An outbreak of tornadoes through the Gulf states and into the Southeast early last week saw one twister shatter a sprawling BorgWarner assembly plant. Known for building all-important transfer cases for four-and all-wheel drive vehicles, the Seneca, SC facility lay in near-ruins following the direct hit, though it wasn’t known which manufacturers sourced components from the plant.
Well, it turns out one recipient of Seneca-built parts is Ford — and it uses a lot of them.
As reported by the Associated Press (via the Detroit Free Press), a regulatory filing from Friday shows Ford installs parts from the tornado-trashed plant in a variety of big-ticket vehicles. Among them, the country’s best-selling vehicle, the F-150, as well as the Explorer, Expedition, and Transit. The Lincoln brand sees BorgWarner transfer cases installed in Aviators and Navigators.
In other words, Ford’s biggest profit generators.
For a company that attempted to get its pickup plants back up and running early amid the continent-wide coronavirus shutdown (a plan it eventually backed off from), last week’s fluke of nature added a new headache.
Aerial footage from @wyffnews4 shows damage to Senaca, SC region after overnight tornado struck around 330am including major damage to @BorgWarner plant, multiple homes damaged, some destroyed, trees down: https://t.co/aBUM1bw0EB 13Apr2020 #scwx pic.twitter.com/UzLrvBKFwu
— Chris (@TriggerPsychoma) April 13, 2020
In the filing, Ford said the equipment it owns inside the hard-hit facility was not “materially damaged,” though the same can’t be said about the building around it. Besides tearing the roof and exterior walls off much of the facility, the early morning tornado killed one contract employee. The toll would surely have been higher had the twister struck during normal, non-pandemic times.
Neither Ford nor BorgWarner can say when the plant’s crucial components might make it back into production, be it at the existing facility or somewhere else. That’s a huge question mark for Ford, what with automakers now planning for a return to production across the U.S. While Ford has resisted listing a return date, many of its rivals have pegged anywhere between May 4th and the middle of the month for a cautious return to car-making.
“We are working closely with the supplier to manage the situation and to determine next steps,” the automaker said in a statement.
[Image: Ford]
Tornadoes suck. I am anti-tornado. Am considering beginning a formal campaign against them.
At this point you are just pissing in the wind.
Burning multiple rods of R45 to patch up a 25-year-old exhaust pipe (new muffler was only 40 bucks shipped!) is expected – no complaints.
Having to bang out body damage because something was *thrown out of the sky* seems unsporting.
Here’s to hoping Mother Nature smiles kindly upon the world this year, because dealing with the normal run of fires, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, drought, etc. will just be *extra* delightful.
“Hurricane Shelter”, “Fire Evacuation Center”, etc. and “Social Distancing” are not compatible concepts.
nah, I think this planet is clearly sending us a message. it’s sick of our s**t and wants us to know it.
Yeah, right “the planet” (chuckle). After all there have never been destructive tornadoes before. If there were, ages ago someone might have made a movie about them, maybe even something about picking up a house and dropping it into a strange land, on top of someone even.
nature has its own population controls, you know. unless you’re one of those people who don’t believe in evolution or adaptation.
Do we really need anti-religious bigotry here? Really?
I thought this was an automotive enthusiast site…..
I dont know I think she just wants us to all leave.
So what…Is Mother Nature akin to an Old Testament God? Sounds an awful lot like a religion to me.
if you’ve got anything other than kneejerk gainsaying, I’m all ears.
Why would I…you are the one presenting her as some sort of Deity that is now out to smite all of our transgressions. Not a ton of Science in your pinning a Tornado on the wrath of Go…oh, I mean your chosen Deity.
where did I say “Mother Nature?” if I say gravity exists, would you claim I consider it a deity?
“though it wasn’t known which manufacturers sourced components from the plant.”
probably most of them, but let’s focus doom and gloom on only one in particular.
“Ford said the equipment it owns inside the hard-hit facility was not ‘materially damaged\'”
That’s a curiously specific statement. Maybe B-W owns all the test equipment and other supporting infrastructure, which still means they can’t produce product.
I feel bad for the workers who certainly were hoping to return soon.
Maybe they can set up in a tent.
Equipment inside the facility is not destroyed. Tooling may be and will be moved to other locations as needed to continue production.
Tornado removed the roof while leaving contents intact. No unusual for a tornado.
https://youtu.be/p5iGp5qbQks Time for a quick re-tool.
https://youtu.be/p5iGp5qbQks Time for a quick re-tool.
This is probably about the best possible time for there to be a disaster like this.
It isn’t like Ford needs to produce a lot of vehicles at the moment.
When I saw the news about a Borg-Warner plant taking a hit, I wondered what they made there. Well, now we know. Yikes.
Ford involved in a quick re-tool? We know how that worked out for the 202 Explorer and MKExplorer. Yet another item that will be absent of any level of quality.