CRUISING FOR QUALITY

摘要

You'd think Ford Motor Co. would learn a lesson about keeping an eye on quality from the $3.5-billioh Explorer tire debacle. And, indeed, the auto maker went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that its revised 2002 Explorer launched without a hiccup. It even took the unprecedented step of holding up vehicles in the factory for engineers to pore over them for defects. But that wasn't enough. Last May, the new Explorer had to be recalled. It turned out that while redesigning the car, engineers forgot to adjust a rail used to guide the vehicle along an assembly line. The oversight meant that some Explorers limped off the line with nine-inch-long gashes in their tires.