Palmateer

According to Bloomberg news, Ford could have prevented so many Explorer casualties if it would just spend a few dollars per vehicle.

In 1993, Ford engineers James Cheng and Jessy Li advised the company to reinforce Explorer roof supports to prevent collapses in rollovers, company records show. Ford didn't make changes because the U.S. government didn't require any, Ford engineering supervisor Christopher Brewer said in a 2003 deposition.

In 1999, Ford engineers in Venezuela warned that Explorers were rolling over and had caused at least nine deaths because of flaws in the suspension. Three years earlier, Ford engineers had said in writing that the deficiency could be solved by moving the shock absorbers toward the wheels. Ford didn't make the change.

Apparently, Ford learned nothing from the infamous Pinto exploding fuel tank episodes of a few decades ago.

Some visitors to this forum have gotten upset to see anti-Ford information here, but the truth is that the Detroit makers have a far worse safety record than the Japanese and German makers.

aklucsarits

Any Explorer owner with an ounce of common sense would understand the rollover risks associated with a 2 ton truck with a high center of gravity.

Ford's trucks met or exceeded all NHTSA standards.

I don't understand what the issue is.

Andrew

rockville

1. There are literally thousands of "if we had just spent a few more dollars" type examples in the auto industry. 99% of the time, they didn't need to. It is very nieve/trial lawyer logic to second guess one without taking into account all factors. For example, perhaps the extra bracing in the roof would have made the car MORE likely to roll over.

2. The Pinto problem was a MYTH!!!! It never happened. In hind sight and now that most Pinto's have been retired it's been shown that they were no more likely to catch fire than any other car of the era. The "Smoking Gun" memo didn't exist either.
Check this out...
http://www.car-forums.com/talk/showthread....9&mode=threaded

WireGuy

Not to beat up on Ford but, any automaker who could knowingly put a car into production whos front seat belts don't work like on the Topaz is one I give to!

esracer

I agree that Ford doesn't make the best vehicles down the road, but when I travel on the highway I see those explorers, trucks, and big SUV's traveling at 80+ mph, when this is usually the case i don't have any sympathy when they roll over. People need to understand what their car can do and what will happen when they travel too fast. And another thing most of the wrecks that deaths happen, not always but most of the time associated with not wearing seatbelts. The other thing about the tire issue, I know there was a recall on the tires, but I also know the average driver will go out on a long road trip never inspecting their car before they go, tire pressure, oil, etc. I'm sure some of them not all were just as responsible for their wrecks whether it be tires not being inflated or speeding, or both. I never drive my mom's Nissan Xterra like I do my s2k, people need to follow the same route, If you want to drive a sporty car then get one, don't believe your SUV can do what all sporty cars or even normal cars can do. that's my .02

S2020

I'm offended that you guys try to promote personal responsibility. I'd rather blame someone else if things go wrong.

Scot

Didn't most of the rollovers happen to vehicles with nearly bald tires and excessive speed (which creates heat) and in the south in the blazing hot sun?

if you drive a bald tire at 80mph in the hot texas sun for an hour, not shit...it will blow up..... throw in 8 people and over weigh the damned thing and you have even more heat on the tires........

I would point fingers at everyone but the operator on that one!

aklucsarits

It's no different than that big huff like 7 years ago with the full-size, 15 passenger Ford Club Wagon vans. There were like 3 cases where the vans, full of 15 passengers, made abrupt, emergency manuvers at highway speeds and flipped over, injuring and even killing people. People blamed Ford for not designing the van properly and several multi-million dollar lawsuits were filed against Ford. As if that's supposedly Ford's fault that some idiot driver miscalculated and tried to do an emergency lane change at 75mph with 3000lbs of passengers in back...

Well guess what? It's a 5000lb van with a high center of gravity, and you've got 3000+ aditional lbs of people in back doing 75mph. It's NEVER going to handle an emergency manuver well at that speed, no matter what design changes you make to the van.

Andrew

esracer

^^^^
Yep so true

S2kRob

Well, unfortunately I own an Explorer V8. It's a hand me down, and I do want to replace it soon, but I do have to say, despite all of its numerous flaws, it's never demonstrated a tendency to roll or tip through corners, and I have pushed it pretty hard - it just tends to start understeering like the pig that it is.

Look, Ford built this thing on the cheap, there is no doubt about it, and they made a ton of money off each one they sold. The engineering leaves something to be desired, absolutely, but it has been reliable and we don't care that much about it anymore - it's the work truck in the family.

It's the dealer experience and the related absurdly expensive servicing costs that have pushed our family - long time Ford owners, to never buy another.