Why Ford Sucks (advice needed, venting..)

[WillBrink]

Going to vent, then advice welcome:

Back story: never owned US made car. Drove just about every brand of Japanese car out there since 83, with no major complaints. I decided perhaps it was time to give a US company a try and my research suggested Ford the best of them. GF got a C Max, I got an explorer. Explorer seemed like a solid vehicle until at 20k miles it started to suffer some mysterious electrical problem, the worst of which manifests itself by hitting the gas peddle and nothing happens. The revs are there, it's just nadda between transmission and the engine. It can last a few seconds to a few minutes and when it does finally engage, the car leaps forward similar to what happens when you drop the clutch hard on a manual car. Other things are rear view cam coming on when going forward, cruise control shutting off for no reason etc. Worst, and potentially dangerous is the dead motor thing. Left me dead in the water in an intersection the other day.

Brought it to Ford service three times now. First two times, being (apparently) an electrical issue, and an intermittent one at that, of course they couldn't reproduce the problem or fix it. Third time was the charm as I walked the tech out and it did it for him in person, so he confirmed it and said he thought it was electrical vs a transmission issue. Once they got it int he shop, you guessed it, they could not reproduce it, and no fix.

Now I'm getting pissed. Many phone calls, etc later to Ford corporate, them generally doing jack shit to help me, etc, they then ask me to bring it in for a 4th time!

I said I would, if they would at least tell me what they would happen after #4 visit and no fix: replace the car, let me out of the lease, etc of after #4 if was not fixed. Their response was "we will evaluate that afterward in a 'good faith review'"

I responded, "so if after #4 and nothing is fixed, we go onto #5?"

Hence a total non answer and yet, I should bring it in for #4 with zero commitment from them, so at that point I declined knowing it was a waste of time and all they are doing is trying to wear me down and give up. I have 7 months left on the lease.

Of course my sense of right and wrong says simply stop paying them and tell them to come get their POS car and sue me if they don't like it. Problem there is, they can ruin my credit which is very good.

I could pay off the lease (as much as that idea grinds my f-ing gears) and just walk away from it and Ford altogether. That's the simple but most $ route. They have me screwed because with that issue, can't really trade it in to another brand (at 6 months you can easily be roled into another lease with other brands) because it's got this electrical issues.

So, it appears I'm stuck with Ford until the lease run out (which is me paying for a defective car), pay the lease off and walk, which is me throwing $ in the toilet on a defective car. Getting an attorney involved at this juncture does not seem a wise investment either.

Any other options you can think of?

Yes, n =1 experience, but that will be my first and last US car. Fu*$ Ford.

[Buckaroo]

Maybe contact a local consumer advocacy journalist and get them to write an article. Ford might be thrilled to prove how great their customer service is...
Otherwise I'd send every news outlet an opinion letter that they can publish and I'd be sending letters to every Ford executive. This is Ford's problem to solve and if they aren't responsive pretty quickly you should get a nice window shade detailing what you are dealing with. Easy to remove at the end of your lease.
Your already mad now get even!

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[WillBrink]

Maybe contact a local consumer advocacy journalist and get them to write an article. Ford might be thrilled to prove how great their customer service is...
Otherwise I'd send every news outlet an opinion letter that they can publish and I'd be sending letters to every Ford executive. This is Ford's problem to solve and if they aren't responsive pretty quickly you should get a nice window shade detailing what you are dealing with. Easy to remove at the end of your lease.
Your already mad now get even!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

All good advice. Thanx!

[Doc Safari]

FORD:

1. An acronym meaning "Found On Road Dead"
2. An acronym meaning "Fix or Repair Daily"

Nuff Said

Is there a lemon law where you live?

[Arik]

Whatever you do don't ruin your credit. That will cost you more in the long run.

I would pay it off and trade it in. Get out of it ASAP and be done. Writing letters will probably get you nowhere.

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[Arik]

FORD:

1. An acronym meaning "Found On Road Dead"
2. An acronym meaning "Fix or Repair Daily"

Nuff Said

Is there a lemon law where you live?

Lemon law applies to having the same problem fixed several times with no results. You can have 45 different problems and it won't qualify for lemon law. However each state is slightly different. For instance....Pa lemon law covers only 1 year, 12k miles or the term of expressed warranty, whichever comes first

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[Bulletdog]

I've had similar experiences with Ford. I'll never buy another one and I tell everyone I know not to buy one.

