- Report: #194877
Complaint Review: Ford Motor Company - Dearborn Michigan
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Ford Motor Company
PO Box 1904 Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.A.
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Last weekend, my family and I where going to go to the Zoo when suddenly my car begins to overheat. A friend came out and looked it this weekend and told me it was the intake manifold.
After doing research on this, i found so much info on this manifold and the actual letter that ford sent their dealerships concerning this manifold.
First, let me tell you how we ended up with the 1997 crown victoria we now have. We first bought a 1998 Ford Contour. After anything and everything happening with this car,(transmission going out, water pump blowing up, sensors going out left and right and well over 3000.00 in repairs) we ended up trading it in on what we could afford. At the time, we where still 4 yrs away from paying off the Contour and we only got 5,000.00 for the trade in value of the contour. So that left us a nice little sum of 4,000.00 to add to whatever car we decided to get. So they showed us a nice 1997 crown victoria that had been repossed from the previous owners. Bam with it having been repossed, and sitting on their lot for more then 30 days, we ended up with this nice crown victoria.
Now, we bought this car in March of 2001, the dated letter i found being sent to the dealships over this manifold was Demember 2001. We where the owners correct? we should have been notified what was going on with the manifolds you would think. No that wasn't the case. According to a Ford Rep this morning that i talked to. Since we was not the actual people to purchase the brand new car, we didn't get a recall notice. He even went as far to tell me that my VIN number wasn't even involved in the recall which he stated wasn't really a recall, it was more or less a extended warrenty to get the manifold replaced.
After thinking about it, I decided to call the dealer in which we purchased the car from. The lady i spoke with told me that my car was included in the recall but the recall wasn't issued until 14 December 2005. (wait did i just say 2005? yes). She told me that the recall had expired for my car in July of 2004. Now, being owners of the vehicle from March of 2001 until present day, not once did we recieve ANY letter telling us about manifold being faulty.
The one thing i really dont' understand is why am I getting two different stories, one from ford corpration and one from a ford dealship. I mean don't us that keep ford's money coming in have a right to get our cars fixed also? You know, my family is not in the middle or higher class but repairs eat away until you have no money what so ever. So now here it is summer time, kids to be able to get out and have fun and I'm stuck at home with a broke down car since ford didn't bother to inform me of a faulty manifold and doesn't even bother to help when they knew it could crack.
This being said, and after all the trouble i've had out of ford, this will be my last purchase of a ford. 2 out of 2 down for the count.
Oh and i ask the lady at the dealership how much it would run to have this manifold fixed, she told me 900.00 roughly. I don't have 900.00 laying around and i'm sure no one else does either.
Tandy
Indianapaolis, Indiana
U.S.A.
After doing research on this, i found so much info on this manifold and the actual letter that ford sent their dealerships concerning this manifold.
First, let me tell you how we ended up with the 1997 crown victoria we now have. We first bought a 1998 Ford Contour. After anything and everything happening with this car,(transmission going out, water pump blowing up, sensors going out left and right and well over 3000.00 in repairs) we ended up trading it in on what we could afford. At the time, we where still 4 yrs away from paying off the Contour and we only got 5,000.00 for the trade in value of the contour. So that left us a nice little sum of 4,000.00 to add to whatever car we decided to get. So they showed us a nice 1997 crown victoria that had been repossed from the previous owners. Bam with it having been repossed, and sitting on their lot for more then 30 days, we ended up with this nice crown victoria.
Now, we bought this car in March of 2001, the dated letter i found being sent to the dealships over this manifold was Demember 2001. We where the owners correct? we should have been notified what was going on with the manifolds you would think. No that wasn't the case. According to a Ford Rep this morning that i talked to. Since we was not the actual people to purchase the brand new car, we didn't get a recall notice. He even went as far to tell me that my VIN number wasn't even involved in the recall which he stated wasn't really a recall, it was more or less a extended warrenty to get the manifold replaced.
After thinking about it, I decided to call the dealer in which we purchased the car from. The lady i spoke with told me that my car was included in the recall but the recall wasn't issued until 14 December 2005. (wait did i just say 2005? yes). She told me that the recall had expired for my car in July of 2004. Now, being owners of the vehicle from March of 2001 until present day, not once did we recieve ANY letter telling us about manifold being faulty.
The one thing i really dont' understand is why am I getting two different stories, one from ford corpration and one from a ford dealship. I mean don't us that keep ford's money coming in have a right to get our cars fixed also? You know, my family is not in the middle or higher class but repairs eat away until you have no money what so ever. So now here it is summer time, kids to be able to get out and have fun and I'm stuck at home with a broke down car since ford didn't bother to inform me of a faulty manifold and doesn't even bother to help when they knew it could crack.
This being said, and after all the trouble i've had out of ford, this will be my last purchase of a ford. 2 out of 2 down for the count.
Oh and i ask the lady at the dealership how much it would run to have this manifold fixed, she told me 900.00 roughly. I don't have 900.00 laying around and i'm sure no one else does either.
Tandy
Indianapaolis, Indiana
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Mark
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Jim, odds are not good
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, July 06, 2006
I disagree wholeheartedly with Jim's statement, "Explain, be polite, and odds are good you'll get a free repair". Ford has consistently refused to help consumers with these faulty manifolds and consumers had to file a class action lawsuit. You can refer to Susan Chamberlan et al. v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. C 03-2628 CW. Ford lost this lawsuit, but still refused to admit any wrongdoing. Ford was ordered to reimburse the consumers. The deadline to file for reimbursement for this settlement was 3/16/06. So, chances are this woman is stuck with a well established faulty product produced by Ford and they will not help her.
Jim
Mobile,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Ummm, Tandy, you didn't buy it new.
#3Consumer Suggestion
Sat, June 17, 2006
You really need to call Ford as was suggested, many times the warranty transfers to the second or third owner, and recall notices should be forwarded to you, but sometimes the address gets lost or it's sent to the original owner who has no idea where to forward it. Also please note that most recalls end on a specific date or mileage, the idea is that if it hasn't failed by then, it isn't going to. But for the cars that do "Fall between the cracks" only the factory can help, they'll work with most folks, especialy those whose notices didn't get there for some reason. Do this, contact Ford Motor Corporate, they will either connect you to the warranty/recall division, or otherwise determine if they can help or not. Do NOT threaten them, Do NOT claim "I'll never buy another Ford again, this is a dead loss to them as you didn't buy the car new in the first place, so don't piss them off then ask for a favor. Explain, be polite, and odds are good you'll get a free repair, hack them off, be nasty, threaten, and you'll get the "Sorry we can't help you" routine. Jim
Tandy
Indianapaolis,Indiana,
U.S.A.
dealship actually told me I needed to talk to someone at ford corp
#4Author of original report
Mon, June 05, 2006
I forgot to add this. I also called a dealership before i called ford corp this morning. The guy at the dealship actually told me I needed to talk to someone at ford corp and told me if i found that letter on the internet that i can also find fords number on the internet and hung up on me. Come on, for once people open your eyes. We are the ones thats getting ripped off, you guys still have your jobs to where we end up paying your paychecks by buying cars from you.
