Ford ought to be ashamed. I’ve never felt so screwed in my whole life. My truck leaks like a piece of Swiss cheese. My story is not fiction.
I bought a new 2010 Ford F-150 (bought a PREMIUM extended warranty – for 72,000) and it’s been in the shop to repair four (4) different water leaks in the cab.

• Front left fender – not sealed correctly at the factory. Covered under warranty, but I was very upset and was worried about problems later, like rust corrosion, etc.
• Another leak just two months out of warranty. Cab soaked in the back floor area. The assumed it was the third brake light. Fixed that under extended warranty, paid deductible and sent me on my way.
• Two months later cab was soaked again. I was mad about having continued problems with leakage. They told me I had premium car and called Enterprise for a rental. Since my truck is still leaking and apparently from the same area, I asked the shop foreman if this would also be covered. He said he would call them. He said I could too, but I declined thinking I might just confuse things. Five days later, I called the service dept. They said come pick it up, it’s fixed. Ford has not determined if it’s covered.
  1. Shop foreman tells me the leak is coming from behind the engine on the firewall. He tells me that the seal was missed at the factory (robotic procedure). He said I should have no more leaks. He told me that I must’ve gotten one of those trucks made on Monday or Friday!!!!! What!!!!
  2. I checked around back on the floor and it was still damp. I expected it to be dried out properly and he agreed, so I would not have any type of rust, corrosion or mildew. I had to leave it there until they were finished.
• Monday, I drove back hoping it was finished. Nope. It was sitting in the bay all tore up: carpet out, seals and molding pulled, ceiling down, what a mess!!!! The mechanic working in the truck bed had the rear window out. He told me water was gushing in from where the factory sealed it or as he said, “missed it from day one”. He promised me he would state this in the repair paperwork. I asked the mechanic if they were replacing the carpet; he didn’t know. I went home.
• Friday, I called them again from work. The shop foreman tells me Ford is still waiting for me to call them AND it would be $642.00 for the new carpet I wanted!!!! I was furious. I reminded him that I asked him to call Ford; I would only call if there was a need. He said, “Oh, I remember now”.
  1. I told him I did not order new carpet. I only asked if they were replacing it, because the carpet was nowhere to be seen. He said, it must’ve have been a misunderstanding.
  2. I asked how much longer do I have the rental car for. He tells me ten days. It’s been 12 days!!! I drove immediately to the rental car place and turned the car in. Got the invoice with $0 balance owed by me.
• I called Ford customer care the minute I got home and opened a case. It got prioritized. After a very heated exchange, the regional representative authorized a four day extension on another rental. He said the dealership would have to finish work and calculate all the costs and then he would see what “Goodwill” assistance Ford would offer me. Obviously, I didn’t think I owed anybody anything. This new truck should never have leaked in the first place or should have been fixed two earlier times.
• So, we pick up the car Monday morning early and my truck was done that same afternoon.
• I arrived at the dealership and had the shop foreman walk me around. He confirmed everything he told me earlier about these leaks being factory defects, except maybe the third light. I noticed they sprayed over the seal they fixed when the fender leaked.
  1. He told me to drive away, that the paperwork wasn’t quite done and that they would call me.
• Later that night, the regional Ford rep calls me and says all the “goodwill” they can offer is 50% of the cost. Of course, I went through the roof. I asked for his supervisor…… big surprise here, I got the same answer.
• Two days later, the shop foreman calls and my wife picks up. He says the dealership isn’t covering anything and we owe 12 days of a rental!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! plus $1600 in service charges. No one informed me I would have to pay for the car, not the first day, the tenth day, NEVER.

So far, this has been the worst customer service I have ever seen. These people have failed on so many levels; they actually invented more levels and then failed on them.
I don’t see how a class action suit hasn’t been brought against Ford for this problem. My truck is 40 months old with just 20600 miles on it. It's not like I broke something or normal wear and tear. This happened on its own coincidentally, right after the warranty ended. Other than the leaks, it’s in mint condition. If I sell my truck, the buyer would beat me down over the water leak issue, so I lose again due to the condition.
I’ve never felt so screwed in my life. I started researching this issue and found many, many other cases out there of people just like myself. All those Ford Executives are “living it up” on our money. How shameful. I should’ve bought a Toyota. Wow. Where do I go from here?

