Mach-E Ranks Second in 2021 J.D. Power Seat Quality and Satisfaction Study

[Administrator]

The Mach-E took second in the mass market SUV in the 2021 J.D. Power Seat Quality and Satisfaction Study, ranking just below the Nissan Rogue in problems per 100 vehicles.

Full press release below (see page 3 for Mach-E ranking).

 

[DevSecOps]

I would give it a 0 ... personally I hate it!

And on top of it there's this strange new car smell. IMO the smell is kinda like a smoker was in the car and they used new car smell chemical spray to cover it up.

I want leather! Criticism incoming...

 

[buzznwood]

I would give it a 0 ... personally I hate it!

And on top of it there's this strange new car smell. IMO the smell is kinda like a smoker was in the car and they used new car smell chemical spray to cover it up.

I want leather! Criticism incoming...

Agree on the new car smell, mine sits parked in the garage with all the windows down and I drive it around with the rear windows down, in the hope that it will clear up soon, it just smells off.

The GTPE seat I find ok, but they are no where near as good as the Recaro seats in my Focus ST / RS, I do like the miko inserts as that is what my Focus RS had and what the GTPE replaced as compared to the all leather version of the ST I didn't have to peel myself of them in summer heat.

 

[Andeh]

Aren't JD Power awards meaningless industry awards that manufacturors pay for anyway?

I like my seats, but don't trust any of these awards.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I would give it a 0 ... personally I hate it!

I legit missed this was just on seat quality at first (vs. overall initial quality or something) and was like "wait I thought @DevSecOps had another thread with good things in it, where did this 0 come from?!?" ???

I like the seat on mine and have found it pretty easy to adjust for me, but seats are such a personal thing that my experience doesn't help your experience any.

I'd refer to the Bolt as a parallel example, where I sat in one at an auto show (remember those?) for about 0.5 seconds and was like "no, nope, never, not in a million years," but there are Bolt owners on here that find the seats adequate-to-comfortable.

Agree on the new car smell, mine sits parked in the garage with all the windows down and I drive it around with the rear windows down, in the hope that it will clear up soon, it just smells off.

I also hated the new car smell (plastic outgassing) on mine and did the "windows down in the garage" bit, and in about a week, it had sorted. I think maybe I said so in my initial delivery thread but I'm too lazy to go look right now. It for sure out of five new cars I've purchased the worst of the five. It even had gotten into my hair and clothes the first couple of days. ?

 

[DevSecOps]

wait I thought @DevSecOps had another thread with good things in it, where did this 0 come from?!?"

I'm not too fond of the interior of this vehicle. I would say it's my biggest complaint. I've had nothing but German cars for the last 15 years and the fit and finish is far superior in them, for the price.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I'm not too fond of the interior of this vehicle. I would say it's my biggest complaint. I've had nothing but German cars for the last 15 years and the fit and finish is far superior in them, for the price.

this might sound like arguing but it's not, I promise

if you take into account the cost of the battery, on the order of $20,000, would you say the fit and finish is still lacking by comparison? my experience with German vehicles has always been rentals, and, leaving out my impressions, it's not a good way to get a feel for such things given what rental vehicles are put through. Since you have experience from ownership, your views on it are going to be more valid than mine.

I'm thinking about how to look at this. Ultimately what it costs is what it costs, so comparing just based on that is valid to a point. On the other hand, it feels more "apples-to-äpfel" to compare to an long-ish range EV at that price point vs. an ICE at this price point.

 

[buzznwood]

I'm not too fond of the interior of this vehicle. I would say it's my biggest complaint. I've had nothing but German cars for the last 15 years and the fit and finish is far superior in them, for the price.

I call this a Ford USA problem where the USA always gets short changed, if it is not F150 it just gets left to die on the vine or given little interest, where as most of the German brands don't downgrade the material quality just the feature or make it all optional, mind you VW interior quality has really nose dived of late probably a result of the dieselgate fines and having to cost cuts, the bean counting is evident all over the newer models.

