Thread for people who haven’t got their Lightning yet to be grumpy in

[PV2EV]

As another Wave 2'er with production 5/6(scheduled week of 5/2), I think something really got FUBAR'd on the early runs. Bad enough to where radio silence is preferable to the negative press it would have generated for Ford. The only other plausible explanation I can think up is total ineptness, which I find hard to believe for a company that has been doing this for over 100 years

Unfortunately, it's starting to seem clear, at least to me, that this mess is not going to be resolved anytime soon. Also, its pretty clear at this point that the lack of communication is a "strategic" decision by Ford.

I think a problem with the most marketed feature, the Mega Power Frunk would be very embarrassing. They may have had to redesign a part, then swap it onto the assembly line, then go through the process or replacing it on the parked trucks.

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[EVTruckGuy]

Flasher Z here is your quote: And the customer updates actually hurt the process, because if you communicate a "build week" to the customer, they're going to formulate some sort of delivery date expectations.

Ford communicated a build week of May 9th and a Blend date of May 12th and then 55 days elapses. I certainly don't need hourly updates, but 55 days and no explanation is ridiculous. This is not the first rodeo for Ford and Farley openly admitted that they had all the batteries, chips etc., to build the first 15,000 Lightnings. So lets say my truck is missing one micro-chip. Does that mean that Ford will keep building new Lightnings while my truck and many others sit stagnant in a remote parking lot ? None of this crap makes any sense and I am not going to sit back and wait without a fight. Fair is fair and this is total bullshit.

Well... Let's take a bird's eye view of the situation for a moment. Nothing about this is fair to anyone. You are still way better off than the people who reserved as soon as the website opened up well over a year ago and never got an invite to order.

Most people who were invited to place an order got lucky due to meeting certain criteria not known publicly when reservations started.

If you were able to order, you benefited from some combination of living in a ZEV state, getting prioritized by a dealer, and selecting the right dealer when pacing your reservation. You basically won the Lightning lottery.

If you really want delivery timing to be based on fairness, why do you deserve your truck any earlier than all the other people who reserved immediately on day 1 and are still waiting for the chance to order?

 

[TaxmanHog]

Does that mean that Ford will keep building new Lightnings while my truck and many others sit stagnant in a remote parking lot ? None of this crap makes any sense and I am not going to sit back and wait without a fight. Fair is fair and this is total bullshit.

I agree with others explanations noted after your comment and prior to mine, but there is one thing Ford could do better!

I suggest work on the oldest held production as soon as the available resources to perfect that build are available, if the unit requires multi-items and technical attention, then it might get bypassed for the next truck in line which needs fewer perfections to reach a BUILT & SHIPPED status.

Working it that way makes it clear to those who are waiting an orderly recovery sequence is possible and I'll begrudgingly wait my time in the diversion line, while at the same time expeditious new build flow unimpeded as well and just in time these old and new trucks are held for transportation scheduling and dispatch.

Being able to see granular level production details is awesome, but painful as I watch less efficient recovery methods play out.

 

[FlasherZ]

I think a problem with the most marketed feature, the Mega Power Frunk would be very embarrassing. They may have had to redesign a part, then swap it onto the assembly line, then go through the process or replacing it on the parked trucks.

This happened on Model X with Tesla. We got the very first Model X delivered in the St. Louis area. Within 3 weeks of our vehicle's production, there were pretty serious falcon wing door latch problems, and the through-the-skin ultrasonic sensors were popping loose inside the doors, creating parking assist and door open problems.

For those already shipped, Tesla had to coordinate fixes through the service centers. For those already produced but not shipped, they had to choose: hold and retrofit before shipping, or ship and correct later. For the most part, I think Tesla chose to ship and correct later... but if it were a serious safety show-stopper, like being unable to get your stuff out of the frunk, it very well could have been a key decision to park-and-retrofit before shipment. TPMS is the same way - could be considered a serious safety issue - and therefore retrofit before ship is critical.

But the very first thing they did was fix the running line to keep it moving right along. I think ours got fixed about a month later as part of a service visit.

 

[PV2EV]

This happened on Model X with Tesla. We got the very first Model X delivered in the St. Louis area. Within 3 weeks of our vehicle's production, there were pretty serious falcon wing door latch problems, and the through-the-skin ultrasonic sensors were popping loose inside the doors, creating parking assist and door open problems.

For those already shipped, Tesla had to coordinate fixes through the service centers. For those already produced but not shipped, they had to choose: hold and retrofit before shipping, or ship and correct later. For the most part, I think Tesla chose to ship and correct later... but if it were a serious safety show-stopper, like being unable to get your stuff out of the frunk, it very well could have been a key decision to park-and-retrofit before shipment. TPMS is the same way - could be considered a serious safety issue - and therefore retrofit before ship is critical.

But the very first thing they did was fix the running line to keep it moving right along. I think ours got fixed about a month later as part of a service visit.

Ship and correct later is a major reason why I don't own a Tesla. They treat the car like a software release, which when you are 100 miles from the service center, or only have one car, would suck.

The opposite is why I am buying a Ford, so I am okay with their approach. That said, I have not been watching my built truck sit...

