Legal [or otherwise] Advice Against Ford Needed
#1
09-17-2017, 04:35 PM
Legal [or otherwise] Advice Against Ford Needed
Yes, I know I'll need to speak with an attorney, but, in the meantime, I wanted to get some feedback from you folks.
My almost new 2015 Ford F150 was purchased in November of 2016 (one year old) with less than 6,000 (six-thousand) miles. It was purchased from a Honda dealership in Ohio. I am a resident of Tennessee. Current mileage is roughly 30,000. During the last 10 months, the truck has been taken to and/or kept at the dealer for roughly 40-45 days. It could very easily be more, but I don't have an exact number. One of the more recent stays was for 21-22 days.
According to Ford's corporate customer service agents and Town & Country Ford (my local dealership) in Madison, TN., no service work had been completed before I purchased the vehicle.
Since purchasing the truck 10 months ago, it's been one problem after another. Getting Ford and Town & Country Ford to properly resolve these issues in a timely manner has been an impossible task. The following is a list of things that have been replaced/repaired under the factory warranty. As of right now, it appears as though at least one of the transmission issues is still not resolved. Possibly both.
Transmission (at least two separate issues)
- Transmission violently kicking in and out of gear while driving. Result of known lead frame issue. Dealer attempted to fix by rigging with cheap foam seal. Major safety concern when vehicle is kicking in and out of gear while going down the highway.
- Transmission "sqwak" during 5-3 downshift. Result of known issue TSB 14-0100. After multiple complaints to Town & Country Ford about this issue, and me informing them of TSB-14-0100, they attempted to fix this problem multiple times. First attempt was to add a friction modifier to the transmission fluid. Seemed to work for a while. Most recently they removed the transmission and replaced the OD clutch pack. Was told to see what happens during 1000 mile break-in period. Sqwaking noise has happened three times during this period. Waiting to hear back from Ford with yet another attempt to resolve this issue.
- Transmission stuck in 3rd gear - Result of same/another lead frame issue as mentioned above in "kicking in and out of gear" description. Dealer replaced lead frame with updated version. This was only days ago, so not sure if this has solved the problem for good. It took months for this lead frame issue to happenagain after the previous lead frame issue. Major safety concern when you inadvertently pull out in front traffic, nearly getting hit by oncoming traffic.
Speedometer
- Analog speedometer is indicating slower than actual speed. Variance can vary from day to day. NEVER accurate. Pulled over for speeding twice with cruise set. First mentioned this problem 10 months ago. Still not resolved.
Radio
- Replaced
Rear cup holder
- Fixed/Replaced
Windshield washer pump
- In order to get this resolved, this nightmare turned into 5 trips to two separate dealerships. Town & Country Ford insisted it was functioning properly, even though fluid was spraying only 1/3 up the windshield. After comparing against similar vehicles and determining I was correct, I took the vehicle back to the dealership. They admitted that there was a problem and replaced the pump. However, they damaged the wiper cowl in the process. Another dealer replaced it. Yep, 5 trips to the dealer, when it should have taken no more than 2.
Wheels
- Fake chrome (PVD) peeling on edges of all four wheels. All wheels were replaced.
Throttle body
- Replaced
Seat cover (passenger)
- Replaced
Keyless entery keypad
- Something broke, causing keypad to partially fall out of hole in door. Clip was broken, so I set it back in hole to prevent as must rain water as possible from entering the door. While at the dealer for issue(s) mentioned above, I told them that I had heard an unusual wind/whistling noise, only to realize the keypad had fallen out of its hole. When I arrived to pick up the truck, I was told that there was nothing wrong with the keypad. They went as far as to blame the wind/whistling noise on the rain/wind guards that I had installed several months ago. When they pulled my truck around, I asked the service adviser to come with me. Sure enough, the keypad fell right out of the door. Now I get to make yet ANOTHER trip to the dealer. The nightmare never ends.
As you can see, for the last 10 months, my patience has been tested. How much is one person supposed to endue? All I've done is continue to be a loyal Ford customer by buying a F150, as I've done many, many years. In return, I get a truck riddled with problems, a bunch of lies and excuses, shoddy "band-aid" fixes and finger pointing. The dealership blames Ford, Ford blames the dealership. Ford suggested I take it to another dealership, so I did. That dealer doesn't want any part of any issue that the other dealer has been "attempting" to resolve.
Not only have the constant transmission issues been a great safety concern, these issues have drastically reduced the resale value of my truck. I have considered selling the truck just so I can rid myself of this lemon, but my honesty and firm belief in karma would not allow me to lie or not disclose the laundry list of issues, some still unresolved. Anyone who comes to look at the truck will certainly ask if there's anything wrong and/or if I've had any problems with it. There's absolutely no way I could lie about this lemon. No one is going to touch this truck with a ten foot pole, without me taking a huge financial hit that I definitely can't afford.
During a recent phone call to Ford, the customer service person suggested that I request a buyback. She put in that request. Someone else has mentioned that manufactures can and do issue vouchers towards another vehicle. A regional service manager contacted me the other day to inform me that because of the lemon laws in Tennessee, they are not required to issue a buyback. So, in the end, Ford isn't concerned about my safety because they aren't forced to be concerned. If I lived in another State, they may be forced to take this more seriously. Ford has the authority and power to do whatever they want to do. They have decided that their bottom dollar is worth my than my safety. That doesn't take into account the 10 month (and still counting) nightmare that I've had to endure, or the fact that I can't afford to buy another vehicle due to the thousands of dollars in resale value lost because they built and sold a truck with all of these issues.
