Tim,

If Ford is making hardware changes that require incompatible versions of the firmware, they will quickly create a maintenance nightmare for their owners and themselves. I have owned three Fords in my life:

1 - a 1966 Mustang which due to design problems, known by Ford during development, caused me not to buy another Ford product for 25 years.

2 - a 1991 Ford Probe (75% built by Mazda in a Mazda factory). It's only major Ford component was the automatic transmission - expected mean time to failure 60,000 miles, problems known by Ford and ignored to be the owner's problems.

3 - a 1994 Ford Probe (95% Mazda - manual transmission). A great car that was replaced by my 2004 Prius.

I really need another car to replace my wife's 1997 Subaru Outback at 199,000 miles and the FEH would be perfect if it were not made by Ford. I will have to wait for Toyota, Honda, Subaru or one of the other quality concious manufacturers to make a small, high MPG hybrid crossover SUV (or station wagon).

Sorry for the rant.

JeffD

 

As I recall there is a recall on the Prius right now... so no manufacturer is really perfect. Cars are pretty complex beasts...

 

Jeff,

While I appreciate the advice, all of it is stuff that has been covered ad nauseum in this forum. Do a search on here regarding the use of low gear and you will see the discussions that have taken place on here about that. Here on the Ford board we have the use of "L" down to a science. It started here:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...light=low+gear

and continues to this day.

As to whether the '05 can take the '06 programming, at least one member here has had his '05 reflashed with the '06 program. The dealer told me they are the same program but that isn't true. They behave differently. If they are identical, she should have no problem with reflashing my '05 with the '06 program.

Yeah, the '66 Mustang was a real POS. To most non-Ford bashers it is considered a classic.

Like I said, I appreciate the advice but none of it is new. I've had the '05 for about 20 months now and know it well. I am also a huge fan of the vehicle and regardless of what you think you know about it, it is a well built vehicle. Ford got it right.

Okay, you'll never buy one and you hate Ford. Are you just trolling then? How well would it be received if I went on the Prius board and started slamming Toyota? Probably not too well.

JMO of course - like always.

 

Ray,

Had my two bug filled Fords been recalled to fix their problems, I would still be buying Fords today. I agree that problems in complex products will occur (I'm an engineering professor) and that perfection is unobtainable, but the manufacturer should own up to and repair design defects at their, not our, expense.

JeffD

 

jdenenberg -
Hope you can get the mileage you need out of the Outback....don't know if the Japanese mfrs have plans for the hybrid you desire in the near-term. The FEH is my first[I] domestic vehicle, having repeatedly relied on Japanese mfr quality (and their willingness to fix design flaws) - by owning 83Camry(brakes recall), 85Honda, 88Isuzu(cyl head recall), and 01Acura(trans recall) - (two of those being initial model years).

The Escape model has been a good performer for Ford and the critical hybrid technologies (eCVT, HVBattery) are Japanese manufactured and on extended warranty. So far, my adventure with Ford has been flawless, my FEH is reliable and its complexity never ceases to amaze me. [Remember, posts to these forums usually over-represent owners with vehicles with problems.] I wonder what the 05FEH and 00Prius recall scorecard is?

 

See the thing is... the flash update in question that the person wanted to have on their '05 escape to make it act like the '06 isn't for a failure... it just performs differently. If the car ran poorly, stalled, etc., then Ford should own up to their issue and have a flash for the '05 (if indeed it isn't compatible with the '06). So I don't see why you brought up all the "Ford should fix their mistakes stuff."

You don't like Ford, okay you are entitled to your opinion. All the US manufacturers had some serious quality issues in the 80's and 90's that they have paid for and are still paying for. However the quality of the US manufacturers has improved a great deal since then.

I've just finished driving a Ford ZX2 that I got 150,000 miles on (thats on a cheap little $13000 car). It NEVER had a repair other than scheduled repairs. It still ran perfectly, had absolutely no rust and the paint was as good as new (minus stone pecks). I traded it in on my Escape which has no issues so far through 15,000 either except for a squeaking noise in the back in that Ford is owning up to and having repaired.

I don't see the point of your post other than to vent an opinion against Ford... you're welcome to the opinion... but it really didn't add to the discussion.

 

Hey Pard:

1997 and 1998 Subaru's had significant and widespread engine problems that were design related Subaru never owned up to.

The big one was piston slap because Subaru was trying to save rotating mass in the 2.5L motor. They made the skirts to short. Subaru TSB's said to tell the customers the noise would go away after the car warmed up and was no problem. But interesting that replacement pistons had the earlier longer skirt.

If you read reviews of these years they were notorious for exploding at ~ 80,000 miles, sending pistons and rods through the aluminum block. Uh, that's beyond the warranty period and was considered an owner 'problem'. Owned Subaru's for 425,000 miles, over 17 years. Crummy way to treat such a small market share, never again will a Sub be in my stable.

You know that tick-tick-tick ya hear through the air vent? That's not the solid lifters on that POS DOHC head...that's your pistons banging around in the jug. Warm it up real good and don't let it over rev, all right?

BTW, I had a 1997 GT Wagon, the 2.5L motor had around 125k. We sold it to buy the FEH. Avoided the problem because I always considered Subies as Japans idea of a water cooled VW and babied it like it was one. Always warmed it up, never ran hard.

Oh yeah wanted to add this: Got a '94 F150 that'll turn 200k in a week. Leesssee, replaced the idler pulley - $18 and the alternator - $65. Less that the $265 P&L for the timing belt on the Sub, eh?

Toyota - Why?

Take Care,
Steve
Oregon

 

If you read the J.D. Powers initial quality results, Subaru has CONSISTENTLY been near the bottom of the list - even lower than the Big 3 (although on occasion they did manage to beat Jeep).

And Toyota? Although no one would argue that their overall quality is better than the industry average, many of their individual models are actually worse than the industry average...including all three Scion models.

For reference:
http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...df/2006082.pdf

 

Anyone wanna buy one of those high quality Hummers?

 

I am more interested in the "improved" programming of the '08, and if it can be flashed into an '05-'07 ?

I wonder if Ford, or any car manufacturer for that matter, embraces the concept of software upgrades?