J.D. Power has the most highly regarded auto research in the country. Its 2023 U.S. Customer Service Index (CSI) Study has just been released. Among truck brands, Ford ranked last, tied with Ram, with a score of 823 on a rating scale from zero to 1,000. (Here are the worst new cars for people and the environment.)
The study had 64,248 respondents and covered models from 2020 to 2022. The rating was based on five yardsticks with different weightings. These comprise the vehicle owner’s service experience. Among them was service quality (32%), service advisor (19%), vehicle pick-up (19%), service facility (15%) and service initiation (15%).
“Nissan (886) ranks highest in satisfaction among truck brands with a score of 886. Chevrolet (851) ranks second and GMC (843) ranks third,” the researchers reported.
Truck quality scores are essential to Ford. The category includes its flagship F-150, the top-selling vehicle in America for four decades. Ford sold 129,373 vehicles in the United States in February. F-Series pickups totaled 45,252, or 35% of the total. No other American car company depends so much on a single model. And Ford’s profitability relies tremendously on the F-Series.
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Ford has a manufacturing quality problem, too. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “At Ford, Quality Is Now Problem No. 1,” laid out the problems Ford has with manufacturing defects. This and poor dealer service have put Ford at a substantial disadvantage to its competition.
The Customer Service Scoreboard gave Ford a “disappointing” quality rating. The analysis showed that Ford has “505 Negative Comments out of 533 Total Comments is 94.75%.”
Ford’s management has at least two hurdles as it faces consumers. The quality of its vehicles is low, and, when it comes to trucks, so is its dealer quality.
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