One last rant from me sorry, please tell me how Ford is responsible for the 1997-2001 gas tank straps and no other truck models are (GM,Dodge,and Toyota even though they have similiar problems with rotting straps after all its a 16 gauge metal gas tank straps in a vehicle thats 10+ years old and 100k+ miles). These vehicles are 10 plus years old, at what point is the government going to stop forcing recalls on companies. These are trucks that Ford doesn’t even have to make parts for 7 years + is the cut off. How, is this a manufacturer fault isn’t it called maintenance something the vehicle owner is responsible for. Its a comon problem in all trucks. I own a 2001 F150 and I check mine every service, its called taking ownerships. OK lets see the government bought GM and Chrysler a couple months later Toyota is the worst company ever millions of vehicles recalled at the governments request. Then Ford starts to do real good passing up both GM and Toyota in the US and then the government decides to force Ford recalls that are on 10+ year old vehicles the F150 and Windstar. F150 lets see 300 problems (showing rust, rusted through or tank falling) in 2.7 million vehicles with majority of them in the 200K range. Thats not even a 1% problem its 1 tenth of a percent problem. That means 99.99 of the trucks are fine like mine. Low blow on both Ford and Toyota by Government Motors.
Oh and Gary your 2005 Sequoia is the second worst roll over vehicle second to GMs Blazer. And your 1995 Camry is probably due for an engine due to sludging, very common problem that was never a recall. And the Corolla you might want to set the toe to the right to compensate for the horrible left pull into on comming traffic that Corollas have never had to fix since day one.

I HAD a 2003 Windstar 68,000 miles. Only owner. I did the maintenance required. Was garage kept for the 1st 3 1/2 years. The 1st week of Novemeber the dealer took it and said they would get the part in Jan 2011. They paid for the rental. This week they condemed my van due to the 2nd recall. My buy out is $9,000.00. The catch – the dealer pressured me to sign the papers right away. Once I did, I did NOT get a check. 5-7 days, longer if a week-end was involed, but I had to turn in my rental on Friday no matter what I did. Dealer said it was Corp’s rules. When I called Corp they said it was dealer’s rules. When I asked about the other people from the 1st recall waiting 3 months+ for their checks the reply was yes there were delays for the 1st recall buy out. That could happen again. I asked to please keep my rental until I get my check. They said no. It would cost them too much money. But now it is Friday and I have no car to drive to work or get my kids to school. I also have no idea when I will get my check. NEVER A FORD AGAIN!!! I get the van is unsafe. I get this whole thing was a very bad mistake. What I don’t get is how I had to give Ford a check to leave with my van in March of 2003 when I bought it, but now that they are buying it back(due to a major defect) they don’t have to give me my check until they get around to it. The papers said they had a fixed time frame for me to keep the rental. What about a fixed time frame to give me my money. Anyone have any ideas???

You are ill informed about the findings that you have read in your autoblog. You are referring to the Department of energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle’s Manufacturing Program not the bailout money that the government has given to Chrysler and General Motors. These are conditional loan commitments that the government has given to the D.O.E (a total net worth of 25 billion) which is avaliable to any auto manufacturer or auto parts producer that builds in the U.S (which include US automakers, US manufacturing subsidiaries of non-US-based companies, major US auto parts suppliers, and innovative startups).

The D.O.E gets applications from these companies and with the contents in these applications the D.O.E will award that manufacturer a conditional loan (the companies that have the best ideas that will make vehicles 25% more fuel efficient than 2005 standards shall be rewarded a loan by the D.O.E)

So far Ford 5.9 billion, Nissan USA 1.6 billion, Tesla 465 million and Fisker 529 along with others like Tenneco with lower granted loan numbers. This is a loan not a bailout, the D.O.E has about 17 billion of the 25 billion to award still.

Ford got a big piece because they are revamping facilities across 5 states and they are driving a major upgrade, which include a tone of technologies like the direct injected turbocharged EcoBoost engines (2,4,6 cylinder engines) advanced transmissions, and new hybrid technologies along with revamped combustion engines and hydrogen and electric vehicles etc…. All these are leaps and bounds above what any other manufacturer is offering or has offered.
And they are already implementing them for example not like G.M sitting on the Volt for 10 years.

Again General Motors and Chrysler are the only companies that took the 25 billion dollar bailout package and then another 40 billion bailout package. Ford did not take any of this bailout money. Ford did attend the 2008 court hearings because they where planning on buying General Motors if the government was not going to help General Motors or Chrysler. Alan Mulallay Cheif CEO of Ford came out and said they would buy General Motors before it dissolved or Toyota bought them.

Also, of the 271 deaths you mentioned related to the Firestone/Ford deal 130 of these deaths where directly related to tire failures and the other 141 where related to speeding (80+mph) with aggressive menouvers at these speeds proven with on board computers, lack of maintenance proven with no vehicle maintenance histories through dealers or aftermarket shops. Also deaths and injuries totalled 700. Now these numbers vary depending on surveys and my heart goes out to those who have lost ones these are just the most common numbers reported. Now given the quantity of vehicles that where sold during those years F-series where 800,000+ units a year and Explorers where around 250,000 units a year are actually very low compared to Toyota. During these Toyota problem years Camary sales are about 250,000 units a year, Corolla’s about 150,000 units. So by recall/production/death+injury number ratios Ford is far less than Toyota (based on 90+Toyota related deaths and climbing).

