Back in the ‘80’s, for those of you who may be old enough to remember, Ford had a great slogan and jingle that they used in their commercials and promotions.

“Have You Driven A Ford – Lately”.

The tune ranks right up there with another enticing tune – ESPN’s introduction to their Sports Center show. You know the one; DA, DA, DA, – DA, DA, DA.

I can still remember the Ford tune well and now that I have brought it up, I will be humming and singing it for the next few days.

But that was then. Better days for Ford. Now we must ask, can anyone, or, anything coming from Ford be trusted?

For years now, Ford has been the leader of a national campaign by the car manufacturers to demonize automotive aftermarket parts along with anyone and everyone that would buy and use them on their vehicle.

According to Ford, aftermarket parts are never the same quality as their own manufactured parts. They claim aftermarket parts are always made of lower quality materials and they will never – ever – perform as well as the original equipment parts.

In an attempt to bolster and legitimize their claims and continue the demonization of aftermarket parts, Ford has produced a series of B grade Science Fiction quality type videos. These have been posted on You Tube for all to see.

But just as in those B grade Science Fiction movies, the monster here, Ford, which seems too big and strong, always right and indestructible, is in reality bloated, slow, dimwitted and doomed to defeat buy the good guys, in this case the aftermarket.

In one of the latest videos, Ford says, “genuine Ford collision replacement parts are the same as those used to manufacture the vehicle.” For this reason alone Ford implies their parts are better than any aftermarket part.

But it turns out that Fords statement that their service and production parts are the same made by Fords spokesman in the video and posted in bright red letters on the screen with him, turns out NOT to be true. Imagine that.

In tests conducted by NSF International, an accredited third party certification body, which has been around since 1944, shows huge discrepancies between the Ford production parts and Ford service parts.

First, a Ford bumper absorber, which adds shock resistance and resilience to your bumper, purchased from a dealer for a 2005-2009 Mustang was tested. The test clearly shows lower weight, density and hardness for the part when compared to the production part. This means the service part can’t absorb the same amount of energy as the original production part. Does that sound like the same part?

Next, two factory installed genuine manufactured production bumper isolators, which act as a shock absorber in a impact, were removed from a 2005-2009 Mustang and compared to the same service parts purchased at a dealership. The service parts weighed 72 percent less than the genuine part. I ask again, does that sound like the same part?

Additional testing on the parts showed even far more discrepancies between Ford production parts and service parts.

Ford service parts showed lower densities of as much as 79 percent which means that the parts you buy from your Ford dealer to repair your vehicle would absorb 83 percent less compression than the Ford production parts. Again and again I ask, do these sound like the “exact same parts” that Ford claims them to be?

No one, not even the hardest line car manufacturing loving supporter can claim these are the same parts. No way.

It’s nothing new. Last year I found that Ford brake parts showed weight differences between the production parts and service parts. So this difference is not just on crash parts. It includes internal hard parts as well.

Obviously the huge differences between Ford production and service parts show that material composition is not as crucial as Ford pontificates it to be. As I have stated many times over and over, these car company types, with Ford in the lead, are a bunch of sanctimonious and pompous folks that say one thing while really doing and producing some thing else.

In the car company world, where they are all kings and we their serfs, they don’t think there is anything wrong with being that way.

Testing by the Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) has shown over and over that aftermarket parts are safe and deliver the same, if not better, protection as car company parts all while saving the consumer money. The American way. That has been true yesterday, ten years ago and it will be tomorrow and into the future.

I started this article by talking about Fords popular old jingle from the 1980’s – “Have You Driven A Ford Lately.” Well now I have a new jingle for Ford. The new jingle should be sung as – sing it with me now -

“When Can You Trust Ford – Anymore.”