Ford Expands and Improves Technician Training Programs

The blue oval company’s technician training program has been updated a lot in recent months, with Ford paying its techs to submit photos of quality issues, providing comprehensive EV training at the Universal Technician Institute (UTI), and sending salespeople, technicians, and parts-employees to its new “Electric University” EV training school at a classroom near the company’s Dearborn, Michigan headquarters. Most recently though, Ford announced that its technician training will be updated again with the launch of three new Automotive Student Service Educational Training (ASSET) programs at specific community colleges and technical schools across the United States.

In particular, ASSET – a partnership between Ford Motor Company, Ford and Lincoln dealerships, and those strategically-chosen community colleges and technical schools – strives to provide dealerships with technicians who are highly trained in the automaker’s service technologies and diagnostic and repair techniques. For 2022, three new ASSET programs will become available at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona, Wake Technical College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

The updated ASSET program will offer Mobile Service Technician Certification and special EV training programs, such as High Voltage Systems Safety, Hybrid Vehicle Components and Operation, Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) Components and Operation, and an introduction to High Voltage Battery Service, and even a Ford instructor-led class on Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Operation and Diagnosis. Ford has given 25 plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles to ASSET locations for students to receive hands-on training.

During two years of training, ASSET students can earn up to 100 percent of Ford’s Service Technician Specialty Training (STST) credentials, an associate’s degree in Automotive Technology, and obtain one-year of work experience at a Ford or Lincoln dealership. ASSET graduates also can achieve Ford’s High Voltage Systems Certification, beyond the 12 certifications the program currently provides.

“The ASSET program puts these kids in the classroom and then in the stall applying [what they’ve learned]. To me, getting those two at the same time is going to give a dealer better technician retention and the student a better understanding of the information,” said Josh Fichter, General Manager, Five Star Ford in North Richland Hills, Texas. “It also breeds loyalty because if you’re not proactively growing your own technicians right now, you’re going to be in a world of hurt.”