Wife bought an Escape. A/C worked intermittently. Took it in for repair, and they told us it was fixed. It wasn't. Took it in five more times. They never fixed it. Got all the way up to the West Coast Regional Manger. I told her the car was a lemon and we just wanted a replacement, since after 6 tries they clearly were not going to be able to fix it. She accused me of making it all up. For what purpose, I asked? Why would anyone want all this hassle? She matter of fact told me: "We've done everything we are going to do, and you can sue us if you don't like it.", and promptly hung up on me. Nicole was her name. Couldn't get anyone higher up on the phone after that, and really didn't feel like taking up litigation as a new hobby. Wife was literally getting sick over it, so she traded it back in to Ford for a new one and we took a loss of several thousand, but kept our sanity. The second one was ok, but didn't hold up well in the long run, so she bought a Rav4 instead.

I've got an '05 E350 Diesel. Nothing but problems from day one. And I've not had any of the problems that people complain about with the 6.0 engine. A/C grenaded at 34K. Literally blew up. All sorts of door, weatherstripping problems, auto-locking and other issues. Tranny blew up at 75K. The thing rattles and squeaks so loud I have to use earphones to have a phone conversation while driving. It leaks when it rains. Can't park it nose up on a hill or it drips diesel fuel. I've had to replace the duel alternators and batteries every two to three years since I've had it. POS.

I can understand that any mechanical device will have some issues. What I can't understand is poor customer service and not backing your product. I don't have these problems with any of my Toyotas. Ford can suck it! Fix or repair daily.

[Big A]

Wiil,

If you take the vehicle in again have the technician ride with you with a code scanner hooked into the car. That thing should be throwing some kind of code. It sounds like it is one of the electical switches (relays) for the transmission.

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[WillBrink]

I've had similar experiences with Ford. I'll never buy another one and I tell everyone I know not to buy one.

Wife bought an Escape. A/C worked intermittently. Took it in for repair, and they told us it was fixed. It wasn't. Took it in five more times. They never fixed it. Got all the way up to the West Coast Regional Manger. I told her the car was a lemon and we just wanted a replacement, since after 6 tries they clearly were not going to be able to fix it. She accused me of making it all up. For what purpose, I asked? Why would anyone want all this hassle? She matter of fact told me: "We've done everything we are going to do, and you can sue us if you don't like it.", and promptly hung up on me. Nicole was her name. Couldn't get anyone higher up on the phone after that, and really didn't feel like taking up litigation as a new hobby. Wife was literally getting sick over it, so she traded it back in to Ford for a new one and we took a loss of several thousand, but kept our sanity. The second one was ok, but didn't hold up well in the long run, so she bought a Rav4 instead.

I've got an '05 E350 Diesel. Nothing but problems from day one. And I've not had any of the problems that people complain about with the 6.0 engine. A/C grenaded at 34K. Literally blew up. All sorts of door, weatherstripping problems, auto-locking and other issues. Tranny blew up at 75K. The thing rattles and squeaks so loud I have to use earphones to have a phone conversation while driving. It leaks when it rains. Can't park it nose up on a hill or it drips diesel fuel. I've had to replace the duel alternators and batteries every two to three years since I've had it. POS.

I can understand that any mechanical device will have some issues. What I can't understand is poor customer service and not backing your product. I don't have these problems with any of my Toyotas. Ford can suck it! Fix or repair daily.

Your story does not leave me with confidence things will get any better, but it does confirm it's not an uncommon experience. Guess I have done deciding to do now. Not one Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, etc ever gave me problems. Lesson learned I guess. Will cost me just under 3k to pay off early and walk, but sanity is priceless in my experience.

[WillBrink]

Wiil,

If you take the vehicle in again have the technician ride with you with a code scanner hooked into the car. That thing should be throwing some kind of code. It sounds like it is one of the electical switches (relays) for the transmission.

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No code. Tec claimed (visit 1-3) they went over that car with all diagnostics they have. Visit 3 they worked with techs as Ford corporate to make sure they looked at everything. Issue is the intermittent nature of it apparently.