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Ford Focus Hatchback ZX3 - Part XIV
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by the way, ive been buying new vehicles since 1976.although i know
better than to respond,i will let the little guy have his fun. my response is: why would i be doing everyone a favor if i trade my car?
the facts are what they are? there is a recall and i will get it fixed. the
pars are not available.either you take the risk of driving a potential
disaster or you dont, not hard to figure out. as i have stated many times
the z is a price/performance leader in many respects, but in light of
the recent recalls, i question the long term reliability. if one accepts
lesser quality so be it,thats your business. if you dont demand to be treated as a valued customer you will always get less. do i like anything? sure, i like the way the zx3 handles. im just waiting to see
how it handles with 3 wheels.
Picked up my Yellow 2001 ZX3 w/ prem. package, ABS and side airbags (thats all I think). Great so far. Regarding dealer prep - I picked up at lunch the same day it arrived - although I did request NO dealer decal, maybe that saves days?
Anyhoo, the remote entry seems to require a long time to activate, esp. the 2nd click for the passenger side - so long, I thought it was broken at first, more than a onethousandone, aonethousandtwo. This is longer than my usu. experience w/ other cars.(I rent cars, some Fords, often for work travel). Anyone?
Now, do you promise when I take off the back lettering no marks will be left? Use dental floss right?
Thanks,
Wilson
'01 ZX3 Yellow
'72 2002 Orange
Is your 2002 Inka or Colorado?
I do have more problems with the hatch release. That is, using the remote on my key. The remote on the dash works ok.
the '02 is Colorado, love that color. The only sad part about my new ZX3 is the '02 will no longer be the daily driver. Will certainly get weekend duty - its every bit as fun to drive as the ZX3 even in its non-fuel injected version.
-Wilson
badge removal planned for this weekend..
Looked up Lexus on Consumer Reports. Supposed to be a reliable car right? Here's a list of SAFETY CRITICAL recalls from the past few years.
1) Steering wheel could fall off
2) Diabled anti-lock brake system
3) Front Suspension could fail and cause accident
4) Head lights might not turn on
5) Brake hose could break
6) Hood might open suddenly
And these are only the ones that could kill you, not the ones that might just leave you inconvenienced.
Don't sweat a few recalls too much. It means Ford knows about the problem and is fixing it, even if it takes awhile.
Clueless dealers are of course a different story. For them, complain really loud in front of potential customers ;-) Repeatedly
If you really want to do it, go to a good parts store and buy Kendell Seal & Sound. Comes in spray bottle and is about the best product out there. Easy to spray on, just follow directions.
Pat
ferretdancer - good post, but it's been pretty well proven that Audi was the victim of a set-up thanks to those great folks at 60 Minutes. After all the dust settled, the "sudden acceleration" deal could never be verified as anything other than operator error. Audi has just recently recovered from that media smear job.
you were kidding about the mitsubishi.arent they
the ones who have hid problems for years? therefore,no recalls!i know from your post you have
some savvy about cars.
to all- the recall issue of another make + model has nothing to do with the zx3.all here own a focus.one doesnt have anything to do with the other.its irrelevant.it doesnt make our situation any better.im not going to sugarcoat the recalls.
they are real and serious.the point is they dont care or they would have parts more readily available.given the firestone fiasco,they should be
more responsive and accomodating.i dont believe at
this time that they are.
I called Ford cust. srvc.--they already have a special line just for this concern--to inquire why I had not received a letter or a call. They told me that some people are receiving their letters later than others. With such a serious problem you would think that they would be more urgent about it.
If I hadn't looked at this site I would not know about the recall. I wish I could get rid of this car!
Have you ever worked in manufacturing? I do and I can tell you it often doesn't matter how much a company or it's employees care. It can sometimes be a bi**h getting all the parts we need from our vendors. I can't tell you how many times we have to scramble to get what we need just to meet our manufacturing requirements. If we don't build and support our product we don't get paid. And it can often be some really stupid little thing that stops everything. What! No fan guards or spring clips for the next three weeks! Auggh!
Hopefully Ford, being a bigger company, has better control over it's suppliers, but I'm sure they have their bad days as well.
As for the assembly error that caused this recall - it's surly a bad thing, but I can assure you building such a complex product with no errors is not a simple task.
One of my many nightmares as an industrial engineer is after shipping a few thousand machines to every corner of the world we find some assembler at some subcontractor failed to properly crimp a critical wire in a hidden location on some connector, and we begin to see failures, over-heating and fires. We do our best to prevent this (design for manufacture, setting standards, carefully chosing vendors, vendor audits, ISO-9000, QS-9000, product testing and a lot more besides,) but these things still happen.
Ford is not forced by anybody to choose its suppliers. As a result of the bidding wars some of them offer a very attractive prices without an
ability to crank up production in the case the car beats the projected volume.
The parts shortage will continue, no question.
Being a domestic company Ford could do a much better job in that respect.
This time I can see that post #173 evaporated or something.
carlady, what happened with post #173?
