I recently got an invite from Ford engineers to take part in an event where they ask owners what they think about their trucks. This event was for 2005 Super Duty owners. I have a PSD King Ranch 8 foot bed 4X4. I spent 2 hours with teams from Dearborn covering topics such as exterior, interior, drivetrain, electrical, climate control and marketing. They had canned questions and also let the owner talk about whatever they had questions or comments about. They actually ran this very well. I was impressed how interested the folks from Ford were at making improvements to the next model. At the end of the 2 hours (which was all out doors around my truck in a local Mariott parking garage), they gave each of us a Super Duty canvas bief case, nice metal Super Duty coffee mug, a Super Duty T-shirt and most important, 4 crisp $50 bills. Yeah, I got paid $200 for doing what I do on this site for the fun of it. They hooked up diagnostics, pulled codes, answered my questions, wrote down my suggestions for improving the truck and generally had fun interacting with customers. There were only about 7 other vehicles that showed up for our 2 hour block so there was a lot of attention to the owners as the ratio was better than 5:1 engineers to customers. Here are some things I found interesting:

They recommended not changing oil with too few miles on the oil. They made it seem better to go to 5K between changes than changing at 3K. They said something about the additives not having enough time to chemically change into something that better protects the engine. They honestly lost me on this one.

They are very confident of their cheapo Rancho shocks and spent 10 minutes explaining how seriously they are tuned for our trucks. They said the only benefit of going with a better shock is longevity but not tuning. I did not argue but I know there are differing opinions on this site.

I told them that not everyone likes the Continentals they are putting on the trucks. They said they are putting the best possible tires on the trucks they can find as they never never never want another Firestone incident. It seems they are more concerned right now with not repeating that Firestone situation than they are getting us the tires we want. I can kind of understand their point.

The interior guys say they have to fight with the accountants to get better materials for the interior. They were frustrated. They hate putting the cheapo plastic in a truck that has the King Ranch leather. They really wanted to take back my comments on improving the quality of the interior. I also told them to add some more sound deadening. I did tell them that I liked the boost gauge. They wrote down my request for an EGT guage. WHo knows if we will ever see one.

The engineers confirmed what someguys say here on the site about exhaust systems. The PSD needs, and is designed for, some back presure. They are confident that thier design is actually quite effeiceint. They hate the EGR as much as we do. If they didn't have to put it there, they would rip it out first thing.

OK, fingers getting tired....... Overall, I walked away with additional respect for the guys that design our trucks (not to mention walking away with $200). They really cared what I had to say and recommend. Thumbs up to those guys! And, thumbs up to everyone on this site. I tried to make them aware of many of the re-occuring topics here. Without this site, I would not have been able to give then as intelligent feedback.

 

Really?

 

Wish they do that more often and everywhere.

 

Arrgggh, the one pet peeve design feature I have is the center console is way too short. IMO it should extend to almost the edge of the seat. I have to do a super duper arm curl to get my coffee mug in its' holder.

Glad to hear you got to participate in this event.

 

Did you happen to get a call back number!!!!!!!!

........................HP......................

 

did you mention anything about this site?? it does sound like they are getting ready for the next redesign for 06 or 07 and want to continue to be the best.
did you say anything about the need for numbers on the guages?

 

I enjoy giving feed back. I do it every chance I get. I would have loved to been there with you. By the way where was this?

 

Huh? How does oil chemically change to better protect the engine? The viscosity breaks down pretty quickly, and the EGR system add extra soot to the oil. Not exactly chemical changes that improve engine oil protection.

Yeah right. Those things lasted about 5,000 miles before their highly tuned oil started leaking out on my truck. I did replace with real Rancho. At least Rancho shocks that don't have Ford part numbers on them.

Don't the new 05s have a boost gauge now?
But all that extra soot that the EGR system puts in the oil is what is chemically changing the oil to better protect the engine!

Are you sure these guys where Ford engineers and not Chevy or Dodge engineers in disguise?

 

Yes the 05 comes with a boost gauge in the dash at the bottom of the tach

 

I did mention this site to several of the guys. Some of the guys seemed versed on some of our topics on performance and exhaust and oil level (one guy admitted that he would rather see us run at the lower line on the dip stick as opposed to the upper line).

Like I said, he lost me on the oil needing to be "broken in". He said it had to do with the additive package and not the oil itself breaking down.

As far as the Rancho shocks go, they said theirs did not last as long but were tuned every bit as good as other brands such as bilstiens. He said we were better off from a cost standpoint paying less for the Ranchos on a more frequent replacement schedule than paying up for Bilstiens. Not sure I agree with that if some guys are only getting minimal milage from the Ranchos.

Some other things I told them to do:

Give us the option of picking that fold out metal tray under the rear seats or a storage bin. I would rather have a storage bin myself.

Seat heaters are great but either put the button somewhere else or have them switch off and not come back on unless reset once the ignition is turned off. My wife seems to inadvertanly turn them on and I end up driving around for a week with the passenger seat heated and no one riding in it.

Give us brighter headlights.

Give us sat radio or ability to play MP3's and some better speakers as an option.

 

Moving the button for the heated seats would be good. I seem to bump the switch when I get in the truck. Which is ok in the winter time. Also, a switch to turn the heated mirrors on and off would be nice too. When the weather is warm, I end up pulling the fuses to the heated seats and mirrors.

 

Ah Ha --- This weekend I am going to jumper from the fuse box the heated mirrors to the Upfitter Switch so that they do not stay on all of the time. Just 2 small wires from the #29 fuse to the upfitter #1 fuse and no more full time heated mirrors! May do the seats as well!

 

Lets get that written up and get it in the Tech folder....you want to do it?

 

Let us know how it goes, include a short step by step, and we'll add that to the list of fine items in the tech folder

 

How much do your suppose the Dodge boys or Chevy boys would pay to get newly owned superduty's and their owners all to themselves for a little while? I'd say at least $200 and some finely crafted knockoff Ford gizmos.