On the Dash:
- Ford rehired 350 veteran engineers after AI quality tools failed to deliver results.
- Ford’s automated systems and 900 AI cameras missed defects that experienced engineers caught.
- The engineers now retrain Ford’s AI and catch defects before parts reach the plant.
Ford has hired 350 veteran engineers over the past three years after artificial intelligence tools failed to fix its stubborn quality problems, Bloomberg reported.
Ford calls them “gray beard” engineers and uses them to train younger staff and reprogram the AI tools that fell short. The approach worked. Ford is now the top mainstream brand in the latest JD Power Initial Quality Survey, released Thursday. Ford is not walking away from AI. The rehired engineers are retraining the tools so they work as intended.
The company had leaned heavily on automated quality systems without the results it wanted. Ford installed 900 AI-assisted cameras to catch quality issues. The cameras could not replace the trained eye of an experienced technician. The automated systems also proved less reliable than Ford expected, especially when the company fed them incomplete or thin data.
Charles Poon, vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, said Ford misjudged what AI could do alone. Poon told reporters that the technology is only as good as the data used to train it. Ford let go of its experienced engineers before their knowledge could train the AI, he said. In prior years Ford did not lean enough on its most knowledgeable people, Poon said.
The problems ran deeper than the tools. Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra said teams across software, hardware, manufacturing and supply chain often worked in isolation. That approach caught defects late and forced fixes under pressure. Galhotra said Ford is now moving from a find-and-fix mentality to preventing problems before they start.
The veteran engineers sit at the center of that shift. Galhotra said they now run mandatory quality meetings and have reprogrammed AI tools to catch glitches early. Ford brought back technical specialists to find failure points before a part reaches the plant floor, he said.
Ford passed quality leaders such as Toyota and Honda. Only luxury brands Porsche and Genesis ranked higher. Last year, Ford sat 10th among mainstream brands, below the industry average. Three models led their categories. The F-150, the Super Duty and the Mustang ranked highest in their segments.
Ford is still the most recalled automaker in America and expects $1 billion in warranty and materials costs this year. Galhotra called recalls a lagging indicator and expects the numbers to fall.