Hope it's not a big deal.
companys quality well-built ic insertion products, from universal.
ford could take a few cues from your co.on how to build a quality product.tens of thouands of insertions with minimal servicing. let me
take a guess where it was built.i agree a car is a complex machine,
so what? thats what they pay the big shots to figure out. plan, design,
engineer + build.lets not lose sight,we are talking about a wheel poss-
ibly coming off.how many wheel assemblies has ford performed? its not
that complex. its poor inspection and quality control. perhaps the robot
didnt have its morning coffee. who knows? just as silver bullet pointed
out in an earlier post,ford talks the talk,lets see some positive action.also,again anothers failures has nothing at all to do with recall of
the focus. all you are doing here is offering more excuses.the demand
should be for a reasonably safe mode of transportation.im in the parts
distribution business,i hear the excuses all day long. thats all they are
excuses for doing a lousy job. the fact of the matter is you be shocked to
know where some parts are sourced from and the quality of same. it is
a damm shame.i stand corrected, they didnt ever care or there wouldnt
be this current situation.
I'm not trying to make excuses, only stating that it's not as simple as people not in the mfg business might think.
Ford in fact has just forced my company to move from ISO-9000 certification (an international quality standard) to QS-9000 (similar to ISO-9000 but tailored to the auto industry) so we can sell to Ford's suppliers. Having gone through the exercize I'm not quite sure how this additional bureaucratic stuff would have prevented the kind of error made in the latest screwup.
It seems quality programs are leaning more towards procedures, standards, and paper shuffling and less to inspection and test these days. As long as my processes have the correct revision levels and dates printed on them, the auditors are happy and we get certified. The actual process could produce garbage and no one would notice - until problem occured down the road.
and quality control always leads to more problems.
i dont blame the worker,it always goes back to
mgmt.they call the shots the good and the bad.
Yea, I'm a little bummed that my car was affected, but at least they fixed it for free now and not down the road when it's my responsibility.
I'm sorry some of you feel down on Ford but every company gets knocked around from time to time. Don't get on me about it, it's just my opinion. I feel good that they let me know of the recall.
Drive safely and have a ggod week-end all!
My car was built in December 99. So it was one of the earlier ones. My brother's is probably around March and he doesn't have the remote locks so I can't compare.
If you can wait a year, wait. Thanks again for the update.
What are you talking about?
The five door hatch has additional 2 doors.
That's all.
Everything else is THE SAME as in the ZX3.
Are you gonna have people in the back seat a LOT, or not. If you are, you will sure appreciate those extra doors. You will also pay more for them. I'm personally with the above two guys on this one, I think the two door is the "proper" configuration for the shape. But then, I have no kids, and the back is usually folded down, and containing my dog. I just wish I could vent the back windows open so he wouldn't hang over my shoulder and put nose prints and dog snot on my window.
carlady/host
Maybe it's just me.
And jwkessler1, you are so right about ISP and your QS. Just a gimmick by some consuliant that costs the company more money. Somebody sold the boss a bill of goods in other words. I thought the computer age was suppose to save paperwork, but I can't believe the paperwork today and the extra people required to take care of it.
-If any of the recalls mentioned in previous posts has carried on to later models?
-Do any of those problems, like the tire, gas gauge, starter, and so on, still occure on later 2000's and/or 2001's?
-Is there still the water leaking problem on 01's?
-How about the a/c problem?
Can anyone please help me on this issue? I really would like to know if would would get a good car buying a Focus. All input would help me a lot. And does anyone know where i can get info on car recalls/complaints on the internet?
THANX
-If any of the recalls mentioned in previous posts has carried on to later models?
-Do any of those problems, like the tire, gas gauge, starter, and so on, still occure on later 2000's and/or 2001's?
-Is there still the water leaking problem on 01's?
-How about the a/c problem?
Can anyone please help me on this issue? I really would like to know if would would get a good car buying a Focus. All input would help me a lot. And does anyone know where i can get info on car recalls/complaints on the internet?
THANX
Do your homework and test drive the cars that appeal to you, ask questiions and then narrow down your search and re-test drive the cars you liked the best. Keep in mind that there are few cars that are not affected by a recall or two or three etc. Recalls are not bad news all the time and it depends on how you look at it. A recall is simply telling you that there have been enough reports of a particular problemn that there is concern enough to warrant a new part, replacement part etc.
I have owned and driven many cars over the years, some I have loved and some I deeply regretted buying. Some luxury and some economy. The focus is a fun car to drive,with features above many economy cars and below many luxury cars. In my opinion it handles very much like a sport car, with the addition of having a very euro style, is roomy and comfortable. Gas mileage is fair to good, which I mean to say, takes time to get to optimal mileage, but mine is 2500 miles and averages 28 city and 34 highway. I don't think that's too shabby.
So the bottom line is your answer depends on you! This message board helped me a great deal in deciding to buy my car.
Jimmy
Dictator for Life
Just thought everyone should see this
loaner and tow of vehicle if i choose.now thats the
way it should be.however,parts are not in stock.
no surprise there.im on my way.
nd- i agree with your above assessment.
carlady/host
and the puppy, well - BAD PUPPY!
I need one as I got my recall notice today. Sigh!
Also, don't feel too bad about all the scratches on my car from kids and their damm scooters.
BAD KIDS!! :>)