Zac Quinn 
Ford has been working tirelessly to improve the quality of its products. As of last year, the company had over 8.6 million recalled cars, which was far more than any other manufacturer. But that will hopefully no longer be the case, at least for the 2023 Ford Super Duty, as the truck has finally passed the new Zero Defects test, and production is underway with models already making their way to customers.
2023 Ford Super Duty Zero Defects Test: Details
According to Autoblog, the Zero Defect process was implemented at the Louisville Assembly Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant, both of which build the heavyweight sales champion. In Kentucky, more than 9,000 employees are involved in Super Duty production, and the Zero Defect enhancements take three hours per vehicle. The process is a gauntlet that includes around 40 cameras so far and could ultimately count 100 cameras, plus several robots and employee training to vet video and analyze data on builds. In addition, a contingent of 350 quality inspectors checks every truck off the line, including driving every unit 25 miles to look for potential issues that may have escaped scrutiny.
But if that wasn’t enough to ensure the vehicles aren’t defective, Ford has tripled the number of trucks used for tow testing and nearly quadrupled the fleet used for endurance testing. Engineers focus on high-mileage runs, and instead of conducting specific challenges to a mileage number, trucks were run until parts broke so Ford could find the weak spots. According to Ford CEO Jim Farley, “dozens” of issues have been fixed over this intensive process, and all of it should mean that customers will be getting their hands on a highly reliable truck once they take delivery.
Ford opened order books for the new 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks last October, and within just five weeks, 150,000 pre-orders were placed. Though Ford had anticipated getting the trucks into customers’ hands earlier this year, they have only just started shipping to customers in all trims. The delay is certainly a necessary evil, and if it means customers won’t be stuck at the dealership with issues as often, it’s undoubtedly a win.
