Ford's aftermarket stumble?

Accessories after the fact: Aftermarket parts for the Ford Ranger still under development

Ford's Australian-designed T6 Ranger is still very new to the market. So new, in fact, that it appears aftermarket suppliers are yet to take full advantage of the new model on sale.

The matter came to light when a prospective buyer placed an order for a Ranger at the end of December. Planning to take his family around Australia for a six-month holiday, complete with caravan towed behind, the buyer placed an order for a new Ranger 4x4 XLT. After investigating various aftermarket options the buyer claims that the Ford has not been properly developed for the intended role. The principal concern is the wiring loom, according to the buyer.

"The [Ranger's] wiring loom is so tightly packed, you cannot draw anything else from the car," the buyer told motoring.com.au late last month." So any [accessory] that you want to put on there now, you have to run and fuse back through a junction box into a dual battery. "

The buyer explained that there was not room under the bonnet of the Ranger for a dual-battery setup, but Neil McDonald, Brand Communications Manager for Ford, has subsequently told motoring.com.au that work is still in progress to resolve this and other issues related to aftermarket accessories. For a light commercial vehicle, the Ranger's electrical system is apparently quite sophisticated, McDonald says — and that's part of the reason that the aftermarket tie-ins are still being worked out months after the vehicle's launch.

"There's not just one wiring loom; there's this whole strata of looms that overlay each other," he explained.

According to McDonald, all the buyer's misgivings with the vehicle — including a long wait for delivery — have been resolved, following McDonald's personal intervention and plenty of discourse with the engineers who developed the vehicle.

"A lot of the requirements are being applied holus bolus — in one sort of hit — but [the buyer is] one of the first ones that's actually decided to do this fit-out. A lot of the aftermarket guys are still doing the work for that sort of stuff."

And the delay in delivery?

"As everyone knows the floods in Thailand have upset the applecart with supply, but we're getting through that."

The buyer remains a fan of the vehicle, although he admits to having second thoughts in hindsight. As a further instance, there's the issue of using LED trailer lights with the Ranger.

"If you try and plug in a trailer with [LED lights] on it, the thing goes into meltdown," he explained.

McDonald advised that the trailer wiring patch harness was not currently available, but will be soon. As for the matter of a dual-battery set-up, McDonald says Ford is evaluating such a system to be sold as an 'SBA' (Supplier-branded Accessory).

"We're actually looking at [a dual-battery option] now... but a lot of this stuff does need to go through the normal processes."

With apparently some delay in rolling out aftermarket parts for the Ranger, was it rushed to market, we asked? And were the aftermarket suppliers left out in the cold during the vehicle's development?

"There's no case of it being rushed to market," McDonald replies. "[The Ranger] has been developed for four or five years. And from what I understand, the aftermarket guys [were] on board pretty early in the piece..."

The Ford experience contrasts with the situation at Mazda, Ford's partner in the development of the T6 light commercial vehicle platform. Mazda's twin to the Ranger is the BT-50, a similarly capable vehicle ripe for fitting winches, load area power supplies, dual batteries, compressors, electric trailer brakes and driving lights.

"We're not getting any negative customer feedback on any of that sort of stuff," says Mazda's National Public Relations Manager, Steve Maciver. "In relation to harnesses and stuff like that it's not something we're having any concern with at our end."

According to Maciver, Mazda had considerable input during the development of the T6 platform, including the rolling chassis development and building the prototypes and pre-production vehicles. In addition, styling for each vehicle was handled by the respective company's own design studio. And the development of aftermarket components was one other aspect of the T6 project handled by each company separately.

"In terms of accessory development, in the past a lot of the accessories as fitted on the Ranger fitted our vehicle as well," explained Maciver. "We have gone down the road of completely developing accessories ourself for this new model."

So for whatever reason, Mazda's way of handling the aftermarket industry is at odds with Ford's.

"We certainly have an engineering compliance manager," continued Maciver. "He does work with aftermarket suppliers, who develop Mazda genuine accessories. So we do have a Mazda genuine accessory range, but they are developed with the help of the aftermarket [industry] as well."

Maciver further explained that the two companies adopted different trailing wiring harnesses, which may be part of the problem for the Ranger hitching up to a trailer with LED lights.

"The wiring harness that we've developed is a 12-pin system; our understanding is that that's different to what Ford has developed. With that 12-pin system, LED trailer brake lights will not cause any concern for us and neither should electric brakes on a trailer."