Ford's new Aviator and Explorer are in rough shape - major issues, production delays, etc.

...including the really bad luck of having the second Lincoln model to break down on Consumer Reports testers in just a couple of years.

quote:

---

Some Lincoln Aviator owners battle serious problems with luxury SUV

Detroit Free Press

With just 1,899 Lincoln Aviator luxury SUVs sold since their debut in August, some owners report problems ranging from the emergency brake unexpectedly taking hold while they are driving to passenger-assist alarms going off randomly and a dashboard screen that scrambles information.

“When you get in, the speedometer and tachometer kind of goes berserk,” said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports. “While driving, all of a sudden the digital gauge cluster seems to be having huge problems. For the first couple of miles, it’s hard to see what you’re doing.”

Consumer Reports spent $63,420 to purchase the vehicle for testing and took delivery on Sept. 9.

---

quote:

---

The high-profile SUV already has been the focus of two recalls in August, one related to “unintended vehicle movement” while parked; the other involving seats that "may not adequately restrain an occupant in a crash." In addition, consumer safely alerts from the company noted, vehicles may have instrument clusters that disable warning alerts and fail to display gear positions — drive, reverse, park, neutral. Federal safety regulations require gear positions to be displayed when a vehicle is not in park.

Ford Motor Co. confirmed this week that Aviators are being shipped from the Chicago Assembly Plant directly to dealers now, though the company acknowledged that a number of Aviators shipped 270 miles by truck to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant remain there for post-production troubleshooting.

An estimated 1,500 vehicles — 2020 Lincoln Aviator, 2020 Ford Explorer and Ford Police Interceptor — remained at or near the plant south of Detroit for quality review in recent days, sources close to the situation told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday. “The Aviators and police (vehicles) were tagged as ‘high priority’ back in mid-July, although there are still quite a few of those Lincolns,” one person on site said.

---

quote:

---

A Facebook page for Aviator owners talks of challenges and offers encouragement.

“The transmission slipped into neutral when we were coasting up to a red light. When the light turned green, the engine just revved like the engine wasn’t in gear,” said a post from an owner identified as Richard Raz. “The infotainment system has a lot of bugs. The main screen has blacked out twice …”

Aviator owner Malcolm Hogan responded, “Hate to hear all these issues. They will get it addressed. Trust me, they are counting on this car to do well. They will be contacting the engineers and such. Ford is paying attention. They are not letting this go lightly.”

Hogan, 40, of Jacksonville, Florida, is a software business owner who purchased his Aviator Black Label for $80,000. He told the Free Press he has no official tie to Ford other than driving press cars to do freelance auto reviews.

He told the Free Press his Aviator steering wheel was off-center, a speaker grille on the ceiling had a clip that failed to snap into place and “it looked as if the windshield was replaced at the factory after production as the rain sensor and the windshield camera system did not work properly, which controlled other (features) on the car like the auto-high beams, lane-keep assist and road preview feature.”

---

quote:

---

all new cars can have bugs but Ford is known for introducing a whole bunch of new technology all at once, so if things go wrong the issues cascade. Toyota, for example, eases new features into products over time. “For Ford and Lincoln, these are complete redesigns, big large changes. And Ford tends to struggle on new technology in ways that Toyota and others do not. When you put a lot of new things into a vehicle all at once, it’s a recipe for problems.”

Consumer Reports, with a database of more than half a million consumer vehicles, tests and monitors more vehicles than any other entity. Its 2017 Lincoln Continental purchased for $57,761 overheated on the way back from the dealership in October 2016.

---

I was really rooting for Lincoln with their new Aviator. We actually test drove one recently and really liked it. Looks like they are shitting the bed pretty badly on the product durability front lately though.

We've come a long way from the simple old 4.6L V8 powered Town Cars apparently.

They are building these things in Chicago, then trucking a bunch of them to a Detroit-area facility to fix all the quality problems they are finding.