How long “in production”

[westopher]

The issue I assume many of you are seeing is that many, many, many trucks were produced during launch, (post MP1 is saleable PPAP'd vehicles.) however, to ensure absolute customer quality, the actual delivery for them has been delayed, as every vehicle is going through extensive quality inspections and checks. This bodes well for the final customer, however, I am sure is frustrating.. Please be patient! I know Ford is doing their best to ensure total quality satisfaction!

That was certainly the story people were telling as to why nothing seemed to ship at all until roughly the beginning of March, and it might still be the case. But we're now two full months beyond that, with my original order (albeit now a moot point for me) showing "in production" for FOUR MONTHS and counting. I just flatly don't believe that it takes four months to identify and correct quality issues given the production numbers that have been posted here.

But as @Monty and @fordtrks4ever both said, the real crime is that Ford has been completely opaque about what's going on, and apparently it's not just my selling dealer who's unwilling or unable to escalate anything with Ford itself to get some answers. Keeping people completely in the dark — while tons of other people have waited far less time and actually gotten their trucks — has only added insult to injury.

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[FordBSME]

That was certainly the story people were telling as to why nothing seemed to ship at all until roughly the beginning of March, and it might still be the case. But we're now two full months beyond that, with my original order (albeit now a moot point for me) showing "in production" for FOUR MONTHS and counting. I just flatly don't believe that it takes four months to identify and correct quality issues given the production numbers that have been posted here.

But as @Monty and @fordtrks4ever both said, the real crime is that Ford has been completely opaque about what's going on, and apparently it's not just my selling dealer who's unwilling or unable to escalate anything with Ford itself to get some answers. Keeping people completely in the dark — while tons of other people have waited far less time and actually gotten their trucks — has only added insult to injury.

I completely understand your frustration. There were many obstacles as well during this launch, including supplier shortages along with the UAW strike. However, as a customer, this things likely do not mean much when you are waiting for a vehicle with anticipation. Again, I understand the frustration.

 

[FordBSME]

With the so called quality checks are things being corrected?
From members: Missing tail light Fastners, Hard to shut door, Doors misaligned. To name a few.
So are these so called quality checks holding up shipping?
Ford just keeps us in the dark.
99 days in production.

I can tell you that a lot of effort and vigilance is on final customer satisfaction, and, no quality issue get's ignored when called out. The culture of quality over production is very present and real. For major issues like body fitment, yes, for sure shipping ETA would be affected, as when 1 vehicle displays an issue, a "break point" is issued and every vehicle prior is inspected for the same issue. This affects overall throughput. Unfortunately, I am simply an engineer, and do not have the knowledge base to even attempt to comment on the overall process that occurs on the shipping/buying/overall customer experience. My goal is to simply try and address some of the issues brought up on this forum I can speak to......I can say... personal opinion....This is fantastic and well thought about re-design (Ranger) and NVL (Raptor)! I hope you enjoy the truck!

 

[Torque]

but understand this is not without loss to the consumer.

Anyone that has a trade-in has seen it depreciate more than they expected so when it comes time to potentially trade that in on the new purchase, they will have less to put on the new vehicle.
In essence, we are paying every single day more money for the same vehicle as it sits collecting dust outside of MAP.
As Ford withholds information, it makes it difficult on the end user that buys the product.
If they are being correctly produced now, produce replacements send them to the customers and give dealers that are clamoring for extra raptor stock the ones that are being quality check improved.

it doesn’t matter how you slice it, it comes across as a poorly ran company that seems to stumble into - at times- a well built product.

I can tell you that a lot of effort and vigilance is on final customer satisfaction, and, no quality issue get's ignored when called out. The culture of quality over production is very present and real. For major issues like body fitment, yes, for sure shipping ETA would be affected, as when 1 vehicle displays an issue, a "break point" is issued and every vehicle prior is inspected for the same issue. This affects overall throughput. Unfortunately, I am simply an engineer, and do not have the knowledge base to even attempt to comment on the overall process that occurs on the shipping/buying/overall customer experience. My goal is to simply try and address some of the issues brought up on this forum I can speak to......I can say... personal opinion....This is fantastic and well thought about re-design (Ranger) and NVL (Raptor)! I hope you enjoy the truck!

