Actually taking care of your customer will help you in business. This Country's manufactures have forgotten about that. The Ford engineers are bad and getting worse. We could have discussions about the lack of recall on the Cam Phasers on my 2004 that were designed wrong, but no recall, $1100 fix. We could have discussions on the terrible decision to go to a Dana differential, $2400 fix due to a poor clutch design. We can have the discussions of the Trans in the 2004 as it has a problem with trying to get into reverse and first at the same time and cooking itself, fixed mine by taking it to speed shop,, $3000 fix. Or maybe as I was writing the post yesterday we could discuss why my 04 F150 was in the shop because I took it to a car wash and the "Newly designed" Fuel Delivery Module got wet and no longer worked. Yes forcing Ford into fixing their engineering mistakes will make them stronger in the long run. They may have to suffer a little now but that is what Toyota went through in 70's and look where they are now, leading the industry. There is nothing wrong with forcing a company to build a better product, remember "Quality is job one." I guess they have forgotten that. One last thing, I will fix my son's pickup myself by re-plumbing the tanks to work because I would really be pissed if his caught fire. Maybe we should feel that a few human lives are worth the sacrifice of a car company's failed engineers. If you are one of these engineers, lets talk I have a lot of ways of fixing these issues without adding cost.
I agree with you that taking care of customers does keep the customers returning to buy from the same manufacturer, but in this particular situation, I fail to see how it is Ford's responsibility to replace a part that has failed after some 14 years of service. I'm really not trying to be a jerk and within 5 or 10 years I definitely agree, but there comes a time when the part is just going to fail from use and time, not from a defect in material, workmanship, or design. Ford did issue a recall for the cross-flow problem, but the time and mileage limits have passed. The fix is a simple replacement of the in-tank pump/valve/sender assembly and shouldn't require any re-plumbing.
I don't know all the ins and outs of newer Ford trucks, but I would like to point out that there is a distinct difference between a recall and a warranty repair. Recalls are issued in response to a safety problem, such as the fire risk with the cruise control switches or the overflowing tank issue when it first appeared. All the problems you listed for your '04, aside from maybe the fuel delivery module, would in my opinion be warranty claims (which Ford should pay for), although not cause for a recall.
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