only build for China only, boo to u ford
Is Elon Musk running quality control at Ford?
Ford always discontinues their highest rated vehicles, Fusion, Edge, C-Max, Flex, etc. Farley is more interested in promoting the latest and greatest thing while giving lip service to quality.
That said, I am not a big fan of CR. A random sample cannot be achieved by surveying their own subscribers. CR has trashed the Explorer for many years in a row. The number of CR subscribers who actually own an Explorer must be very low resulting in a small sample with faulty results.
I can’t believe what I’m reading here. First of all, Consumer Distorts subscribers get two surveys. With one, they praise their Japanese auto. With the other, the slam the American auto manufacturer of their choice. There is no validation of data at Consumer Distorts. So anyone can put anything they want on their auto survey. And since Japanese vehicle owners are always looking for validation of their purchase, Consumer Distorts attracts a vast majority of people who drive Japanese autos. Most auto publications have moved away from stories from Consumer Distorts. Sorry to see it treated as fact here.
Bought a new ’22 explorer. AC didn’t work upon pickup. Dealer replaced control board from another vehicle as none were available from ford and gave me the vehicle. Air still didn’t work, had to wait a week to send to dealer along with a banging noise in rear door, defective window gasket on rear door. They kept the vehicle a week, told me the freon was low, they couldn’t check it at the time of delivery as their machine was broken, said the speaker in the door wasn’t attached to bracket and replaced the defective door gasket that was visible from the outside. The air still doesn’t work properly, there is a scratch on the hood down to the metal, there is a 4″x6″ patch of overspray on the rear of the roof. Vehicle drives like s!#t, they said was normal. I contacted the dealers near me, and the earliest appointment is a month out. I live in Florida, so not having AC makes the vehicle pretty much undriveable. Brand new platinum explorer comes broken, not fixed, and can’t get it fixed. And the dealer charged an adjusted market value markup of $3500 for the privilege of owning a POS. My ford owned count will stop at 16. Great job ford, Farley and UAW.