Ford ‘not proud’ of Ranger problems

The car maker says the new generation of the popular ute will address difficult issues surrounding the reliability of the soon-to-be-replaced model.

Engineers responsible for the new Ford Ranger ute promise that problems afflicting the previous-generation car have been addressed.

The Ford Ranger is a runaway success for the Blue Oval. Australia’s best-selling four-wheel-drive ute could top the sales charts overall in 2021 ahead of a new model arriving next year.

The Ranger redefined what people expected from pick-ups, first with the premium Wildtrak model, and then with the smash-hit Ranger Raptor developed by Australian engineers.

Ford’s twin-turbo diesel has had fuel injector trouble.

But it hasn’t always followed a smooth path.

Ford stopped sales of the Ranger in 2019 to rectify faulty diesel fuel injectors fitted to several models.

The manufacturer also recalled more than 20,000 Ranger and Everest models in 2020 following a gearbox fault in vehicles with 10-speed automatic transmissions.

Customers on social media and product review websites have reported noisy injectors and rough gearshifts from the machine. An older 3.2-litre five-cylinder engine dropped from the new Ranger line-up also has mixed reliability reports.

Ford promises the new Ranger fixes tricky issues with the old machine.

Asked about underbonnet issues for the Ranger, Pritika Maharaj, Ford’s Melbourne-based Ranger Global Program Manager, said she was confident they had been fixed for 2022.

“We are aware of the engine issues and the transmission issues,” she said.

“We’re not necessarily very proud of those.

“But I think one of the advantages with the development of the next-gen Ranger is that we’ve been able to take the learnings that we’ve had from the field and implement fixes and improvements for all of those issues.

“So we’re very confident… we’ve addressed the issues, both with the engine and with the transmission.”

The Ranger isn’t the only ute with a tricky technical history.

Rival machines have had troubled tech, such as the Toyota HiLux and its diesel particulate filter issues.

Originally published as Ford ‘not proud’ of Ranger problems