Massive Strikes at DaimlerChrysler

Deutche Welle ^ | 7/15/2004 | A.N.Other

[oldironsides]

I have 3 GM vehicles and a Ford Mustang Cobra. None have had any problems.

[Grampa Dave]

I don't know about current GM products, but the Ford Quality dropped in the mid 1990's.

My wife had terrible problems with her 96 Sable. My DIL has an 2000 Exploder, her word for it, it is constantly deciding not run. My son has a company F250 pickup, and it has been such a disaster along with other company F250's, his company is now going to GM pickups. He can't wait to trade in his F250 for a GMC pickup.

A good friend had back to back problems with Exploders, he has had the mid size GMC SUV for close to two years and no problems. The only problem is his wife wants to drive it instead of her older BMW. So he will buy her a new GMC SUV this fall.

Another friend had a terrible Exploder before trading it for an ugh Volvo station wagon which has had zero problems in 3 years. His daughter was given a Mustang Convertible by his mother a couple of years ago. It has been a great car, and he and his wife "steal" it from their daughter all the time. So some Fords work well.

I have 96 full size OJ Simpson Bronco that has had a lot of hard off the road driving. There were some hard discussions with Ford when it had coolant problems at 40,000 miles inspite following the suggested coolant change protocols. Ford did right and handled the $2000 problem and only charged me the cost of the new coolant.

However, somehow, they disabled the thermostat gauge in my dash (it said normal all the time), and some how that impacted my 4 wheel drive causing me to get stuck in a creek that I had crossed dozens of time before. It took two big Cats to pull me out. Ford never got my 4 wheel drive working for me inspite of several visits over a year.

I was getting my second brake job for the Bronco at Midas, and the manager at the local Midas asked if I knew that my dash temp reading was false and if I knew that my 4 wheel drive was not working. I told her about the coolant system problem and getting stuck. She had me bring the Bronco back a week later when their journeyman electronic wizard spent a day in the shop.

A couple of hundred #'s later the temp gauge worked and so did my 4 wheel drive. He had no comment besides "If I knew what the problem was and how to fix it, why didn't Ford?"


Besides that and the expensive maintenance which I knew about, my Bronco has been a good vehicle with close to 80,000 miles. I have two friends who traded their Broncos in for new Expeditions and wish that they had not bought the Expeditions. The state and federal park rangers out here love their old Broncos and don't want to trade them in.

So when my wife's last coolant system died in her Sable inspite of having Ford change the coolant every year with less than 7,000 per year, we felt that we had been snake bit by Ford. We went to the Lexus and so far are very pleased.