Fit & Finish

[Markn455]

For the last 10 years or so our family has mainly purchase "foreign" cars. Meaning they were either manufactured in or out of the United States. For example Honda, Hundai, to Toyota where in some cases are manufactured in the US but are still considered foreign cars.

 

I am a Amateur Radio Operator. consequently I am often installing radio equipment in various vehicles that involves running wire and installing various other gadgets. The process involves removing and reinstalling trim, seats, or other interior assemblies.

 

One big difference I noticed quickly about my fusion is "under the covers" the trim, seating modules, sheet metal used for reinforcement, etc., is clearly not well thought out, cheap fasteners that are easily broken, and various wiring dress that leads you to believe much of the assemble is not well thought out and numerous emprovisions in the cars assembly.

 

Many think that Hyundai's for example are cheap automobiles that fall apart. However, I have owned six Hyundai vehicles in recent years and firmly believe they are some of the best build cars on the planet. The entire assembly is well thought out and no visable evidence of emprovisions in the cars assembly. Wiring, connectors are perfectly placed, good quality materials used in the fasteners and seating modules well built.

 

On the Fusion, metal assemblies have evidence of grinding materal away in order to make things fit. The areas of the assembly you don't normally see unless you are looking under trim, under the back seat etc., brings new meaning to measure twice, cut once. Don't get me wrong, just to ride, drive and sit in the Fusion you feel as though you are in a wonderful car. And, you are.

 

Check out a couple of things. Look at the leading edge of the headliner where it meets the windshield. You will see that it looks like someone cut the edge of the liner with a dull pocket knife. Most cars put trim along the edge so the rough edge of the headline is not visable.

 

Now, sit in the driver seat, reach down between your legs an you may notice that the seat cusion cover is not attached to the seat frame properly. The passenger seat on the other hand, the seat cover is properly attached. Next, the weather stripping on the rear windows, both sides. Is not properly attached in the corner. Finally, the chrome trim at the top rear edge it not propely attached to the weather stripping. There are more.

 

I wonder if there are Fusions out there that are not assembled in Mexico? Do they have similar issues.

 

Mark

[jeff_h]

I wonder if there are Fusions out there that are not assembled in Mexico? Do they have similar issues.

 

 

I believe all Fusions for North America since the 2006 model year have been built at the Hermosillo plant... with additional plant in Flat Rock started this month to increase production.

 

I have never owned a Hyundai but had a Santa Fe as a rental just a couple months ago, it was fine and they sure have come a long way since the mid 80s!

[shaggy314]

Check out a couple of things. Look at the leading edge of the headliner where it meets the windshield. You will see that it looks like someone cut the edge of the liner with a dull pocket knife. Most cars put trim along the edge so the rough edge of the headline is not visable.

 

I pointed this out on my car to the salesman, it was on his car, and the one still in showroom... they just shrugged.

[bfukumoto]

Is there a fix for the driver side seat cushion cover?  I noticed that the plastic clips on the front and right side of the seats are not attached to anything so the seat cushion has some movement and the leather cover rides up a bit.  I have looked under the seat and did not see any obvious areas that the clips should be attached.  And you right that the passenger side does not have this problem at all with the seat cushion cover tight as a snare drum.

[jeff_h]

Is there a fix for the driver side seat cushion cover?  I noticed that the plastic clips on the front and right side of the seats are not attached to anything so the seat cushion has some movement and the leather cover rides up a bit.  I have looked under the seat and did not see any obvious areas that the clips should be attached.  And you right that the passenger side does not have this problem at all with the seat cushion cover tight as a snare drum.

 

Funny, this same thing happened to my wife's Energi with the bottom seat riding on the frame like a pancake since it was not latched down. Last month I took it to the dealer figuring they would take 5-10 minutes to latch it back properly... nope, it was more involved and they had to remove the entire seat and replace that lower cushion (so you might want to drop it off and pick it up later, as I sat there waiting for a couple hours).  It was under warranty, still no idea how those two latches came undone.

Edited June 1, 2014 at 11:35 PM by jeff_h

[Rexracer]

I love my Energi, its fantastic to look at, fantastic to drive, and fantastic looking at the mpg.

 

That said, having worked at an auto shop in high school/early college ( to pay my way through), I noticed a huge difference when i wen from my 01 focus to an Acura TL and RDX. Not only is the fit and finish better, how everything is put together is hugely better thought out. Going from the TL to this car I just had to accept that I was getting a lot of great features, and not the best designed/assembled car.

 

For me its an acceptable trade off, but I am very aware of the trade off.

[shaggy314]

The other annoying fit and finish is the steering wheel, sharp edges around it, see it on everyone I've sat in now that I know where to feel. I encounter it mostly when I have to really turn the wheel so I stick my fingers in the center bottom and nearly cut my fingers on the one thing I have to grip all the time in the car. It's not present on the CMax.

[eviltuna]

My wife works in the auto industry and her company has been to Mexico as they were trying to setup shop there, she tells me the workers there are pretty bad, really lazy and very for a lack of a better word "stupid". Assembly in Mexico is horrid, the workers always mess up and for the cheap labor they waste the same amount of money in wasted material from human error. So I guess it does matter where your car is made.

[jza80]

I don't think that the larger issues are worker-related.  When I was shopping this car, I was amazed at the poor hood stamping at the forward edges where they meet the fenders/bumper, the curves are not even close although some cars seem to be better than others.  I work for a competitor auto company and have participated in pre-production vehicle quality audits and we would never have accepted such poor fits.  On the other hand, here I stand having bought the car anyway knowing full well about it so maybe Ford is on to something...lower cost panel stampings to save money so that content can be added elsewhere and keep the cost at a reasonable level...or, maybe it was just that the Energi was the best option in a very small selection pool.  I do like my car a lot though, and sales of Fusion Energi's in my area seem very strong.  I wonder how this will maintain when all the competitor plug-in hybrids roll out over the next year or two..  

Edited June 5, 2014 at 10:28 PM by jza80