2020 Ford Explorer Owners Event - Engineers Meeting

[Javier V.]

Hey guys, finally have some time this morning to write this. So Saturday, I met with the Ford engineers in The Woodlands, I really didn't know what to expect, I thought we would would have met in some type of conference room but it was all outside in a parking garage. It was very loud as you could image with 30+ owners of Explorers and Aviators in one spot, but I tried my very best to give them as much information and feedback as I could. We met with different groups of engineers, (interior, exterior, Sync, Powertrain, Marketing, Cust. Service, and more). I'm not going to lie guys, I don't have a lot of answers but I will go down what issues and recommendations I made to the engineers. BTW I spoke and showed to 3 or 4 of the groups the missing parts, (air deflector, strut insulator, tow hook and fuel funnel.) They were all very apologetic and said they will get this corrected on the assembly line. They didn't give me an answer of whether the 3.0s should have the air deflector or not, but one of them said if its listed on the build sheet, it should have it.

Sync system
Advised them of the issues my wife has had when using her iphone and carplay, I have android and do not experience and glitching or freezes with android, seems to be a problem with iphone users. Told them need better layout and customization, especially on the home tab, I dont like you only see half the map and the rest is just wasted space that displays what music is playing, told them it sould only take 1/4 of the screen not half. Also, need better layout of cameras, they agreed. We need Sync4, could not confirm if we will be getting it, looking at the info the Aviator guy got, I think not.

Interior
Advised that overall, the interior is fine, need better dash like the platinum, need more ambient lighting with more colors and custom colors. Ambient color change should include center console and steering controls. Need USB on 3rd row, told them the Palisade comes with it. Need boost, oil pressure and oil temp gauge, vital for any turbo car, they agreed.

I'll write some more when I get a chance, but like I said, I gave them as much info as I could, didn't really get answers but they took down a lot of notes and does seem that they want to get all the issues fixed. I'll mention this, I did bring up the low speed rattle, strut noise. We didn't get a chance to go on a test drive, but I told them there is a lot of ppl that have this issue on the forums as well do I. I told them about billHolts fix of the exhaust heat shield, told them a lot of ppl had struts replaced and that did not fix it. Hopefully they get this fixed on their end.

 

[SteveAZ]

Thanks much Javier for taking time to update us. So glad you were able to bring up the suspension rattle. My dealer tried the heat shield method without success. I wonder whether the complaint department and the engineers talk much. I contacted Ford CRC the 27th of January and I've not heard a word from them since.
Again, thanks for you contribution to the forum.
Steve

 

[ljn21]

Cool opportunity! Will be cool fornyou to see if they incorporate your feedback into future updates.

 

[peterk9]

Anything mentioned about the missing air deflectors?

 

[fast_dave]

Hey @Javier V.

Were you able to talk to anyone about the AM Radio?

Thanks for your update!

 

[SteveAZ]

I've probably owned a dozen fords and not one of them ever had a decent AM radio, at least none with the smaller antennas. When they stopped putting the tall antennas on the fenders that ended decent AM reception. We live near a 50K station and it can only be heard clearly in the city.

 

[TBill]

No difinite answer on the missing defectors, some build sheets for the ST's & Platinums have it others don't. One would think is should be on or off of all of the ST's or Platinums.

TBill