Determining the production date of a Lightning (Spin off)

[RocketGhost]

Let’s see who has the earliest build date. Here is my entry:

Mine is also 4/7/22! Our trucks were assembly line buddies. Mine was a dealer demo.

Sponsored

 

[Henry Ford]

You've beat our OG members @Scanman57 {4/12/22 & @idahospud {4/14/22}, but note they were the first built amongst the "Special Order" class, I suspect your build was the tail end of the initial run of Dealer Demos, did it come with a blue or green window sticker?

I don't recall and I'm not in a position to check right now. It was definitely a dealer mannequin.

The dealership for which I had a deposit called me on January 5, 2022 to configure my truck. It was more money than I was willing to spend at the time. My financial situation became more clear and I ended up buying a demo on December 7, 2022. It was a fairly early build.

Mine is also 4/7/22! Our trucks were assembly line buddies. Mine was a dealer demo.

Same. My serial number is 2343. What's yours?

At the Rouge factory tour there's a cutaway Lightning that is very near my trucks serial number. I don't recall exactly what it is. I wish I took a photo.

 

[sstevetx]

My build date is 04/06/2022, but I don't show a CSP in Fordpass or on the Ford website.

 

[GDN]

Thanks @TaxmanHog for splitting this discussion off of the other thread.

While my gut tells me a few days one way or the other don't matter a whole lot (that could be wrong knowing the battery issues that have come up) my original build week was May 23, 2022. My blend date was then reported as May 27. If you look in FDRS my build date is June 1. If you look at the Ford parts link that was shared, my build date is June 2. Truly interesting how many places and variances that Ford thinks they built my truck.

I will give them this - for those that have been along for this journey for 3-4 years, the week of May 23, 2022 is when something went off the rails on the Lightning assembly line. Everything stalled and stood still in time for a few days. The trucks built on Monday May 23 made it through the system and modules popped and deliveries were on time if I recall. From Tuesday on things went off the rails for a few weeks and deliveries quit following any kind of normal schedule. I've always figured my truck was either sitting on the assembly line a few days or one of the first through after the problems were fixed. All we really know is that no trucks were built for a period of a few days that week.

 

[chl]

My door sticker date (Friday the 13th Oct 2023) is different from that in the parts link display by VIN which is Oct 27, 2023, a difference of 2 weeks.

If my searching is correct, the VIN is assigned when the vehicle is scheduled to be produced.

So if the scheduled date was Oct 27, but the door date is Oct 13, it would seem to me that perhaps the vehicle was actually produced two weeks earlier than scheduled?

Unless the door sticker is produced before the vehicle is finished.

However, a search gave me this info about the door sticker, for what it's worth:
---
The date found on the door jamb sticker is the build date or date of manufacture. It will typically show the month and year of when the truck was built. You can also request a Build Date Letter from the Ford Customer Relationship Center if you don't have the label or it's unreadable.

In essence, the door sticker date reflects when the key components of the truck were assembled and the vehicle completed.
---
So if all that is true, the VIN date can be ignored and the door sticker is closest to the actual build date if by build date they mean the actual assembly.

So when the misaligned electrode recall says "built or build date" does it mean the date they were actually assembled or the date assigned in the VIN as scheduled?

It kinda matters to me because if that's the case, then I am outside (before) the build date window of the trucks affected:

That table at the bottom refers to FSA VIN Lists (Field Service Actions VIN Lists), and so far, a search using my VIN has not found the recall affecting my 2023 truck.

However, being so close to the date range of 2023 trucks, or maybe in it, makes me wonder.

So far no problems, no notices from Ford, and I do not charge beyond 80% as a general rule.

 

[TaxmanHog]

So if the scheduled date was Oct 27, but the door date is Oct 13, it would seem to me that perhaps the vehicle was actually produced two weeks earlier than scheduled?