 

[Labs4Lightning]

I've made mention of this in other threads, this is new product manufacturing; not just Ford. In fact, my own experience with Tesla 10 years ago was the same way. No timing promised, I got an unannounced e-mail early in 2012 asking me to configure the car for production later that year. Tesla launched the Model S to first customers in June 2012, I was part of the first 1,000 (and had paid a $40k deposit to be there). In August, I was on vacation when I got an e-mail that my car was being produced and that I needed to finalize paperwork - I updated it and signed the agreement that day... and then back to more waiting. Long story short, August led to September led to October, and suddenly people outside the first 1,000 were getting their cars before mine (evil peasants!!). It was frustrating, and you can probably find my complaint posts on the Tesla forums to this day if you dig far back enough. October led to November, when I complained to the President of the company via e-mail, and finally heard back. I learned that my car had failed a critical production quality test and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Eventually it was delivered end of November, 2012.

It was, unfortunately, the cost of being one of the very first - bugs are worked out during that phase and, while it sucks, none of us were promised a specific delivery date other than sometime during MY'22 when we placed our orders.

Manufacturing is an internal process. It's only been in the past 15 years that we've all grown accustomed to instant information available from formerly invisible processes. Now customers want hourly updates from assembly lines, powered by the computer systems that track all of it. Most manufacturing executives care about getting the build process right and the quality into the finished product, and updating the end customer on status falls much lower on their priority list. And the customer updates actually hurt the process, because if you communicate a "build week" to the customer, they're going to formulate some sort of delivery date expectations. In reality, all of us who have ordered are all going to get a MY'22 Ford F-150 Lightning (and some may be blessed by having an early MY'23, but we don't know that yet).

Having been through that before, I'm with you. I know your anxiousness, your desire to have the truck in your driveway. You can taste it, it's soooo close. And it'll be worth it when it does arrive. In the meantime, hang on! It'll be worth it!

I hear a lot of what you are saying.
and will accept a lot of that.

Ford from a mnfg side, is well experienced at introducing new vehicles and assembly. Tesla had a lot of new mnfg processes as well as new to the industry. Only recently paint quality has been improving and still have some issue with body panel spacing.

I’m not ignoring some areas are new to Ford. But as a member of the small group left unshipped from the early build weeks. We feel forgotten, and as a customer experience left behind. Poor communication only adds to the disappointment. 73 days since blend, 91 miles on odometer and now a missed eta window.

i’m a ford fan. Have factory ordered from Ford before 2000. Owned since 2000(new) explorer, expedition, ranger, f150, fusion, explorer, f150.
I want ford to succeed.

a company that knows all the serial numbers of parts in my truck. But can’t give a good faith answer to status. Recites VVR, and ask to contact dealer for more info, who can only provide VVR. It’s a bummer.

 

[cag]

Is there any chance my trucks gps says its in lot #3 but its actully in transit?

My trucks been showing here for past 3 days

 

[smax64]

Moved again, maybe they are hitting up Roush for some upgrades Now up to 40 mi on the odometer:

@Rekoil this is where they put my flux capacitor in and moved me to taylor, mi after 3 days

 

[Griddlez]

Is there any chance my trucks gps says its in lot #3 but its actully in transit?

My trucks been showing here for past 3 days

Does it show the last time it communicated with your truck? Last update per ford pass or per the map? If it lost communication.. maybe it's in a truck carrier and can't see the sky to communicate out.

 

[cag]

Does it show the last time it communicated with your truck? Last update per ford pass or per the map? If it lost communication.. maybe it's in a truck carrier and can't see the sky to communicate out.

If I recall correctly, it only updates location when the vehicle is on. Doesn't ping again until its turned on again.

 

[Griddlez]

If I recall correctly, it only updates location when the vehicle is on. Doesn't ping again until its turned on again.

Right - I was wondering if it's been off all this time or if it's in a back of a truck (just like you). Some folks have been brave enough to wake up their cars but using some of the ford pass commands. When it does that I believe it'll report back its latest location (if it can communicate).

 

[Rekoil]

Right - I was wondering if it's been off all this time or if it's in a back of a truck (just like you). Some folks have been brave enough to wake up their cars but using some of the ford pass commands. When it does that I believe it'll report back its latest location (if it can communicate).

you can lock/unlock the doors and the truck will wake up... then you can pull down (from the top) in the app to refresh. Sometimes you may need to bounce from "map" to "home" to "vehicle" tabs in the app to get it to update.

 

[Pioneer74]

Moved again, maybe they are hitting up Roush for some upgrades Now up to 40 mi on the odometer:

Roush has been used in the past for repair work on completed units. They fixed some of the P702 trucks at launch and did a lot of work on Explorer when they were shipping them to Flat Rock directly from Chicago before they were going to dealers.

 

[Rekoil]

Thanks for the info @Pioneer74 . When you say repair work, are you referring to damage, fixes, both maybe?

 

[FlasherZ]

Ship and correct later is a major reason why I don't own a Tesla. They treat the car like a software release, which when you are 100 miles from the service center, or only have one car, would suck.

The opposite is why I am buying a Ford, so I am okay with their approach. That said, I have not been watching my built truck sit...

For what it's worth, I do live about 65 miles from the service center. But back then, if they couldn't do the work in my machine shop, they would bring a loaner on a trailer and swap vehicles at my home. When finished, they'd bring my car back and swap the loaner out. They don't do that anymore, but I will say that my local service center has been very responsive in helping me given the distance.

(Before the St. Louis service center existed, Tesla put a service tech on a plane to correct a few items on my newly-delivered Model S in my shop. He had enough extra time to help change a couple of suspension items on my mom's '91 Mustang GT, stored in my shop, before flying back to CA. I've been pleased with their service, although I know that others aren't.)

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