I agree with RobertSD about things not being as dire as they could be. Based on how dependent auto sales are on credit though, I’d be very hesitant to start counting the “profitable by ‘09″ chickens before they hatch.

So there’s ~ 7m Fords that have this danger but no recall however there’s an on going NHTSA investigation and Ford will be forced to finally fix this fiery forgotten fatal defect (That’s a lot of “f”s.) Note there are over 100 fatalities from houses burning down b/c the vehicle was parked in the garage. This will hit their profits pretty badly when this comes to fruition and a lot of Ford customers realize that their safety and wellfare are not “job 1″.

I’d say that this substantial progress is a good “indication of profits to come.” It is by no means guaranteed, as you point out, and will be extremely difficult this year for sure with the credit markets and economic slump, as you also mention, but it is not nearly as dire as some portray.