Being brutally frank

01 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

“If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” These were the words of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. These words have inspired this week’s brutally frank article on the much-hyped Ford Ranger T6.

This column is not all about singing praises about every automobile that comes our way, it is about being honest in reviewing vehicles on our market.

It is exactly two years and a month since the Ford Ranger T6 truck was first launched in Zimbabwe and exactly two years seven months since the Ford Ranger T6 was unveiled at the Johannesburg International Motor Show in NASREC.
In Zimbabwe, the Ranger T6 was launched at the Dulys stand in Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

There were a lot of reviews on the Ford Ranger T6 and when it hit the market, Toyota Zimbabwe indeed felt the heat as sales of the vehicle leapfroged Toyota’s Hilux, the dismally performing (in terms of sales) VW Amarok, and the pathetically looking new Mazda BT-50.

You can’t take away the fact that the T6 has been a hot seller, but a lot still needs to be done if Ford is to consolidate its market dominance.
This week I am not writing about a car that I have just test driven for a day or a week but a car that I have had since its launch in 2012.
It is one thing to launch a new product onto the market and it is quite another altogether to have systems in place to support the launched product.

This is something that Ford and its dealerships will have to learn soon before it is too late. I am referring to the after-sales support and back-up spares of the vehicle that would have been unveiled to the market.

It seems this is a problem that has affected most of customers that have taken delivery of this vehicle.
The beauty of technology, the internet in particular, is that the truth is now a click away: You can now Google “Ford Ranger T6 problems” and confirm what I am writing about.

Well, for me, receiving a phone call from a local dealership asking me “Do you still have your Ford Ranger T6? How is your vehicle, sir?”, a year after buying the vehicle, was typically the “joke” of the week.

Too late to try and build a relationship with a customer, don’t you think?
Yes, we cannot take anything away from Craig Metros, the chief designer of the Ford Ranger T6, for the stunning design he and his team came up with.

The T6 presented a paradigm shift for Ford given that it was built on the Ford F150 platform.
Surely, it would be unfair to deny Ford the accolade of raising the bar in the compact truck segment.
In terms of design, it is one of the most outstanding cars on the local market and, equally, its weaknesses and problems are outstanding as well.

There are only two local dealerships for the T6 in Zimbabwe — Dulys and Croco Motors — and I can say their after-sales support and spares back-up is arguably the worst in the market.

In this dynamic automotive industry — whether one likes it or not — the value of after-sales support and a reliable spares back-up cannot be underestimated.

Today, after-sales support continues to be a very critical business tool for both customers and car manufacturers.
Every customer has an expectation of a dependable local after-sales support service and a reliable spares back-up for whatever brand of vehicle they purchase.

In the same vein, all auto manufacturers rely on customer satisfaction to continue pushing sales.
Without a good after-sales support service and reliable and affordable spares back up, a product can be difficult to sell, no matter how much you advertise it. Truth be told, we were quick to launch a vehicle that we had not had sufficient training on and we also flooded the market with the same, expecting to learn its problems as we go.

The “Built Ford Tough” marketing line for the Ranger T6 will just be an empty phrase if Ford does not strengthen some weaknesses associated with their product.

The plastic side covers on the front seats easily break, and the local dealerships cannot properly secure them back, including the fuel tank cap.

Air vents also easily break and problems relating to the climate control, particularly for the Limited Edition, which has a dual climate control, seem to be something that local dealerships cannot fix.

If the air-conditioner is on, the air vents emit cold and hot air from either side.
Market rumours suggest that Ford has been looking into how best to solve the problem, but three months down the line, there is still no solution in sight.

Technical failure of the vacuum pump, which results in the vehicle failing to stop when brakes are applied, is of concern for such a new car on the market; this is something to note particularly for the diesel engine-powered Ranger T6.

This is one car that you must never ever crash, not even the slightest frontal impact.
Once the airbag pops out, that is the end of the Ranger T6. Ford cannot replace the SAS (Sophisticated Airbag Sensor) module and reprogramme it.

Explanations from the local dealership is that it’s a safety issue by Ford, such that the particular vehicle is not to be driven but replaced. You can have the T6 repaired but without the SAS module, and in the event of any impact, no airbags will deploy.
In short, drive at your own peril!

The purpose of the SAS module is to detect the degree of impact in a vehicle with the aid of the crash sensors in the crash zone. This often results in the deployment of airbags within a fraction of a millisecond to save lives. At a time when other car manufacturers are working hard to improve the safety of occupants, failure to reprogramme and configure a brand new SAS module is a case of Ford shooting itself in the foot.

Other car manufacturers can. It is really not necessary that in any crash a car must be replaced, unless it is a write-off. Local dealerships have been relying heavily on Ford technicians from South Africa and they, too, have not been equally useful or knowledgeable on how to solve the problem.

Without a SAS module, some of the problems you will definitely expect to find with the Ford Ranger T6 are that any electrical fault will no longer be reported to the instrument cluster.

This includes dysfunctional bulbs. Also, the cruise control function of the vehicle will automatically become dysfunctional.
In addition, issues of warranty on parts is proving to be Ford’s major headache. Time is of the essence in every business and the delay by Ford in responding to issues is something that any would-be owner of this truck has to bear in mind.

Why hasn’t Ford made any recall for the Ranger T6? Does it mean that they got it 100 percent correct with the Ranger T6? I disagree.
Ford is being dishonest if it thinks its new Ranger T6 has no flaws.

Look, the truck was indeed a paradigm shift from the usual, and with new technologies like ESOF (Electronic Shift on the Fly), where you can engage the vehicle into 4×4 mode at a maximum speed of 120 kilometres per hour without stopping the vehicle, Ford raised the bar, but that doesn’t make it flawless.

CNN (Cable News Network (CNN)) reported a fortnight ago that 13,6 million vehicles were being recalled by General Motors. The American car manufacturer was also fined US$35 million by regulatory authorities for not recalling 2,6 million vehicles with a faulty ignition switch early.

Funny enough, recalls only happen in Europe and down here in Africa, you never hear of any recall.
Does this mean that issues raised by customers down here don’t get to the parent company, or it’s a mindset that its “just” Africa, why spend money on a recall?

In conclusion, Ford has to relook at the Ranger T6 and commit itself to dealing with problems that motorists are raising through the dealerships. For now, my honest verdict is that Ford should really put its house in order.

They need to match the standards of other options like the Toyota Hilux (back to basics), Nissan Navara and the Isuzu.
Surely, respected icon, Sir Henry Ford must be turning in his grave and cursing the day he built the first Ford automobile, what is happening with the Ranger T6 is not what he dreamt of when he built his first car.

Last week, Toyota was named the world’s most valuable automotive brand in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Report.
It is the seventh time in nine years that Toyota has been crowned automotive brand value leader in the BrandZ Report.

Reports are that Toyota came 26th overall. Second and third places in the automotive industry were taken by luxury German marques BMW, which came 32nd; and Mercedes-Benz, which came 42nd, while Honda, Ford and Nissanwere listed in the top 100.
Food for thought for Ford.

Till next time, pleasant driving.

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