If you’ve got money to spend on a car and want a swanky interior, then don’t look to Ford. At least that’s what a TikToker named Thomas (@carsrme) thinks. In a viral clip that’s accrued over 55,000 views, he bashed the brand.
Throughout the video, he shows off various plastic panels, a “thin” carpet, and what appears to be unfinished edges. While he believes the build quality isn’t worth the $80,000 MSRP of the truck he shows off, others disagree.
Worth $80,000?
“Can you imagine spending $80,000 on one of these ‘luxury’ trucks?” he says at the start of his video.
Then, he uses his fingers to place air quotation marks over the word “luxury.” Next, he continues by stating, “And the build quality looks like this?”
First, he shows off the side plastic cubby of the driver’s side door. “I mean, why does that look like it’s unfinished? Like, there’s just a nice ridge here,” he remarks, flicking his finger on the edge of the plastic. The piece appears to have been not sanded down—white flecks of plastic pop up on this ridge.
@carsrme Built ford tough #ford #f150 #newcar ♬ original sound – Thomas
Then he aims his camera lens down at the carpet, seemingly taking issue with its quality. “And down here too it looks like like…it’s an $80,000 truck. Looks like it was put together…” his thought is cut short by another transition.
“And it just looks like it was put together so cheaply. Everything’s plastic, so look at this,” he says, before knocking against the side of a car door. It echoes with a hollow, thudding noise.
“Plastic. Leather, suede, plastic,” he says, tapping at various points in the vehicle. He continues to hit other parts of the door, noting that most of it is constructed with plastic.
His test extends to the front of the glove box, then to the the dash which he says is, “some sort of rubber.”
Not impressed
Again, Thomas continues to trash the build quality of the Ford vehicle. “Like you’re gonna spend $80,000 on a truck. Oh, carpet, that looks like felt…look at that. It’s like felt. Like what is that?” he says, continuing to dig his fingers into the material.
Furthermore, he shows the depth, or lack thereof, of the car’s carpet. Unimpressed, he states, “That’s how thick your carpet is. What…2/30…1/32nd? What is that?”
Finally, he offers up an ultimate query to end his video. “Why they built so cheap now?” he asks at the end of the clip.
Additionally, other influencers have called out particular trim models on Ford vehicles. TCcustoms uploaded a YouTube video blasting the F-150 Lariat trim as “useless.” While it’s been touted as a “middle ground” between the base and luxury models, the YouTuber questions its value.
More online Ford hate
One Redditor who posted to the r/whatcarshouldIbuy sub questioned the overall build quality of modern Ford vehicles. In their post, they mentioned how several of their friends purchased Fords. Unfortunately, they’ve “done nothing but break down weeks after getting them.”
According to one commenter who replied to their post, this was a known issue among many popular U.S. auto manufacturers. “Bad QC during the production process. Cheap quality parts not being made properly, or installed properly. It’s always been a Ford issue. You can get a good one without issues or you can get a bad one. GM and Stellantis are no different,” they wrote.
Moreover, another Reddit user remarked that they, too, have had persistent issues with their Ford. Also, in their reply, they said that mechanical issues weren’t the only problem—the interior felt chintzy as well.
TikTokers were divided
US News compiled a “best cars for the money” list for 2024, and not a single Ford model was included. In fact, all of the offerings were from Japanese or Korean auto manufacturers with Honda, Hyundai, and Kia rounding out the list. Notably omitted from the list, however, were Toyota and Lexus models. Some may find this strange, given the brands’ reputations for durable and long-lasting vehicles.
Several users who responded to Thomas’ video, however, didn’t seem to think there was a problem with plastic.
“These guys complain about plastic do they realize how much a vehicle would cost if they covered everything in leather,” one wrote.
Someone else said, “Dad has one, it’s awesome. You’re not showing the whole deal.”
Another remarked, “That’s 99% of all vehicles today.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ford via email and Thomas via TikTok comment for further information.
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