How the Mach-E frunk was redesigned and simplified

By questioning the original design—filled with extra covers, fasteners, and brackets—Munro developed a simpler, more cost-effective solution that demonstrates the power of Lean Design.

Well, there’s 10 minutes of my life I’ll never get back

I’m sure he and Munro are very clever, and they’re very keen to demonstrate this, but why I’ve watched this video which I’ve been shown when I already have a froot/frunk insert bin with which I’m happy, have no plans to change and have no care whatsoever about how the thing is designed and made is just beyond me

Nice but why then make it an option for 2026, @Ford Motor Company?

You don’t need a consultant to tell you that the original frunk is badly designed.

The original frunk should have never been released for production. You have to question where the DFM and D/ PFMEA engineers were during the release process and why there wasn’t a peer review done (like it is standard in the auto industry). Many internal product design processes were severely broken for that original design to be signed off on.

But this example is a very effective illustration by Monroe.

stmache said:

Nice but why then make it an option for 2026, @Ford Motor Company?

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Because most people don’t use their frunks and Ford is looking for an excuse to strip content from base price and add it to the options list.

In summary, they saved about $25 per car by redesigning the frunk. The genesis of the original design seems to have been "no exposed fasteners," which was relaxed later on to save costs. They probably wanted the frunk to be a showcase of design for the release of the Mach-E.

We are now on the third revision (four if you count the added anti-baby divider in early 2021) of the frunk for 2025+ with the heat pump, and it is now a $500 option.

Oh, btw. Ford had four unique designs for Mach-E frunks:
1. 2021 featuring a plastic divider insert that makes the frunk useless (to inhibit putting a baby inside). This one lacked a working release button (at least for a while)
2. 2022 / 2023 job 1 which is depicted as the original design in the video
3. 2023 job 2 / 2024 which is the large, simplified / redesigned frunk in the video
4. 2025 / 2026 smaller frunk to accommodate the heat pump

GreaseMonkey said:

Because most people don’t use their frunks and Ford is looking for an excuse to strip content from base price and add it to the options list.

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And that sucks, IMO. Especially after Ford made a big to-do about having a frunk for their upcoming UEV Truck. I use mine Ford and would hate to have to clutter up a trunk with the stuff I use the frunk for.

lol.... don't forget to add the cost of the outsourcing to the "savings"....

An OEM shouldn't have to outsource something as simple as this, if their design dept is properly managed.

I'm sure the points made from an engineering point of view might be valid. But from a consumer's experience, the Frunk of my 2023.5 GTPE is absolutely brilliant! And it is often the catalyst to strangers being drawn in for a closer look and some answers to the brain tease it afforded them.

Both grocery runs and the 30lb propane tank fill-run are almost a guarantee.

Never had anyone mention the engineering shortcomings or the extra $25 I apparently forked over.

Teslaeata said:

Well, there’s 10 minutes of my life I’ll never get back

I’m sure he and Munro are very clever, and they’re very keen to demonstrate this, but why I’ve watched this video which I’ve been shown when I already have a froot/frunk insert bin with which I’m happy, have no plans to change and have no care whatsoever about how the thing is designed and made is just beyond me

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And I’ll never get the 10 seconds of my life back from reading your reply!

GreaseMonkey said:

Because most people don’t use their frunks and Ford is looking for an excuse to strip content from base price and add it to the options list.

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It's shame because after their announcement that they apparently back peddled on.

The idea of having a model that has all the features without adding huge price tags for add-ons was super appealing to me and potentially a huge advertising potential. Would even shake up the industry too imo

GreaseMonkey said:

You don’t need a consultant to tell you that the original frunk is badly designed.

The original frunk should have never been released for production. You have to question where the DFM and D/ PFMEA engineers were during the release process and why there wasn’t a peer review done (like it is standard in the auto industry). Many internal product design processes were severely broken for that original design to be signed off on.

But this example is a very effective illustration by Monroe.

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I get what you are saying, but I doubt a company as large as Ford "skipped" having designs reviews. Large, legacy companies like Ford, GM, Boeing, etc have it in their DNA to have meetings. They have meetings to discuss or prepare for other meetings. But they are also burdened with decades of lawsuits and lawyers coming at them for every little thing that they tend to overdesign and then back off when they can.

Remember back when the Chief Engineer, Donna Dickson, went onto Monroe live. She explained multiple times that they were venturing into unknown waters with a long range, BEV so they designed things with a large margin of error. There were multiple things that Monroe was questioning and she replied that they are already updating their designs.

But keep in mind, Ford needed to get a vehicle into the market. The were design compromises to be made. Injection molding is tough. I am still convinced that half of it is black magic. Molding tall and thin walls is difficult and eliminating sink marks and flow lines and weld lines, takes a lot of time. So how much time do you spend on a tub to knock down $25-$35? The time spent/lost would be more expensive than $1.2M-$1.5M a year that bracket is costing you. Like Teslaeata-Mark said...he got the frunk that he likes and that is what ford was concerned about.

And remember, Ford was telling people to use it as an Ice Chest as a marketing gimmick. Any guesses on how much weight the tub would be carrying when it was full of ice and drinks? Maybe that was the reason for the brackets. No one bought into the gimmick...thats OK...get rid of the brackets.

My guess is it took over a year to eliminate the metal brackets and replace them with the molded structure and retain the same strength. The design changes can be done in CAD in a few months but the actual mold tooling and mold process (temp, pressure, cooling curves, etc...) would take up a bulk of the time.

I look at the original Frunk. The dividers were there to stop a kid from getting locked in the trunk. Same for the escape button with the light around it (and yes, the light turns off when the hood is closed). That was 100% a "CYA" design to fix a problem that they didn't have. But if a kid did get locked in the Frunk, the news would read "Ford should know better". And on the other hand Tesla didn't worry about it because their news line would be "Tesla is new so how would they know". Ford has to play it safe. Once everyone said " those dividers are not needed", then Ford could get rid of them and they did. Public acceptance is important.

As a Mfg Engineer, I have given my DFM and DFMEA recommendations with the knowledge of the product and the customer expectations (outside consultants don't always have this knowledge). I have also watched outside consultants come in and take designs sideways and also make outrageous claims to cost savings. My previous company spent $50k on a consultant that claimed that his changes and multiple injections houses could save us 30% on a part ($150k per year). The head of mechanical design and I called his bluff, because we knew he couldn't. We handed him a PO to make a years worth and he was not able to find anyone willing to make his design for the price he claimed or deliver on time (6 month additional delay).

This video is an advertisement for Monroe. I am sure they have highly talented people. But as the the manufacturing guy, it is always easy to look at a design in hindsight and say "what were you thinking...you should have done it this way"...especially when you don't know the background that got them there.

Mach-Lee said:

anti-baby divider ...

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Dang, talk about split the baby! Gee Lee, tell us how you really feel about kids!

Are we talking in the biblical sense?