I've found out through the years whether buying guns, motorcycles, boats and automobiles things just aren't made worth a darn anymore. Manufactues as a hole only are in it for the money and not so much the quality and workmanship. It's make them fast and get them out quick.
I have wasted a lot of money over the years because I'm usually never happy with a shoddy product and no pride of ownership. When I do get something made well I keep it, if not it's sold unfortunately at a loss. It's a crap shoot anymore buying anything, sometimes you just have to go for it and hope!!!! Maybe you'll get lucky and get a good one???

Soon I will be in the market for another truck, but not positive if it will be another F150 or?

 

I won't actively say you shouldn't buy a new Ford. Or even a 1-3 yr old Ford....but

I will say that I've had 4 of them in a row with fubar'd paint. Let me repeat...4 BRAND NEW FORDS (2006 F-150, 2008 Expedition, 2009 Mustang, 2012 Flex).

I can see getting a Lemon, or perhaps the one built at end of shift on Friday. But 4 of them? C'mon, at some point enough is enough


If you are looking to buy a late model Ford, I highly suggest you pick it over with a Magnafying glass. Especially a new one. Then be prepared for Ford to refuse warranty coverage and blame you for your issues (Rust, water in fuel, injectors hydro locking motor...etc)

Ford told me to shove my rusting roof up my kiester. Kinda hard to support a company who won't honor their 3yr/36k warranty on a vehicle that had a $50,000 MSRP!

 

Tylus - you didn't check the paint after the second one with a problem?
I agree that it's wrong they did not honor their warranty. Did you get a lawyer? With a defect like this, I'd think it would be easy to win?

 

2006 F-150: Bought in October, found issues 2 months later. Ford treated me 100% and made it right

2008 Expy: Huge Ordeal where it was in paint booth for ~3 months. Painted 6 different occasions to correct Factory defects and defects Dealership made in paint. Took me 3 days to find the issues. 2.5 yrs later was still fighting Ford when roof started rusting and Ford blamed me. Lawyers + BBB + KHON 2 News Station...ultimately nothing but hassle

2009 Mustang Bullitt: part of settlement with Dealership over Expy and my website http://www.HonoluluFordSucks.com . Paint was okay at delivery except for slight scratch. 2yrs later hood began bubbling. After Expy nightmare, I just ignored the hood and was making plans to buy a new cowl hood

2012 Flex: never buying a new Ford again, but I'll lease! Saw the paint runs on delivery, but don't really care. Just irks me


I should have caught the Expy. That was a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. Mustang was a known issue Ford has had from 2005-Current Mustangs...truth be told, all of their models. My Expy had the hood repainted twice for this. Ford uses aluminum hoods that are improperly prepped and have contaminants. Not really a matter of if, but when

 

I had chronic paint issues on a '95 T-bird. Ford called it a Pearl Paint that would flip flop under certain types of light. The paint itself was perfect but the clear coat was creeping over all the edges. Six lengthy stays at the dealer and she was never right again. Ford offered to buy it back for pennies on the dollar. I told em to stuff it and got more on trade.

My '04 Expy had a bubbling paint issue in the rain gutters, the dealer promptly made the repair and she never had another issue.

So again I say that I blame the dealer for many of these issues. Ford shouldn't have one single paint defect as far as I'm concerned but they do. The dealer is Ford's last line of defense and should do a better job of prepping and going over the cars hand over hand before they actually try to sell it.

 

I'm a police officer and my dept uses Crown Vics. The '03s peeled paint after a few years. Not little spots, huge strips of paint on the hood, roof, and trunk lid. I swapped the hood on my '03 to one off of an '05 that got rear-ended.

In '07 we went from white to gray cars. Not sure the technical term, but the 'nose cone' piece that the grill and headlights sit in also peeled on several cars. Funny, we had white cars that wanted to be gray by shedding paint to the primer then we had gray cars that wanted to be white by shedding paint to the plastic.

I'm scared to spend as much money as they want for a new truck and they it be a crap shoot if it'll look any better than my '78 in five years...

 

Flixden,

Here is what happened on my current truck. I'll just go over this one, so that the post is not as long, but it will still be long. Sorry about that, just no way to condense it.

Purchased the truck in Dec 2011. The dealer had to do a trade to get the truck I wanted, so I didn't get to see it before delivery. When I took delivery, it was already dark, so I didn't see the exterior cosmetic flaws until the next day. They included one dent in the passenger door and black overspray all over the truck. I did note a discoloration on a plastic trim piece on the side of the console and a deformed trim piece on the "A" post. Contacted dealership and brought it in for repair, along with the problems on my steering wheel radio control that activates sync. The sirius button on the radio was not working after a couple of days as well, and noticed the radio would change to a different station by itself after I shut the truck off and restarted it. Had quite a bit of wind noise as well from the driver side door.

