I think that what Dave is trying to say is this.

All companies that produce vehicles know that their product will cause deaths. They are inherently dangerous. Ford however, is documented as having produced at least 3 vehicles that they knew had a serious fatal flaw. Most companies upon recognizing a large dangerous problem will re-engineer. Ford chose instead to go ahead with the design despite knowing specifically what the problem was. They made the conscious decision to produce a problem they knew existed. Dave's point was that although, yes every car company has had some horrible flaws, most of them did not intentionally build them that way. The problems were discovered after release. This is my take on what he finds reprehensible about the Ford motor company.

Now all that being said. Is Ford a sinking ship? Maybe. Kind of. But not really. Ford will attempt restructuring. They will probably trim their line. They will probably sell off a few divisions. They will probably do something drastic to their models to strike interest. They will probably outsource a lot of work to Mexico, beyond just the Focus. All of that failing, the Government will bail them out. Ford is an American icon. The Government will never let Ford go under. Ford is not a Buick, or an Eagle, or an AMC. They are far more iconic then even Chevy in American history. There will always be a Ford in the United States.