Let's forget about the bed shake for now. I'm wondering about several issues people have talked about on here. For example, wrong outdoor temp reading, recirculate not staying on (goes off on it's own), throttle body problems (gas pedal not respnding to input - at all, not just lag), noise from steering wheel area, etc. I wonder if these people that have the problems I just mentioned had a truck that was built from the beginning to of new body style (sometime in Aug?) to December? The reason I'm wondering about this is because I have my order placed and I suspect (HOPE) my truck will be built in/by late Feb and I was wondering if these issues will be taken care of before I take delivery. I suppose a lot of these issues have been corrected at the factory before it leaves. Any speculation or thoughts on this? I don't expect a machine to never have problems and I don't expect humans to be perfect and design/build a perfect product, but I would hope that any known issues that are easy to take care of right away will be taken care of at the factory before I get my truck. It would certainly be cheaper on Ford to fix it before it is delivered...rather than having to pay for the repairs afterwards.

 

lariatf150 - I have the same concerns. Mine was built Feb. 2 (it should be here by Friday) But I have been hopeing that they would address some of these problems. I saw a post either here or at F150 online about a guy who just got his truck which was built in late Jan. and he has the distorted windshield problem. It seems to me that it would be easy to fix that problem and I know that they've replaced many of them under warranty so they know there's a problem.

 

When I worked for an automotive supplier, there's some "things" that they use to determine whether they will make a design change.

It's called Failure Modes and Effects Analysis.
Number 1. How often does it fail.
Number 2. What's the effect of the failure (is it life threatening?)
Number 3. How often will it occur.
Number 4. How often will it occur and be noticed?
Number 5. How often will it occur to such a severity as to cause a a complete failure that is life-threatening?

So - because I dealt with restraint systems ... we had to have a SUPER high quality result. The seat belt HAD to perform to it's designed standard with NO failures. The air bag had to deploy with NO failures. There are no "repair manuals" for restraints or safety devices, like there are for batteries, windshield wipers, transmissions, etc.

I think ALL of us that bought or leased a 2004 F150 have to take into account and be prepared to deal with first year design issues. There's a number of them - rack & pinion steering; new suspension, etc., etc. Anyone who buys a vehicle in it's first design year should expect these kinds of things since there is so much computer model testing rather than live testing of systems, with the exception of sled & hyge tests for safety factors.

It sucks and I wish I didn't have to do it, but there were other factors in my decision (like my lease expired and now I need 4x4 which the last truck didn't have).