Based on your bottom date of the door jam, of 10/13/23, the "original" window sticker should have shown the same on the top margin, the "original" invoice seen on the initial window sticker generated should have reflected 9/28/2023 in the block for the Special Order, at some point this date might have changed to a date around the time the window sticker was revised.

As far as the dates on Fordparts.com, they seem to be correlated to when the vehicle "actually" hit the production line, considering the many production interruptions in 2023, I'm not surprised you see a much later date of 10/27/2023

My "original" window sticker had a invoice date of 5/26/2022, which is when I could view the sticker for the first time, this usually occurs on Thursdays or eleven days ahead of the expected build week, my truck was scheduled weeks earlier to be built sometime during the week of 6/9/2022, when the window sticker was first visible and for weeks afterward, it indicated a blend date of 6/9/2022, monitoring the production date tracker, showed it hit the line later than scheduled because of lags in parts flow on 6/17/2022

Here is a snap shot of production flow for Week of 6/6/2022, "In Production date is the key"

Ford "plans" a rigid production schedule, but anomalies often toss these plans to the wind, many of us intently monitored data on hundreds of trucks for 2 years!

 

[chl]

Based on your bottom date of the door jam, of 10/13/23, the "original" window sticker should have shown the same on the top margin, the "original" invoice seen on the initial window sticker generated should have reflected 9/28/2023 in the block for the Special Order, at some point this date might have changed to a date around the time the window sticker was revised.

As far as the dates on Fordparts.com, they seem to be correlated to when the vehicle "actually" hit the production line, considering the many production interruptions in 2023, I'm not surprised you see a much later date of 10/27/2023

My "original" window sticker had a invoice date of 5/26/2022, which is when I could view the sticker for the first time, this usually occurs on Thursdays or eleven days ahead of the expected build week, my truck was scheduled weeks earlier to be built sometime during the week of 6/9/2022, when the window sticker was first visible and for weeks afterward, it indicated a blend date of 6/9/2022, monitoring the production date tracker, showed it hit the line later than scheduled because of lags in parts flow on 6/17/2022

Here is a snap shot of production flow for Week of 6/6/2022, "In Production date is the key"

Ford "plans" a rigid production schedule, but anomalies often toss these plans to the wind, many of us intently monitored data on hundreds of trucks for 2 years!

Thanks, very complicated system of dates...but I still wonder what Ford and the recall means by "Build Date?"

 

[Henry Ford]

Thanks, very complicated system of dates...but I still wonder what Ford and the recall means by "Build Date?"

While it is interesting there are different definitions of "build date", it's not really relevant. Ford knows what vehicles are affected and alerts owners directly via USPS and FordPass.

That said, I have a truck with an apparent bad battery module that is in the first date window of affected vehicles and I haven't heard anything from Ford.

In conclusion, everything is made up and nothing matters.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Thanks, very complicated system of dates...but I still wonder what Ford and the recall means by "Build Date?"

That is fair, either it's the actual in production date or the original scheduled blend date, being as variations in real production happen, I'd lean toward the later date.

 

[FirstF150InCasco]

Neat!

Let’s see who has the earliest build date. Here is my entry:

you got me by 15 days!!

 

[chl]

While it is interesting there are different definitions of "build date", it's not really relevant. Ford knows what vehicles are affected and alerts owners directly via USPS and FordPass.

That said, I have a truck with an apparent bad battery module that is in the first date window of affected vehicles and I haven't heard anything from Ford.

In conclusion, everything is made up and nothing matters.

LOL
Yes, alas, that's my concern too, no bad battery yet here...but...
And Who's Line is it Anyway?

 

[chl]

That is fair, either it's the actual in production date or the original scheduled blend date, being as variations in real production happen, I'd lean toward the later date.

Yes, well that puts me in the date range, alas...

No battery problems for me so far.
No notice from Ford, and no hit with VIN number look-up.
But are their records 100% accurate in that regard?

Hope so.

Sponsored