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Global Quality Improvements

  • GQRS 3 Months in Service Quality Report
    • In 2007, "things gone wrong" levels decreased for the third straight year, and Ford quality jumped 11 percent against the industry average of 2 percent, according to RDA Group1.
    • In April 2008, RDA Group released the GQRS showing Ford in a statistical dead heat with Toyota and Honda for initial quality ratings.
  • GQRS Durability Report
    • In the 2007 GQRS Durability study, Ford's long-term durability measure improved by 5 percent and cut in half the gap between Ford vehicles and industry-wide best-in-class vehicles.
    • Warranty spending per unit declined 11 percent from 2006 to 2007 globally.

In the United States:

  • "Things gone wrong" improved by 30 percent between 2002 and 2007, and by 11 percent in 2007 alone.
  • High time in service quality improved 17 percent during the same period.
  • The number of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury safety recalls compared to 2006 increased by 36 percent, while the number of affected units tripled, from 1.7 to over 5.5 million units; however, most of these were part of a supplement to a 2005 recall on vehicle speed control.
  • Warranty spending per vehicle decreased by 11 percent compared to vehicles produced in 2006.
  • Overall customer satisfaction improved by 3 percent to 76 percent in 2007, Ford's highest customer satisfaction level ever.
  • Customer satisfaction with Ford Division sales and service in 2007 has improved by 1 and 11 percentage points respectively since 2002.

In Europe:

  • "Things gone wrong" improved by 23 percent from 2002 to 2007, and improved by 10 percent in 2007 alone to reach its lowest level ever.
  • Warranty spending decreased by 6 percent from 2006.
  • Overall customer satisfaction improved by 1 percent; Volvo showed a decrease of 4 percent from 2006 to 2007.
  • In 2007, sales and service satisfaction improved by 7 and 11 percentage points, respectively, compared to 2001.

In Asia Pacific:

  • Due to changes in quality accounting, our Asia Pacific operations are starting quality tracking data over this year. The region logged 1,565 "things gone wrong" through the end of 2007.
  • Customer satisfaction through the end of 2007 was at 71 percent.
  • Warranty cost per unit increased by 2 percent.

In South America:

  • "Things gone wrong" improved 5 percent over last year through July of 2007 – its lowest level ever. "Things gone wrong" in Brazil and Argentina also beat industry-wide averages.
  • Warranty spending decreased 2 percent from 2006.
  • Customer satisfaction through July of 2007 was up 3 percent from 2006 and was 4 percent higher than the industry average in Argentina.

Owner loyalty

Owner loyalty, a measure of customers disposing of a Ford product and buying a new one, remained the same for Ford in Europe and decreased slightly in North America. However, we did receive high rankings in external assessments of owner loyalty.

  • In the United States, corporate owner loyalty decreased from 43.3 percent in 2006 to 41.8 percent in 2007.
  • Owner loyalty remained the same in Ford of Europe at 50 percent.
  • Ford products led five out of 14 categories in an R.L. Polk & Co. study of owner loyalty on 2006 model year vehicles.
  1. The U.S. Global Quality Research System is a study conducted for Ford Motor Company by RDA Group, a market research and consulting firm based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.