How long is too long to be in production?

[Whitef150!]

OK, first post, but have been a forum member for about 6 months. Started looking for a new F150 at that time, but held off based on a number of reasons. Now, I currently have a deposit on a 2024 Platinum, 703A, Star White Metallic, no other options. The truck was a special order at a local dealer and became available when the original customer backed out, and I put a deposit on it about 3 weeks ago. Four weeks ago they told me they should have it in 3-4 weeks, so far nothing. I've checked with the dealer a couple of times and all they can tell me is it's being held for a quality check. The on line tracking tool says it went into production on 8-1-24. The blend date on the window sticker is 7-30-24, so that seems to make sense. I've called Ford Customer Service twice and the last thing they told me on 8-13 is it's being held off site for a quality check, and there are two active exceptions. One on 8-9 for quality assurance, which sort of fits with the production date, and another on 8-26 for a fuel level hold, but the representative could not tell me what that means.

Is a quality hold / check of over a month typical? If it's taking this long should I be concerned there is something major wrong with it? On-line, I'm seeing window stickers of trucks already on dealers lots that were built around the same time or later than this one. I'm beginning to wonder if I should walk away from it and find something else. Have others seen similar times for a quality check or hold?

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[Bigguy214]

From what I have read I wouldnt go by exactly what the person on the phone told you.My 22 Xlt I ordered sat in KC for a month or so after it was built.I assume it was waiting on the bed liner I ordered with it.A lot of the accessories like that get put on after the truck is built.They send it to another building to have them put on.Does the truck have any accessories like bed liner or tonneau cover or anything?Also depending if the truck was built at KC or Dearborn depending what dealer in what state it goes to sometimes it takes awhile until they get a full load before they will ship it.

 

[Bigguy214]

My 24 is in production this week in Dearborn and I live in Detroit.You would think Ford would let you pick it up at the plant after you pay for it at the dealer but who knows how long it will take to get to my dealer 20 miles north of the assembly plant lol.Gm does let you pickup a new corvette at the plant for some money so I don’t see why Ford can’t let someone pickup there truck or any auto they make from the plant if you wanted to.

 

[Whitef150!]

This build does not have any other options based on the window sticker, or from what the dealer told me. I'm not sure which plant it's being built at, but there is DBR-002064 in the upper left corner of the window sticker. Maybe that is for Dearborn? The dealer it is going to is in GA.

 

[Mc1502]

I ordered the exact same truck, down to the same color. The only exception was I opted for the max recline seats. While the pic below shows the truck to have gone into production on 8/26, the ford customer service rep had previously told me that it had gone into production two weeks earlier. It is also worth noting that my anticipated delivery date has been pushed back a couple of times. If my latest date is correct, it will mean that it would have taken ford about a month to ship my truck less than 600 miles.

do I like any of this? No…. Do I think a well run company would continue to change dates like this? No…. But it seems to be as common as not.

My advice to you (I had to come to terms with this advice too) is to just stop checking on it and just wait until the dealer calls you saving that it is ready for you to pick up. Doing this will ultimately make you feel better once you have the truck in your possession. Lord knows it would not be good to feel bad about a $85k - $90k vehicle purchase.

 

[TUNAS1016]

I don’t think there’s a one size fits all answer here. Using my order as an example, my blend date was 7/17 (ordered in early April) but once assembled the vehicle had to go offsite for a bed liner and tonneau cover installation which can typically add a week or two to the production process.

After that my vehicle was flagged for an unknown QC hold (Ford purgatory) which further delayed the process. It was finally “built” on August 28th and has since been sitting on a ramp in Dearborn waiting for shipment to Granger Ford.

The Ford tracker is unreliable, so I’ve since resorted to checking in with Granger once a month for an update.

Thanks in large part to this board, I went into the build with very low expectations in terms of timeline transparency so can’t say I’m disappointed. It’s unfortunate for the amount of money we pay that it has to be this way.

I’ve seen others in my build week with similar features go door to door within 2 - 3 weeks but then there are other stragglers like myself still out there. It seems like once a vehicle gets flagged for a QC hold you can expect a meaningful production/shipment delay.

Best of luck!

 

[bdginmo]

My 24 Ranger order was on a quality hold for 161 days after it went down the production line before they finally released and shipped it.

 

[2003flhtci]

This build does not have any other options based on the window sticker, or from what the dealer told me. I'm not sure which plant it's being built at, but there is DBR-002064 in the upper left corner of the window sticker. Maybe that is for Dearborn? The dealer it is going to is in GA.

Thats Dearborn plant.

 

[JJSnell]

I'm still waiting for a SCrew, Platinum, long bed to come with a 2.7l....
325\400 is more than adequate to go to Home Depot and out to dinner....


All jokes aside hopefully it arrives soon.

 

[Whitef150!]

So, a bit of an update. Two days after I first posted this, I got a call from the GM at the dealer, who had heard about the situation, and said they don't know when they will get the truck, so they're going to get the same build from another dealer and sell it to me for the same price. OK, great. The next day I check the tracker, and it went from "In Production", to "Built". Well I'm sure it had been built for over a month, and had been sitting in a lot somewhere waiting on something. Then, one day later, (today), the status changed from "Built", to "Shipped". So, one way or another, it looks like I'll be getting a truck pretty soon. Now I can start ordering all the aftermarket stuff I need.

 

[Whitef150!]

Well, this story has a happy ending. Picked it up today, less than a week from when they said they would get an identical truck from another dealer for me. Had a great experience at the dealer. The original truck? Still somewhere between Dearborn and GA.

 

[CoolCoyote]

Congratulations! Now post some pics!

 

[Whitef150!]

I will at some point, dealing with cleaning up after Helene went through SC.

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