Quote from go-Auto Enews Feb 16 2005

"By MARTON PETTENDY

THE future of Ford Performance Vehicles’ Typhoon

sedan – which has joined the Blue Oval’s

GT super-coupe as Ford’s second high-profile

performance model to be plagued by a major recall

in as many months – remains in doubt.

“We don’t have a .x at the moment,” said Ford

Australia president Tom Gorman last week.

“We’re not selling them – we’ve stopped them

going into dealers.”

Mr Gorman said a solution to Typhoon’s clutch

problem, which was exposed during performance

testing by Motor magazine and initially dismissed

by FPV as the result of driver abuse, had not been

found.

“There are three issues: 95 per cent of the effort

is going into a technical fix for the vehicle at the

moment. Clearly that’s where we have to focus and

it’s a complex relationship between Ford, FPV and

AP Racing, which is the supplier of the clutch,”

Mr Gorman said.

“So we are making progress in terms of closing

down alternatives and honing in on the root cause

and, ultimately, coming up with a fix. (But) I

can’t tell you today how quickly that’s going to

happen.”

Owners of 80 Typhoon sedans in Australia and a

further seven in New Zealand have been offered an

exchange FPV vehicle until the problem is fixed.

However, only 16 Typhoon customers have chosen

to part with their vehicle.

The Typhoon sedan was launched with much

fanfare in November as FPV’s first turbocharged

six-cylinder model and has a record 550Nm torque

output for an Australian-built production vehicle.

But the clutch problem, and FPV’s subsequent

denial of it, has caused embarrassment for Ford

– both publicly and internally.

The media launch of Typhoon’s utility sibling,

the Tornado ute, was also postponed and both

turbocharged FPV models

remain unavailable.

“I meet with FPV guys three

days a week and they don’t

really want to meet with me …

so we’re working really hard to

fix this at the moment,” said Mr Gorman.

“The other issue is the process, but when you’re

faced with a problem you don’t do that until you’ve

fixed the problem. It’s a case of fix the problem and

then come back and look at the process breakdown

– how did this happen?

“And then I think there’s a behavioural issue

here, too, because this was identified to us and

perhaps we didn’t listen as carefully as we should

have to the marketplace.

“Culturally, we have to be careful of arrogance.

When people tell you something you have to

listen. This is a very emotional game, particularly

with a performance vehicle.

People put their heart and soul

into these things and so you

sometimes get an immediate

reaction that, really, better

thought through wouldn’t have

been the appropriate reaction.

“I think we’ve done a great job of taking care

of the customers. We’ll fix the problem first, then

we’ll get to the process issues. I don’t want to roll

(FPV boss) David (Flint) under the bus. He’s made

FPV a great business.”

The Typhoon debacle follows a similar recall in

the US involving Ford’s born-again GT supercar,

which is currently doing the rounds at Australian

motor shows, including Brisbane last week and

Melbourne from March 3.

Ford Motor Company individually advised

2005 GT owners in December “not to drive their

vehicle under any circumstances” until two recalls

were performed.

In the first of two recalls, Ford will inspect the

fuel system of all GTs made between October 13

and November 19, 2004. Some of the Ford GTs

may require the installation of a new fuel tank.

The second recall involves all 470 GT coupes

manufactured at Ford’s Wixom, Michigan, Special

Vehicle Centre – from job one on June 30 to the

final examples built on December 11. It relates

to potential suspension control arm fracture,

replacement parts for which were not made

available until February 1 this year."

Come on Tom, looks like you guys and Ford and FPV have finally relised that you MUST listen to the customer when they have problems.. So does this mean you will fix the clunking diff issues across the BA range?.......

All the B.S claims about driver abuse etc has left them red faced a bit, overall though, it's disappointing for the Ford brand. This car could/should and may still be a stone cold killer one day, let's hope the day comes sooner for the poor bastards who own one.

For my money, I bought a used XR6T, will modd it to the hilt over the next year and blow the doors of em all whilst saving a bundle

I don't understand what is so hard about fixing the clutch. Surely AP or someone else has an off-the-shelf one that will bolt in and solve the problem?

What are modded XR6T owners here using?

Ford/FPV seem to put too much time and effort into R&D theory but very little into actual real world testing.

If FPV devoted more time and effort into important things like having a decent drivetrain instead of wanky cosmetic things like starter buttons they would be way ahead.

I don't understand what is so hard about fixing the clutch. Surely AP or someone else has an off-the-shelf one that will bolt in and solve the problem?  

l dont either. If money was not number one priority l am sure they would have a fix by now.

l remain pissed off overall with my FPV experience after my shunt issues and they way they were handled, maybe they are startng to listen, who knows??

What gets me is that when you hear “recall” you immediately think of thousands of cars and how busy Ford must be working around the clock to fix them – BUT THERE ARE ONLY 87 OF THEM IN THE WILD!

I’m no automotive engineer, but how hard could it be?

Trent.

All the B.S claims about driver abuse etc has left them red faced a bit, overall though, it's disappointing for the Ford brand. This car could/should and may still be a stone cold killer one day, let's hope the day comes sooner for the poor bastards who own one.

For my money, I bought a used XR6T, will modd it to the hilt over the next year and blow the doors of em all   whilst saving a bundle

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

took the words clean out of my mouth there!

All the B.S claims about driver abuse etc

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeh Steve why the do we be these type of cars for..........to have fun in them :lol:

Great, just what we needed here: another thread saying exactly what the other 50 threads about Typhoons have said. Guys, it's really, really, really old. We've heard it ALL before.

I love my car, and I'm glad I bought a Typhoon over an XR6T, as I drive a kick-arse luxury car that is as rare as hen's teeth, and gives me what I want out of a car.

You love your XR6Ts and are glad you bought yours over a Typhoon. You have a magnificent base upon which you can build a fearsome roadmonster offering superb bang for buck, or you can keep it standard and still blow most other cars off the roads.

EVERYONE APPRECIATES THIS. Ford made mistakes and are trying to fix them. Get over it. We don't need or want to read it again.

P.S. Thanks bdennis for posting the original article in this thread

Great, just what we needed here: another thread saying exactly what the other 50 threads about Typhoons have said. Guys, it's really, really, really old. We've heard it ALL before.

I love my car, and I'm glad I bought a Typhoon over an XR6T, as I drive a kick-arse luxury car that is as rare as hen's teeth, and gives me what I want out of a car.

You love your XR6Ts and are glad you bought yours over a Typhoon. You have a magnificent base upon which you can build a fearsome roadmonster offering superb bang for buck, or you can keep it standard and still blow most other cars off the roads.

EVERYONE APPRECIATES THIS. Ford made mistakes and are trying to fix them. Get over it. We don't need or want to read it again.

P.S. Thanks bdennis for posting the original article in this thread

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree.

good article btw

BUT THERE ARE ONLY 87 OF THEM IN THE WILD!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

JDO's typhoon is build number 131...