 

[FordBSME]

but understand this is not without loss to the consumer.

Anyone that has a trade-in has seen it depreciate more than they expected so when it comes time to potentially trade that in on the new purchase, they will have less to put on the new vehicle.
In essence, we are paying every single day more money for the same vehicle as it sits collecting dust outside of MAP.
As Ford withholds information, it makes it difficult on the end user that buys the product.
If they are being correctly produced now, produce replacements send them to the customers and give dealers that are clamoring for extra raptor stock the ones that are being quality check improved.

it doesn’t matter how you slice it, it comes across as a poorly ran company that seems to stumble into - at times- a well built product.

You are not wrong in any of your statements. For what its worth, dealing with the OEM's as a supplier can be just as frustrating...LOL.. The companies are so big, and tbh, big doesn't equal better, most of the time. From a lot of the feedback on here, it seems they took a stab at minimalizing something like the production of a vehicle with 50,000+ components and marginalized it into making a pizza. LOL. Mass production is a sum of so many various aspects, bunching it into a pizza maker type algorithm is almost humorous.

 

[bdginmo]

I get that Ford does not want to ship a truck that has an issue. I actually commend Ford for holding them until the issue is fixed. The problem I have is that Ford did not rerun my configuration as a new VIN and reassign my order to that VIN back in March when the production issues were resolved. Had they done that it is likely I would already have my vehicle. But as it stands now my vehicle isn't even "Built" yet (next week will be 4 months in production) which means I likely have 2-4 weeks of additional wait time even assuming it goes "Built" tomorrow which based on the past appears unlikely.

 

[westopher]

I completely understand your frustration. There were many obstacles as well during this launch, including supplier shortages along with the UAW strike. However, as a customer, this things likely do not mean much when you are waiting for a vehicle with anticipation. Again, I understand the frustration.

As a more positive counterpoint to what I said earlier, in the end, I bought one from a different dealer that was a special order for a customer who decided not to purchase it once it arrived. It is better optioned than what I'd ordered, but is otherwise identical, and I'll put it really simply: There is literally not one single thing about the truck that I dislike after ~500 miles with it. Literally nothing. And I like the dealer I bought it from better than the one I did my original order with, so... a bonus.

As for the original order, well, doesn't matter at this point. My original dealer will have some stock whenever it ends-up being shipped. Still, a pretty frustrating process getting to this point.

 

[fordtrks4ever]

I can tell you that a lot of effort and vigilance is on final customer satisfaction, and, no quality issue get's ignored when called out. The culture of quality over production is very present and real. For major issues like body fitment, yes, for sure shipping ETA would be affected, as when 1 vehicle displays an issue, a "break point" is issued and every vehicle prior is inspected for the same issue. This affects overall throughput. Unfortunately, I am simply an engineer, and do not have the knowledge base to even attempt to comment on the overall process that occurs on the shipping/buying/overall customer experience. My goal is to simply try and address some of the issues brought up on this forum I can speak to......I can say... personal opinion....This is fantastic and well thought about re-design (Ranger) and NVL (Raptor)! I hope you enjoy the truck!

Yes I want a quality vehicle when it finally arrives.
But at this point it has been over 3 months since it was built and getting moved around in parking lot purgatory and we as consumers are told dealer has all the information and in a lot of cases we know more from this forum then the dealer and yes as said trade in depreciation.
The last info the dealer shows is it came back from the liner being sprayed in and that was in February. I have special ordered 9 Fords in my life thus far and this is the worst experience.

 

[fordtrks4ever]

As a more positive counterpoint to what I said earlier, in the end, I bought one from a different dealer that was a special order for a customer who decided not to purchase it once it arrived. It is better optioned than what I'd ordered, but is otherwise identical, and I'll put it really simply: There is literally not one single thing about the truck that I dislike after ~500 miles with it. Literally nothing. And I like the dealer I bought it from better than the one I did my original order with, so... a bonus.

As for the original order, well, doesn't matter at this point. My original dealer will have some stock whenever it ends-up being shipped. Still, a pretty frustrating process getting to this point.