Last but not least Toyota Camry/Solara is the best selling car not vehicle in the U.S. and its not AMERICAN. The Ford F-series is still #1 with Silverado in #2 spot and the the Camry taking #3. The F-series outsells the Camry by 200,000+ units yearly while the Silverado outsells the Camry by 100,000+ units yearly.

So Buy American built by an American Company.

The car industry’s second big foray on to Capitol Hill in the past decade? came in November and December of 2008, when GM, Ford, and Chrysler went to Washington for hearings on emergency financial aid.

To hear Ford tell the story, the Dearborn (Mich.) company is the smart one that is getting its house in order and doesn’t need government loans like more troubled rivals General Motors and Chrysler. That’s mostly true. Ford borrowed enough in the open market before the credit markets froze up. But to say that Ford isn’t seeking a big chunk of Federal funds is a bit misleading.

Right now, Ford has says its future product programs qualify the company for up to $11 billion of the DOE’s $25 billion program. The company figures it may only get about $5 billion, though. GM wants $8 billion from the DOE loan program, which extends credit for projects resulting in better fuel economy. It can be advanced vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt electric car or to tool up plants for more prosaic fuel sippers like the Chevy Cruze compact. Others are seeking funds, too. Even tiny Tesla Motors wants $450 million from the DOE.

Adding in the $13.4 billion or more that GM needs from the Treasury Department to stay afloat and its borrowings are much more. The company will eventually be heavily indebted to the federal government. But Ford clearly needs a boost, too. And it’s no wonder. Not only are the new fuel economy regulations forcing automakers to retool many of their models, Ford has plenty of cash problems. In the third quarter, Ford burned $7.7 billion in cash while GM burned $6.9 billion. For the first three quarters of last year, Ford burned through $15.7 billion while GM went though $14.1 billion.

Developing new models and technology is a massive expense for carmakers. If the DOE agrees that many of Ford’s future models qualify for the program, it could end up borrowing more from the DOE than GM under the program. Bottom line: Ford’s problems are less urgent than GM’s issues. But let’s curb our enthusiasm a bit.

Now for the people who say well Asian car companies make vehicles in the states. Look where, 90% of the Asian (and European) car companies build their plants in Alabama, why its cheap labor and most of them are non union and the profits still go back to Asian/European company not a American company. Domestics have plants all over the states look at Ford dumping 100′s of millions into a new Chicago union plant I wish Benz would do that.

People stating that the big three copy Asian car lines is pretty funny. Asian companies couldn’t even build a car till the mid to late 1930′s, thats 30+ years after the Europeans and Americans have been doing it successfully. Then it took them about 46 years to build them somewhat reliable and correctly. Lets face it there are not many 70′s,80′s even early 90′s toyotas still on the road in comparison to the domestics and European imports ( I don’t care if you have one I know someones gonna say I have one and its great in general). Now lets think and see what type/model did the Asian car companies ever invent or perfect without copying, sedan no, coupe no, roadster no, pickup no, fullsize van no, mini-van no, convertable no, SUV no, crossover no, compact car no, sub-compact car no, hydrogen no, cng no, hybrid no no no, so on… they have not designed one model of vehicle all they have done is copied copied copied European and American ingenuity.

All vehicles now, minus the hand built specialties are built to the same tolerances by robots not Americans or Asians or Europeans. Pontiac Vibe=Toyota Matrix, Ford Ranger=Mazda B-series, Ford Fuzion=Mazda 6, Dodge Charger=Mercedes E/ClS class so on (many many others). How can the Pontiac Vibe get poor reviews but the Matrix was raved, the Ford Ranger is a reliable truck but the Mazda B series is a poor design, the ford Fuzion is the number 1 midsize and the Mazda 6 came in last or the Dodge Charger ranked reliable when the E/CLS where ranked unreliable. What it comes down to is the ending spot of the dollar. As an American I want my dollar to stop at an American company not go over seas. So America as a nation please stop, think and not rely on what others have to say including myself and especially the media/magazines etc… The automotive industry is one of the last manufacturing bases the U.S. has and how do we support it we buy Nissans instead of Pontiacs and Olds (history gone) or Lexus’s, Infinities (remanned Toyotas and Nissans), instead of Cadillacs and Lincolns (remanned G.Ms , and Fords). In reality the only cars that should be imported are the high end luxury one’s since American and Asian compainies clearly cannot make them. Asian car makers have always copied American/European ones and they will alway’s copy them, there is not a place for copies in this world and there is no reason for second rate compainies to sell mimics of the originals in this country at a cheaper price grossing more profit and paying there employess less. Support Domestic or go High end Euro help save the originals, they’ve been around forever enough with this cheap throw away stuff.

Thank you and sorry for any grammar errors
By the way Ford never took any bail out money from the government they can but they haven’t. Also NASA has helped Toyota and confirmed the cause of its problems but Toyota is still denying it and now they are recalling all of the same cars due to first repair not fixing concern and spring from wrong repair braking and poping out of place on the first gas pedal recall so the same 5million are comming back.

Remember back in the late 80′s . . . toyota V6 . . . every one blew head gaskets, sometimes more than once, took toyota 10 years to figure that one out. Forefunners around here are called “Flippers” cause a quick lane change at speed will have them on their roof . . . I have seen it myself. Only in the last 6 or 7 years have toyota and honda had five star frontal crash ratings . . . why??? Ford and GM had five star frontal crash ratings in the 80′s and 90′s.
Trucks . . . Toyota trucks are the biggest joke on the planet . . . weak frames, gas guzzling 5.7 V8, Tundra worst in class.
Where I live Ford is outselling toyota . . . . Hyundai passed Honda 2 years ago . . .