Built Ford Tough – NOT

One of the famous sayings by the Ford Motor Company is “Built Ford Tough.” A new campaign is “Drive the Future of Tough.”

Unfortunately, my experience with one of the recent models has been anything but “Ford Tough.” If anything, my experience has been Ford Wimpy. I am most definitely a disgruntled customer who has no reasonable solution. Why do I say that?

Well, in 2013, I bought a Ford C-max Hybrid for two reasons. One, I needed a high mileage car and, two, as a good American, I wanted to buy American. I wanted my money to stay in this country and not go overseas. Sadly, I recently found out that I was deceived. I found it out in two ways.

Over the last three years, I have put 140,000 miles on the car, both to go to work, and in the service of Our Lord, by being a supply priest at various parishes around the diocese. I have previously driven cars that have gone over 200,000 miles, so the thought of going over 140,000 miles with a car did not bother me. In fact, I assumed that this was not a problem. After all, I had prior experience in this area. But, the transmission in the Ford C-max literally blew apart while I was driving on the way to a Sunday morning Divine Liturgy. Frankly, my initial reaction was that “well, no mechanical piece of equipment lasts forever.” But, then I expected that this would be a simple problem of taking the car to a dealer and replacing the transmission. I was so wrong.

My first broken illusion was that this was a simply transmission replacement. No, it was not. You see, the local dealership suggested that I needed to replace the clutch at the same time that I replaced the transmission. Well, this made sense to me. So, I said to go ahead. No phone call came, and no phone call came. So, I called the dealer. And, then I found out that there was NO clutch for the Ford C-Max in the USA. It turns out that the part is made overseas. And, as of today, I was told that the clutch would not arrive in the USA until the middle of next month. So, I just simply said to put the car back together. And, then I got to hear a talk about how the clutch should be replaced at the same time. I persevered and the car will be available next week. But, this leaves me wondering, and having several thoughts, as well as agreeing strongly with both Bernie and Trump.

How could previous Presidents and Congresses be so short-sighted as to buy into the argument that it was a good free market idea to let our industries go to other countries? Worse, how can a quintessentially American car like a Ford now essentially be a foreign car? When did we sell our inheritance to a bunch of rich entrepreneurs for a mess of pottage? And, when did we come to believe that this would somehow result in the betterment of our economy? When did our version of quality change to mean that if a transmission blows up after 140,000 miles this is considered OK? I can see why both Bernie and Trump are getting a lot of votes.

Finally, my experience shows that Ford Tough is not true. And, it shows that I was not really buying American. If there are no clutches for a C-max in the entire USA, how then can this be called buying American? I feel somewhat deceived. I want to buy American, but am finding out that this is impossible if I buy a Ford product. Frankly, I now know that this is true for any other supposedly American car. But, what I most regret my experience is finding out that the quality of a Ford car has decayed so much.

So, I guess that my final counsel is to beware of buying Ford. Oh, not because it has some foreign part, but rather because Ford Tough is nowhere near a reality. And, this has an unfortunate consequence. My final bill is over $7,000. Yes, this is an incredible price. I know that a transmission is expensive. It was expensive even when I was young. But, to have a transmission last barely 140,000 miles, then to have an unavailable clutch, then to have an incredibly high bill, is to say that I have decided that I can no longer support buying cars from the Ford Motor Company. Sadly, an American company has decayed into a low-quality company, closer to a Third World approach to quality, than the American companies who built a great country. At this point, I would simply recommend buying from the company which gives you the best balance between price and quality. Whether this is American or not, does not appear to matter anymore. It appears that American companies are not fully American. It appears that foreign companies are no longer fully foreign. So, buy the mixture that is best for you.

And, oh yes, forget about Ford Tough. There is no reality behind that claim.