Got the truck back a few days later and noticed another dent in the tailgate that I had not seen before. The parts were ordered for the interior pieces that were deformed and discolored, and a reflash was done to sync, in an attempt to fix the issues I was having with the radio and steering wheel controls. Dealership said they would also work on getting the other dent removed from the tailgate and would have the truck sent out for a clay bar job to take off the overspray. Passenger side door dent was removed by the paintless dent removal guy.

Brought the truck back in a few days later because the engine started making a ticking noise. Steering wheel button, sirius button, and radio issue still not fixed. Got a call back that they attempted to remove the tailgate, but could not get it all the way out without having to do paint work. After 9 days of diagnostics, the engine was found to have failed and the cause was a bad crankshaft. I was told they would be putting a new engine in the truck. The truck had 600 miles on it at this point. I told the GM of the dealership that I wanted a new truck, due to the problems and the failure of the engine at 600 miles. He said he couldn't do it because they had already sent paperwork out and it had been titled in my name. Several phone calls back and forth and meetings face to face didn't do any good. He then promised me that Ford would put an extended warranty on it for 6 years/100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper. He said he would call me back and let me know when it was activated. Never called. I had to call him and it took almost two weeks, during which time I e-mailed Ford Customer Support. They assured me I would be contacted by someone shortly. Never heard from them again.

Picked the truck up with the new engine and met with the GM again. He said sometimes these engines just fail prematurely. I was not impressed by his lack of give a s*** and let him know it. He said they were still working on getting me an extended warranty. After getting home, noticed there was a noise under the hood, so investigated and found the mechanics had not secured the shroud when they put it back in. Took it back to dealer for them to get it right. Still having sync issues, the button on my steering wheel, and sirius button was still acting up. Couple of weeks later, I am getting ready to leave work, and notice oil all under the truck. Tow truck came and got it and they discovered the oil pump on the transmission and seal had failed. Still no extended warranty. Dealership also had failed at this point to take my truck to have the overspray removed, and the dent in the tailgate was still there.

I obtained a Ford Executive's e-mail address and sent him an e-mail that detailed everything. He responded back very quickly and said he would have someone contact me immediately about the issues. Four days later, I get a call from someone at Ford and they said they can't give me the extended warranty the dealership GM said that Ford would give me, but I could buy one if I wanted. Needless to say, I didn't have very kind words for that person.

Still have the overspray on the truck, the dent is still in the tailgate, the buttons still fail to work at times on the steering wheel and radio itself, and the radio changes the station all on its own at times. They can't seem to fix it. I wanted a new truck when the engine failed at 600 miles, and under the circumstances, I think it was a reasonable request. When they said that could not happen, I told the Ford rep and the dealership that if they would give me the extended warranty that they initially promised and fixed the other issues, I would be ok and move on. They said they couldn't do it. That was totally unacceptable in my opinion. At this point, I am over the poor customer service and no longer have any faith in the truck or Ford.

 

Good looking truck, I hope everythinhg works out for you!

 

Hey Coastie, thanks for taking the time!
I agree, what happened to you must be very frustrating.
One of the worst things also is when they promise something (in your case the warranty), and then don't follow through with it. I hate that more than anything else - maybe because I believe such promises should be kept, even if the dealer has to eat the loss - because he promised it.
Yeah, I would not be a happy camper either.
I hope somehow this gets straightened out for you. Have you looked into your state's lemon law?

 

As for the extended warranty, the dealer could have issued a dealer warranty on his own that would have been good at any Ford store with dealer approval.

I bought a dealer warranty for my Focus as I had no idea where my daughter was going to end up going to school. It's a 72/72 bumper to bumper that carries a $100 deductible after the initial 36/36 expires and carries the power train warranty an additional 12/12. I don't advocate purchasing warranties but my kid has ended up in a fairly remote location for college this coming fall and if she needs a tow for any failure in the car it's all good. Anyway, sorry to make this about me but the dealer could have done more on his own and potentially saved a GREAT customer for Ford.

The stories are sad and they make me sick. Ford failed pure and simple.

 

Interesting thread. I'm learning lots!

 

I wish Ford would!!!!

 

Sounds like there are a lot of shady dealers out there. Ford could have stepped up to the plate and should have done so by forcing the dealer to make things right. Instead, Ford is enabling the dealers to do the wrong thing by not acting properly. It's all about the money in this day and age. At $40K a pop, it's going to cost all the manufacturers in the end. That's why I buy used. I save a ton of $ and the vehicle has a history to review. My little small town dealer knows in advance that if they think I might be interested in a vehicle to have the OASIS report there before I get there or it's no go. My 06 is a lease return and had a clean OASIS report. Hopefully I'll be as lucky on the next truck. But the dealer also knows I go over the vehicle with a fine tooth comb before I purchase. And they also know I'll do a code scan on the spot as well. Just how I am.