Why did Ford kill the Aerostar? The dealer mechanics wanted to kill the engineers/designers.
My 93 4.0 had no heat. starting to get, cold here in north Idaho.
Change out a thermostat, no problem, Over the the last 30 years I have replaced hundreds of stats. OK maybe a hundred, H4's inline 6's V-8's diesels. ect. No problem I thought.
What a total pain in the knuckles. Used every 1/4' extension, double univerasals sticky tape to hold the stupid bottom bolt in the socket. Wife would not let me take her to dinner due to all the bleeding scabs and bandages.
Very bad layout.
Although, sitting here typing this out, watching college ball, having a few beers, not having dinner out seems to be a blessing.
The outcome, I have heat. Before the operation the temp gage never rose higher than the lower line, now its rock steady at "R" in NORMAL.

 

They killed the Aerostar when it was selling over 100,000 units a year (more then the S-10) because it cost more to manufacture and it was robbing sales from the more profitable Windstar. Plus, it needed a major redo to met the more current emission standards.

 

but today ideas to remake aero are still appeare... there were some projects but not more..

IHMO. RWD vans have some advantages and may be they want to introduce RWD Ford Transit on US market, remake transit ore downsize it to build something like aero. Why do some people love Chevy Astro? why Mercedes build new Vito on RWD chasis of downsized sprinter and used some E-class parts? I suggest German engineers look to the future and know what to do....

 

Maybe Ford saw the impending death of small vans. Gas was cheap and folks wanting heavy haulers could afford to feed a V-8 Explorer, Expedition or Excursion. Those that were more interested in style were beginning to look at small SUV's.

 

yeah, may be yes.. but minivan gets new life in Europe and new class pf vehicles - microvan appered here.. so seems to me minivan age is not over.

 

Pablo is correct. The reality of a range of costs energy will continue to push us to smaller vehicles except for the few who really need them. For the interim, Aeros rule!

 

I like the Aero because I get a lot of smaller parts for my Ranger from the wrecking yard out of Aerostars. My favorite so far has been the ignition switch swap I did in the rain one day (I'm bad for losing keys - lost both sets of the original switch).

 

It would've also required a significant investment in the IP assembly to integrate a passenger air bag. That would've been required for 1998. I think that alone probably killed it. They probably (speculation here) also felt that they would have to add a driver-side slider to be competitive. The Astro continued on without one till, what, 2003 or so? I'd love to find a Aerostar that new.

I think Ford assumed that all Aerostar buyers would immediately jump over to the Windstar. Ironically, I don't think that Windstar ever sold more per year than Aerostar, and Freestar sold worse...

 

The Aero was killed for a lot of reasons, including all of the above. Starting in 1998, all passenger vehicle had to have a passenger side airbag, which would require a redesign of the interior. The Windstar was already set up to handle that and more. Despite the Windstar's weaknesses, it was engineered for safety. It was the first minivan built for safety, and when it was also discontinued, it was the safest minivan. The Aerostar held its own in sales, but Ford felt that people who needed the RWD would be more likely to purchase an Explorer.

 

Bit of info. The only reason the Astro was kept in production so long was a contract agreement with the UAW to keep its 1940's Baltimore plant open. When that expired GM wasted no time pulling the plug.

 

> Why do some people love Chevy Astro?

Only mini-van with a full frame (a skinny one) and RWD.

 

IMO. Aero is not so well designed looking at new standards. first of all, safety. There is no room for pass side airbag. so body must be redesigned. To do it there is only way - move engine to front, so make doghouse a bit longer and aero will look like a small econoline.

anyway ford think it is more expensive then to move transit from EU to USA and seems to me the'll do it. So it will discontinue E150, becouse transit bodies vary from a bit bigger then aero to full size Sprinter lenth. May be there is a way to downsize transit and build new van on transit chassis...

 

Ford Truck actually did have a program in place to develop pretty much exactly that. I know one of the engineers that we involved at the time. He described the new vehicle as "a baby Econoline", and said it would have been a really nice vehicle. But ford pulled the plug on it in the '96-'97 timeframe.

 

here ford say, that they want to make one more global product. The idea is to use previous gen. Transit chassis (I say about transit on frame, RWD/AWD), like Mercedes did using its old frames to build flatbed truck putting a half of sprinter body on MB312 frame.

They want to use this frame for new F100, new Bronco and New Aero (ore othe __star).

For EU market they can use other bodies on global frame. well, I understand their idea. One chassis, some competible engines (from 2.0 TDI to new 3.5V6 ore something bigger), one driveline, one brake system... and diffirent bodies - truck, SUV, van and longer truck chassis for bodybuilders. anyway they all say - we have good ideas, but no money. Volvo Truck plunt in Gent is temporary closed, Opel is for sale, Volvo cars for sale too..... so let's wait. Seems to me EU and USA providing carbone tax will make ford to develop small chassis idea. From other spot, lowered transit frame lets to put batteries, H2 tanks, fuel cells under bed ore body with low center of gravity. ZF makes small truck trannies with PTO (power take off). It is a good way to use PTO shaft for electric engines building cheapper hybrid vehicles (Volvo built FM 15' truck with electric engine uising tranny with PTO). there are so many good ideas how to make trucks better and seems to me RWD age is not over.

 

The Transit Connect is already available here. I don't like to judge something I haven't driven, but to me it seems ok for some fleet uses, but it is not a replacement for an Aerostar when it is smaller than the old shorty.