 

Tell the dealership that they need to make this right or you will park you truck by the Dealership with a big lemon sign in it along with a copy of your story and copies of the work invoices. Makes for good sells numbers. I did that with my 83 Ranger for a tranny problem they kept jerking me around on. Lasted about a week and due to low sales numbers and questions by potential customers, the dealership begged for my to remove the signs and write-up from my vehicle. Sure..."Fix my truck and all your problems will go away". Truck was in and out of the shop in 1 day and repaired correctly. Go figure.

 

I have a plan......


When I get the bill from the dealership, which I already know what it is, I'm going to file with the BBB.


Then, I'm going to request a sit-down with the dealership owner. I expect the shaft, but I'll try anyway.


I plan to write EVERY member of the Board of Directors for Ford, including the plant manager in Dearborn.


Next, I plan to set-up shop close to the dealership and do exactly what you suggested. I figure I can turn at least one potential F-150 buyer away a year.


What scumbags.

 

I normally take my vehicles to a Dealer only when I have to. Such as, I just had the safety recall performed on my Freestar. I've gotten to the point that I check everything that a Ford Dealer "was" supposed to do to my vehicle(s). Good thing as the mechanic never mounted the fuel filler panel back in place. Just wedged it back into place. I have to assume that the mechanic is getting a good collection of miscellaneous screws and body buttons. Over the years, I've run into issues of work being "Perfomed" that wasn't and then would have to set there and eye-ball them while the actually did the work they charged for. Then I would get flyers from the Dealer saying that they haven't seen me or my vehicles in quite some time....DUH!!!, I wonder why...

 

Buyer beware! I just had my truck completely shut down on me last weekend while driving in about an hour of moderate rain. A wrench light indicator came on. I soon lost oil pressure and transmission response. I pulled over immediately and turned the truck off. I immediately tried to turn the truck back on and found that the starter would keep turning, so I turned the truck off. I thought hey, it must be an electrical issue. I get out and open the hood expecting it to be flooded. Bone dry! So I decided to risk it and drive to the nearest Ford dealer (Mullinax Ford of Olympia, WA). Given at this time, I was about 100 miles away from my house. I drive into the service office and ask for the codes to run to see how extensive the issue of damage was to my vehicle. The service representative refuses to even read the codes on the vehicle because he was to busy. I am basically stranded at this point because I do not want to destroy my truck if there is something seriously wrong with it. I then decided to go to risk it and drive to the ford dealer closest to my house, the one I bought my 2016 F150 truck from (West Hills Ford, WA). I was charged for two diagnostic fees for the same issue. The issue was caused by a seal that had come unsealed. The location was where the water drains from below the windshield on the truck. So with the water coming in flooded the electrical system and caused the issue. After talking with the service manager, he admitted that this is a KNOWN problem.

Service manager: IT IS A PROBLEM WITH HOW THE ALUMINUM FRAME IS PUT TOGETHER. IT IS CRIMPED AND GLUED RATHER THEN WELDED. ANY STRESS FROM GOING OFF-ROAD COULD CAUSE THESE SEALS TO BREAK FREE.

ME: So I asked is it fixed now or will it happen again.

Service manager: Oh, it will continue to occur its just the design of the vehicle.

SO THE BEST BETT IS TO EITHER SELL YOUR F150 OR RINO LINE ALL OF THE SEALS!!

 

Hello and sorry I'm late! I see this discussion has been brewing since 2014 with the most recent being January 2020. It is November 2020 and we just purchased a used 2011 E-150 Ford Van (7 passenger). It has been garage kept. We have no garage (it's a workshop) and it down-poured rain the night we got it home. Water leaked into the rear compartment through the broken third brake light lense. I don't know how to find a replacement lense. Am I supposed to start my own thread for this?