Paul_C

There are a few initial quality problems with the 2011 being reported on the forums, but the Mustang and Ford in general performed well in 2010. It's nice to also see the continuing trend by American car companies on quality improvements.

Here's a summary article: Highest-Quality Cars Of 2010- Yahoo! Autos Article Page

Full results on the JD Power website here:
2010 Initial Quality Study Results | J.D. Power

2010MustangGT

Thanks, Good to know.

db2797

They myth of Japanese cars being superior in quality has been debunked as proven by the Toyota fiasco. Sure...in the 80's and early 90's, this may have been true. But with the entire modernization of the American manufacturing process, this just isn't true anymore unless Japanese car makers have special magic pills they feed people.

Actually, I think we get a glimpse into how Toyota and others have successfully been continuing to propagate that myth over the last decade. By using gestapo tactics and sweeping every major problem under the rug, and being all secretive, they've been continuing this myth. But now they've been exposed and caught red handed.

To be honest, I would never buy a foreign car again for this reason...zero transparency in these companies which makes me not trust them at all. One thing that is very true about the American car companies is that they are generally very transparent and honest about problems. This is one of the facts that may have actually hurt their sales before this last year. Not anymore though.

Tony Alonso

I am not sure I would make the sweeping generalization that American car companies are "very transparent". Remember the Ford Explorer-Firestone tire recall?

Toyota, in its quest to grow dramatically, made time-cost-quality choices that came back to roost. This is not unlike GM, Ford or Chrysler back in the heyday of the 80s.

Ford has shrunk in size dramatically in the last 3 years. I believe this is part of the reason why there is a focus on quality, in addition to the significant manufacturing and engineering process changes to be more competitive with the Japanese manufacturers.

It's good to see the results of this focus in the Mustang, as we are the direct beneficiaries. Hopefully, the lessons learned will stay in the company culture.

Beargap

Not to try and dig that dead horse back up for long, but since I still own a '97 Explorer bought new and that came with the Firestone tires, I was following this very closely at the time. While the press wanted to create some controversy and try and get Ford to have some blame, the statistics showed their only error was in selecting Firestone for half of their production. Note, all of the blowouts and rollovers occurred with Firestone tires, none with the Goodyear tires that were on half of the production run. Note furter, even with the Firestone tires on half the production, the Ford Explorer had the second fewest rollover fatalities (per vehicle mile) of any SUV. The worst...Toyota. Did you hear of that at the time? The only one better, as I recall, was the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and not by much. The thing was that there were as many Explorers as basically all the other brands put together, so they were a big target. Ford was very open at the time, publishing tons of statistical data that was freely available and communicating with customers. I know I was quite happy that they replaced the Firestones with Michelin LTX tires on mine, which were a huge improvement in erevy way. All the crack news reporting was able to show was that Ford did test to see if the trucks were safe and made changes to assure that before production started. Would it have been better to not test or make changes? Makes one wonder.

=Vic=

BlueSkyVert

I've owned a 2007 Tundra, 2008 Sequoia, and now a 2010 Tundra. Only Toyotas I've ever owned, and they were all exceptional and held amazing resale.

Although I dislike the PAINTED dashboard in all of those vehicles, the cabins were quiet as a church. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for my Mustang, which was already a veritable rattletrap when I bought it new in 2007. The 2010 GT/CS I drove last week had the same top rattle on the passenger side, which was disappointing since the interior is sooooo much nicer than my '07.

So while I know what the statistics say, my *personal* experiences demonstrate that Ford still has a long way to go in terms of the "small stuff". I actually like Ford better as a company. I think that they have learned from their mistakes, and Toyota still needs to do that as someone said above. They sacrificed some of the qualities that made their quality great, and they need to get back to the basics.

Tony Alonso

Vic, thanks for your perspective. It is my recollection that the Ford CEO at the time was not getting ahead of managing the perception of "we really do care" until after some serious public grilling. Also, it is my recollection that people became more aware of SUV rollover propensities because of this, regardless of the manufacturer.

coffeejolts

@BSV- How many miles did you put on each of those Toyotas? You didn't keep them very long, so how can you really judge anything other than resale value?

BlueSkyVert

The 2007 had almost 40,000 in 2 years, Sequoia 20,000 in 1 year, and the 2010 Tundra has 6,500 since March. My 2007 convertible conversely has 6,500 miles since March 2008.

So I am considerably harder on the Toyotas, plus the Tundras were used to haul materials for our Victorian farmhouse. I actually expected them to fare much worse than they did. Again, other people's results may vary.

28.

I've had both and have to say Toyata, in my opinion, did have a tad better quality. What was most notable for me was that most of the stuff you notice was in the smaller details. Last Toyota I owned was a 08 Tundra 5.7L. Quiet on the road and for being a 4x4, also quite comfy. On the same note I bought a 03 Yukon brand new and have it to this day. Can still say I love the dam thing to this day w/o any gripes(knock on wood).. Have also owned Fords and quite honestly I had an explorer that I hated, but also had a Couger that I absolutely loved. V6 and all..

rhans

I have owned plenty of Fords over the years, most recently a Sable. I currently drive a Toyota Corolla. Not particularly impressive to drive but it is by far the most dependable car I have owned, frankly far better than any of my Fords (hopefully the Mustang will be different if it ever comes!). I drive the thing very hard too. It currently has 125,000 miles on it and so far I have replaced the front brakes - that's it. No rattles anywhere whatsover. When I change the oil there is virtually no indication of any leak anywhere.