Ford just facelifted the European focus and for the ST they have ditched the Recaros for an in house Ford performance seat and from the images it looks like a far superior sport seat design compared to one we got in GTPE, but that is an overall theme with Ford where material quality and features available in other markets just go absent for the home team, I guess Ford USA thinks the internet doesn't exist and people can't see it.

 

[buzznwood]

this might sound like arguing but it's not, I promise

if you take into account the cost of the battery, on the order of $20,000, would you say the fit and finish is still lacking by comparison? my experience with German vehicles has always been rentals, and, leaving out my impressions, it's not a good way to get a feel for such things given what rental vehicles are put through. Since you have experience from ownership, your views on it are going to be more valid than mine.

I'm thinking about how to look at this. Ultimately what it costs is what it costs, so comparing just based on that is valid to a point. On the other hand, it feels more "apples-to-äpfel" to compare to an long-ish range EV at that price point vs. an ICE at this price point.

IMO as the mach-e is pretty much a derivative of the C2 platform, if we remove the large battery cost then the fit and finish and materials quality should be matching the C2 vignale trim level available in other markets which it simply isn't remotely close to.

The trim level quality we get is really only acceptable for the entry level select price point, but not for a Premium or GT, the RT1 is more about range so it could be debated that could should sit at either end.

 

[RMoore]

I would give it a 0 ... personally I hate it!

And on top of it there's this strange new car smell. IMO the smell is kinda like a smoker was in the car and they used new car smell chemical spray to cover it up.

I want leather! Criticism incoming...

I will admit to loving the leather seats in my Q5 and also very impressed with the quality of the leather and the comfort of the seats in our 2016 Sienna. My wife is sensitive to car smells and we didn't notice anything during the 20 min test drive of the Mach E we did a while ago, but maybe they had already outgassed. Hoping whatever smell there might be in the new one will dissipate quickly.

 

[Stang68]

I want leather! Criticism incoming...

While I’m not against leather or eating meat (at all), I do think it’s sort of nice that Ford is going with this fake leather material. Idk…less cows dead for the sake of my car seems like a good thing? And people don’t honestly care when they sit on the seat, as long as it’s not fabric lol

 

[DevSecOps]

your views on it are going to be more valid than mine.

First of all, my views are not more valid than anyone else. But to answer your question and to piggy-back on something that @buzznwood said ... I would have liked an option. If they would have offered a leather seat I would have paid for it. Below is a picture of the inside of my Audi and I personally (my opinion and many may disagree) is just so much nicer. My GTPE and Audi SQ5, same year, are the same price.

In my opinion what Ford is doing is based on a social construct that I don't subscribe to. They marketed this car as "vegan". The whole EV, save the environment, don't let cow farts (leather) destroy us movement has taken hold of this car. I think that's why buzznwoods statement of other markets outside the USA have different options. I would like to make it clear that everyone is entitled to do as they please, believe what they want to believe ... I just wish I got to pick.

The other thing that really bugs me is the plastic piece that goes around the start button. It just looks so cheap. They could have gone carbon or aluminum and it would have make a 10 fold difference.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

I call this a Ford USA problem where the USA always gets short changed, if it is not F150 it just gets left to die on the vine or given little interest, where as most of the German brands don't downgrade the material quality just the feature or make it all optional, mind you VW interior quality has really nose dived of late probably a result of the dieselgate fines and having to cost cuts, the bean counting is evident all over the newer models.

Ford just facelifted the European focus and for the ST they have ditched the Recaros for an in house Ford performance seat and from the images it looks like a far superior sport seat design compared to one we got in GTPE, but that is an overall theme with Ford where material quality and features available in other markets just go absent for the home team, I guess Ford USA thinks the internet doesn't exist and people can't see it.

Pic of the new ST seat for reference. It does indeed look awesome, but that bolstering seems a little excessive for an SUV like the Mach-E, especially that bolstering on the bottom part of the seat.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

First of all, my views are not more valid than anyone else. But to answer your question and to piggy-back on something that @buzznwood said ... I would have liked an option. If they would have offered a leather seat I would have paid for it. Below is a picture of the inside of my Audi and I personally (my opinion and many may disagree) is just so much nicer. My GTPE and Audi SQ5, same year, are the same price.

