So I went into my dealer with my 08 expedition and thet said that there were problems with the hoods rusting on these vehicles. They looked at mine and said its starting (I never noticed). They said its covered under the normal warrenty. Anyone heard of this problem?

 

It is probably covered under a TSB / special program. The normal warranty is for rust through and they are pretty particular about that aspect of it. I have not heard of the hoods being a problem, liftgates are typically the issue.

 

I also have the exact same issue with my 2006 Expedition King Ranch which I purchased brand new. After ~50K miles the running boards started to rust, after almost a year both the hood and tailgate started bubbling. Ford says the hood and tailgate are aluminum. At present they are peeling badly both front and back and the running boards are completely rusted. I called Ford after the 1st year and in a very terse response, "if it hasn't rusted through we can't do anything for you". I told them that a car in 2006 and by the way, one of Fords most expensive vehicles, should not rust after a few months. Another scripted terse response to shoo me off the phone. As contrast, a family member bought a Toyota Highlander and it had a minor issue which when brought to the attention of Toyota, they addressed no questions asked. My family member was looking at the Escape and Edge at the time but went with the Highlander (reason: see above).

Here is the most regretful part. I have been a lifelong Ford guy and after the treatment I got from Ford from people on the phone that were probably in diapers when I first bought a Ford, the inexcusable quality of the paint job and the very high price tag (>$50K) I will not buy a Ford again. Ford spends $ millions in advertising to convince you to buy their cars and here I was, a believer and all you had to do was fix what is no doubt a manufacturing problem on your side. How sad and stupid is their position.

Here is the perverse punishment Ford is getting every day. I drive around this Expedition which I paid a lot of $ for and which Ford says is "not my problem" and everyone asks about the rust. I explain that Ford will not take care of it and they all are mortified that Ford would their manufacturing problem. I am even asked about it in Mall parking lots. Do you think those people are going to buy a Ford??

 

Were those response' from Ford or the local Ford dealer? You may have to be a little more forceful and less tactful in your dealings with the dealer and/or possibly get to the corporate president to state the issues you have and if you and your family have been buying from them for a while it could make a difference. One of the biggest problems in dealing with corporate structures is there are so many layers of B.S. to get through before you actually speak to a person that might be able to help remedy a problem like yours and the corpoations wonder why they are disliked.

 

Thanks for the response. The dealer was trying to help by getting the Ford reps to authorize repair but corporate Ford is the issue. They still say "no hole, no problem" Finding someone who has authority to do something about this is difficult as you point out.

By the way, they do know I am a lifelong Ford owner but they don't seem to care. How stupid, business 101 - "It costs less money to hold onto a customer than to acquire new ones"!

 

If you have bought other vehicles from that dealer he should just fix it for that reason alone; How stupid, business 101 - "It costs less money to hold onto a customer than to acquire new ones"!

It seems that corporate America just can't figure out that you can only p*ss off so many customers before they go elsewhere and it
shows up in your "Bottom Line"