My almost new 2015 Ford F150 was purchased in November of 2016 (one year old) with less than 6,000 (six-thousand) miles. It was purchased from a Honda dealership in Ohio. I am a resident of Tennessee. Current mileage is roughly 30,000. During the last 10 months, the truck has been taken to and/or kept at the dealer for roughly 40-45 days. It could very easily be more, but I don't have an exact number. One of the more recent stays was for 21-22 days.
According to Ford's corporate customer service agents and Town & Country Ford (my local dealership) in Madison, TN., no service work had been completed before I purchased the vehicle.
Since purchasing the truck 10 months ago, it's been one problem after another. Getting Ford and Town & Country Ford to properly resolve these issues in a timely manner has been an impossible task. The following is a list of things that have been replaced/repaired under the factory warranty. As of right now, it appears as though at least one of the transmission issues is still not resolved. Possibly both.
Transmission (at least two separate issues)
- Transmission violently kicking in and out of gear while driving. Result of known lead frame issue. Dealer attempted to fix by rigging with cheap foam seal. Major safety concern when vehicle is kicking in and out of gear while going down the highway.
- Transmission "sqwak" during 5-3 downshift. Result of known issue TSB 14-0100. After multiple complaints to Town & Country Ford about this issue, and me informing them of TSB-14-0100, they attempted to fix this problem multiple times. First attempt was to add a friction modifier to the transmission fluid. Seemed to work for a while. Most recently they removed the transmission and replaced the OD clutch pack. Was told to see what happens during 1000 mile break-in period. Sqwaking noise has happened three times during this period. Waiting to hear back from Ford with yet another attempt to resolve this issue.
- Transmission stuck in 3rd gear - Result of same/another lead frame issue as mentioned above in "kicking in and out of gear" description. Dealer replaced lead frame with updated version. This was only days ago, so not sure if this has solved the problem for good. It took months for this lead frame issue to happenagain after the previous lead frame issue. Major safety concern when you inadvertently pull out in front traffic, nearly getting hit by oncoming traffic.
Speedometer
- Analog speedometer is indicating slower than actual speed. Variance can vary from day to day. NEVER accurate. Pulled over for speeding twice with cruise set. First mentioned this problem 10 months ago. Still not resolved.
Radio
- Replaced
Rear cup holder
- Fixed/Replaced
Windshield washer pump
- In order to get this resolved, this nightmare turned into 5 trips to two separate dealerships. Town & Country Ford insisted it was functioning properly, even though fluid was spraying only 1/3 up the windshield. After comparing against similar vehicles and determining I was correct, I took the vehicle back to the dealership. They admitted that there was a problem and replaced the pump. However, they damaged the wiper cowl in the process. Another dealer replaced it. Yep, 5 trips to the dealer, when it should have taken no more than 2.
Wheels
- Fake chrome (PVD) peeling on edges of all four wheels. All wheels were replaced.
Throttle body
- Replaced
Seat cover (passenger)
- Replaced
Keyless entery keypad
- Something broke, causing keypad to partially fall out of hole in door. Clip was broken, so I set it back in hole to prevent as must rain water as possible from entering the door. While at the dealer for issue(s) mentioned above, I told them that I had heard an unusual wind/whistling noise, only to realize the keypad had fallen out of its hole. When I arrived to pick up the truck, I was told that there was nothing wrong with the keypad. They went as far as to blame the wind/whistling noise on the rain/wind guards that I had installed several months ago. When they pulled my truck around, I asked the service adviser to come with me. Sure enough, the keypad fell right out of the door. Now I get to make yet ANOTHER trip to the dealer. The nightmare never ends.
As you can see, for the last 10 months, my patience has been tested. How much is one person supposed to endue? All I've done is continue to be a loyal Ford customer by buying a F150, as I've done many, many years. In return, I get a truck riddled with problems, a bunch of lies and excuses, shoddy "band-aid" fixes and finger pointing. The dealership blames Ford, Ford blames the dealership. Ford suggested I take it to another dealership, so I did. That dealer doesn't want any part of any issue that the other dealer has been "attempting" to resolve.
Not only have the constant transmission issues been a great safety concern, these issues have drastically reduced the resale value of my truck. I have considered selling the truck just so I can rid myself of this lemon, but my honesty and firm belief in karma would not allow me to lie or not disclose the laundry list of issues, some still unresolved. Anyone who comes to look at the truck will certainly ask if there's anything wrong and/or if I've had any problems with it. There's absolutely no way I could lie about this lemon. No one is going to touch this truck with a ten foot pole, without me taking a huge financial hit that I definitely can't afford.
During a recent phone call to Ford, the customer service person suggested that I request a buyback. She put in that request. Someone else has mentioned that manufactures can and do issue vouchers towards another vehicle. A regional service manager contacted me the other day to inform me that because of the lemon laws in Tennessee, they are not required to issue a buyback. So, in the end, Ford isn't concerned about my safety because they aren't forced to be concerned. If I lived in another State, they may be forced to take this more seriously. Ford has the authority and power to do whatever they want to do. They have decided that their bottom dollar is worth my than my safety. That doesn't take into account the 10 month (and still counting) nightmare that I've had to endure, or the fact that I can't afford to buy another vehicle due to the thousands of dollars in resale value lost because they built and sold a truck with all of these issues.
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