In my opinion what Ford is doing is based on a social construct that I don't subscribe to. They marketed this car as "vegan". The whole EV, save the environment, don't let cow farts (leather) destroy us movement has taken hold of this car. I think that's why buzznwoods statement of other markets outside the USA have different options. I would like to make it clear that everyone is entitled to do as they please, believe what they want to believe ... I just wish I got to pick.

The other thing that really bugs me is the plastic piece that goes around the start button. It just looks so cheap. They could have gone carbon or aluminum and it would have make a 10 fold difference.

I believe your views are more valid because someone owning a car for any length of time is going to be much more aware of what they have versus someone who has a rental car for a few days that's been through rental car use. It's not really fair to any vehicle to judge quality based on a rental in that way. Some things on the other hand are immediately relevant even in a short drive in a rental.

Your complaints about seating material and the start button are specific, actionable complaints

I'm getting used to the ActiveX but I would have loved glove leather (which would be nicer I think that what you're showing here) like my 1995 Mustang GT had. I've literally never been in a car newer than that with seat material that soft and nice. I don't think it's a thing any longer for any kind of mass market car (perhaps because the maintenance on it was a nightmare). The "green" stance doesn't turn me off and it fits with the car overall, in my opinion, but I also can see someone saying they choose to not care about it just like some people don't care about the lack of Cyber Orange on the First Edition color list or whatever.

I've literally never thought about the start button in that way. I suppose maybe I will now. To be honest after all the early forum history arguing about the existence of a start button at all, it's not something I give any thought to either way... but like the hum from the instrument panel, it might be something I can't help but notice now. My guess is that like the shifter knob, it was existing parts bin stuff and as such too much thought wasn't given to it either way on the Ford side. ("But that's the point" I hear you saying already. Not disagreeing.)

One thing I've seen talked about in some of the GT/GT PE reviews that I don't remember on the first pass reviews is the lack of option selections in general - "one of the things that makes a Mustang a Mustang is a billion different individual choices" which, historically, is a valid criticism going back to the very first Falcon rehash 1964.5 car. My guess is that the volume on the car was too low for Ford to want to make it any more complicated than it already is.

There's a thread on here that I won't bother to find now where someone started the thread saying "there's too many choices for the Mach-E; Ford should have offered less!" That person was kind of shouted down tbh, but it does signal that not everyone wants as many choices. (There's a whole psychological theory around this actually.)

Anyway, this is the kind of specific feedback that could be seen by the Ford folks that are reading this site (and we know they are - hi, @Ford Motor Company) could take and act on.

And it still actually kind of leaves open the question of whether you believe your expectations would be the same in a ~$40,000 car or in an Audi EV - the SQ5 being an ICE vehicle means it's not a completely appropriate comparison for the reasons I gave in my earlier post. It's not completely inappropriate either, again as I said in my earlier post.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

 

[DevSecOps]

Idk…less cows dead for the sake of my car seems like a good thing?

Stang, you are definitely entitled to that opinion and I respect that. I just wonder this ... I'm doubtful that cows are killed just for the leather. The whole cow is used for various aspects from food to animal feed. I would love to see the environmental impact of the "fake leather" vs the cows that are already being killed off for food. If we got rid of all leather in vehicles I wonder how much of the cow would then go to waste ... pondering!

And it still actually kind of leaves open the question of whether you believe your expectations would be the same in a ~$40,000 car or in an Audi EV

I would have just liked the option and I would have paid for it. I agree that I might not be able to draw comparison to an ICE vehicle based on price alone. Like @buzznwood said in his other post, I don't feel that for the most premium version of the vehicle (GTPE) should get the cheapest looking seats. I honestly like the premium light (whitish) seats better. If I would have been given a choice for those I would have picked them.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

Just glad it was free to attend!

Sponsored