Warranty Costs Show Signs of Ford's Improved Quality

After hitting a stretch about 10 years ago when it was pouring billions and billions of dollars into warrantied vehicle repairs, Ford reports that in the past two years it has cut its warranty costs by $1.2 billion. Overall warranty repair costs for the automaker have fallen by a rather astonishing 50% since 2004.

Reductions like this would be impressive enough, but they’ve come over the same time that Ford’s coverage has ratcheted up from three years/36,000 miles to five years/ 60,000 miles.

Of Ford’s 24 models, 18 have shown year-over-year improvement in terms of warranty repairs. Since 2005, every vehicle has received improved quality marks from consumer groups. Ford now has a solid shot at usurping Japanese companies like Honda and Toyota in quality in the coming years.

Ford credits the improvements to intense scrutiny of the vehicle production process, including introducing computers to collect data during design and engineering developments and bringing in teams to reduce variability in the car-manufacturing process.

Ford Global Warranty Costs Slashed by $1.2B Over Last Two Years (Autoblog)