Like you I started searching local inventory.
Found one almost identical except color and no bed steps.
It is Black and the spouse said no black with out ventilated seats
For me no White, Catus gray or Silver
so here we are still looking and 99 days in production
But Rangers built in March and April ship out fast.

 

[westopher]

Like you I started searching local inventory.
Found one almost identical except color and no bed steps.
It is Black and the spouse said no black with out ventilated seats
For me no White, Catus gray or Silver
so here we are still looking and 99 days in production
But Rangers built in March and April ship out fast.

Well, keep looking regularly, and I think it makes sense to forge some connections with sales folks from other dealers.

To be honest, I just got really lucky by dropping into a different dealer, talking to one of the salespeople, who took it upon himself after I left to do a deeper check for anything similar to the one I'd ordered (the VIN for which he had and could thus look-up). Just so happened he saw the other one, determined it wasn't spoken for after all, and here we are.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but as I said in the previous post, I absolutely love everything about the truck I ended-up with. Not sure it fully makes-up for the frustration getting to this point, but it sure doesn't hurt.

 

[fordtrks4ever]

Well, keep looking regularly, and I think it makes sense to forge some connections with sales folks from other dealers.

To be honest, I just got really lucky by dropping into a different dealer, talking to one of the salespeople, who took it upon himself after I left to do a deeper check for anything similar to the one I'd ordered (the VIN for which he had and could thus look-up). Just so happened he saw the other one, determined it wasn't spoken for after all, and here we are.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but as I said in the previous post, I absolutely love everything about the truck I ended-up with. Not sure it fully makes-up for the frustration getting to this point, but it sure doesn't hurt.

I have been looking every day for a few weeks.
Yes connection with other dealers can not hurt.

 

[fordtrks4ever]

As promised, we’re writing to update you on the build progress of Ranger Lariat order. We’re working hard to complete your new Ford vehicle but are continuing to experience unexpected delays.

You can rest assured that our team is diligently addressing these challenges to expedite the completion of your vehicle. We genuinely value your understanding and patience during this process and will keep you updated as we progress.

If this email I just received was not so unreal it would be funny.
99 days is production.

 

[dman820]

As promised, we’re writing to update you on the build progress of Ranger Lariat order. We’re working hard to complete your new Ford vehicle but are continuing to experience unexpected delays.

You can rest assured that our team is diligently addressing these challenges to expedite the completion of your vehicle. We genuinely value your understanding and patience during this process and will keep you updated as we progress.

If this email I just received was not so unreal it would be funny.
99 days is production.

I'm at 126 days in production with no end in sight. I have pretty much told my wife and my dealer that if it is not in my driveway by the end of month, I'm done with this. I going to buy a Colorado from the lot and not look back. In the 4.5 months since it has been in production, rust has broken through on the SUV I planned to sell which is going to drastically reduce the value on it now so I'm fed up. For my first factory order, this has been a complete dumpster fire with absolutely no communication in any way since I ordered it in May of last year. Now that I can see it even has 85 miles on it as well, how many will it have if/when it ever gets delivered? 21 days and counting before I pull the pin. Tick, tock.

 

[westopher]

I'm at 126 days in production with no end in sight. I have pretty much told my wife and my dealer that if it is not in my driveway by the end of month, I'm done with this. I going to buy a Colorado from the lot and not look back.
[...]
For my first factory order, this has been a complete dumpster fire with absolutely no communication in any way since I ordered it in May of last year. Now that I can see it even has 85 miles on it as well, how many will it have if/when it ever gets delivered? 21 days and counting before I pull the pin. Tick, tock.

My original factory order went into production at roughly the same time, and we ordered within a day of each other. I reached the point you described two weeks ago, but then my Plan B truck appeared out of nowhere.

Anyway, as I've said in post after post here, the real insult isn't the waiting, or the quality holds, or whatever else — it's the fact that neither Ford itself, nor the dealers, are willing to communicate. Just repeated form emails about unexpected delays, while everyone else, who ordered well after we did, just keeps getting their trucks. Just tell us all what the hell is going on! It's not hard, they just won't, or apparently don't want to own-up to whatever they messed-up in the production of the trucks we ordered.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm guessing you'll be driving your Colorado next month, not the Ranger you ordered.

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