Wait, What? Ford Credits Veteran Engineers Over AI for J.D. Power Initial Quality Win Despite Leading in Recalls

[testerdahl]

Ford topped the 2026 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study for the first time since 2010. According to the automaker, the biggest reason wasn’t artificial intelligence. It was bringing veteran engineers back into the product development process. Ford has spent the last several years making headlines for recalls. That’s what makes this story so surprising. Ford didn’t just improve in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. It finished as the highest-ranked mass-market brand for the first time in 16 years. The F-150, Super Duty and Mustang also earned top honors in their respective segments. So how does an automaker known for […] (read full article...)

 

[Rotten.dalton]

I read that story and it’s summed up as Ford wants to blame AI rather than take responsibility for all their problematic engineering while taking a victory lap for JD Power…which is a nonsensical survey in my opinion. The fact is, other makes may have just gotten worse rather than ford improved. Would have to dig a bit to figure that out.

 

[Dusdaddy]

Ford topped the 2026 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study for the first time since 2010. According to the automaker, the biggest reason wasn’t artificial intelligence. It was bringing veteran engineers back into the product development process. Ford has spent the last several years making headlines for recalls. That’s what makes this story so surprising. Ford didn’t just improve in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. It finished as the highest-ranked mass-market brand for the first time in 16 years. The F-150, Super Duty and Mustang also earned top honors in their respective segments. So how does an automaker known for […] (read full article...)

Lol...Maybe because initial quality is great. Then the following years of ownership time is eaten up with dealer visits for recalls.

 

[testerdahl]

I read that story and it’s summed up as Ford wants to blame AI rather than take responsibility for all their problematic engineering while taking a victory lap for JD Power…which is a nonsensical survey in my opinion. The fact is, other makes may have just gotten worse rather than ford improved. Would have to dig a bit to figure that out.

So, I wasn't going to run the story AT ALL. Then, the story about the AI being at fault came out. Ok, I was interested then. It is pretty wild to throw AI under the bus.

 

[Rotten.dalton]

So, I wasn't going to run the story AT ALL. Then, the story about the AI being at fault came out. Ok, I was interested then. It is pretty wild to throw AI under the bus.

I agree that's the interesting part and I think the perfect scapegoat Ford is looking for with so much cultural popular push back and distain for AI in general. Ford is riding the hate train in an effort to excuse poor engineering. It's taking a victory lap for "seeing the light" and brining humans back. They know that this story will be forgotten years from now when their quality issues persist despite this change. They simply want to gaslight consumers into believing they fixed the quality problem.

Honestly, JD Power's initial quality survey is really useless because we all know that manufacturers have to correct defects and mechanical failures while a vehicle is under warranty. It's more important to measure how a vehicle holds up after 3 years, 5 years, 10 years when the consumer is on the hook for repairs.

There used to be a website that used statistics from dealers on the vehicles they took in on trade and had to fix. it was called the long term quality index and I referenced it regularly because it was cumulative over many years and very informative about cars sold and traded in higher volume. Sadly, last time I checked, the site was gone.