Just been speaking to my dad, his almost two year old Fiesta 1.4TDCi has done 56,000 miles as a driving school car.
He has noticed when the car warms up gearchage becomes difficult, especially going through the neutral 'gate'. It will disengage gear OK, spring to neutral then it requires a real push to get it through neutral before it goes into the next gear with no problem.
Garage have diagnosed it as a bent selector bar in the gearbox - as it warms it expands and becomes problematic - it's a problem they have come across before.
Ford are wriggling saying as its a driving instructor car they may not pay to replace the gearbox (this is the cheapest option as stipping it to replace the bar will take so long the labour cost will be more than the new box) as it may have suffered abuse. Surely this is an argument they could use against any claim they have?
The car has been serviced at main dealer on the dot - it's due its 5th service at 60,000 mles. He's due to hear tomorrow if Ford will pay, needless to say he's not too happy at the moment - in 20 years of teaching and 7 or 8 Fiestas this is the first major fault he has had.
|
|
Business use-one year warranty.
|
Business use-one year warranty.>>
If that's true, how do they define 'business use'? All my cars have been for business use - admittedly, not for a driving school business.
|
At the very least I would expect some kind of goodwill gesture for such a longstanding and loyal customer.
7 Fiestas? There aren't many with brand loyalty like that.
Cheers
DP
|
DP - my dad has actually had more than that! He had two or three before he started teaching - I learnt to drive in his first one JJX 208W - a red 1.1L!
The one year warranty on business use is interesting as on other ones he's owned he's had minor faults occuring after one year and they have been fixed without a problem. There is no mention of this exclusion on the Ford website.
I use my car for business use - dos that mean I only get a one year warranty?
|
|
It's why so many taxi drivers use Skoda-they're the only manufacturer that offers three years on cars used for business.
|
|
The Ford warranty(excluding body)in common with most manufacturers is for ONE year;the second and third are dealer responsibility.
|
In effect though the 2nd and 3rd years are seemless.
It is a matter of contract, the way I understand it is that the sale of goods act or whatever obliges the manufacturer to provide a one year warranty during which time the purchaser (which may not be the keeper if a lease car etc) has a contract with the manufacturer and the dealer when acting under warranty repairs is purely an agent.
The 2nd and 3rd year being dealer based supports the dealer network in a number of ways not least of which is that warranties can be enforced on the basis of dealer service only where as in 1st year (I think due to EC law) correct parts and correct procedures are enough.
Re the OP, a stiff letter to Ford Customer Care director or whatever should do it.
Edited by cheddar on 11/01/2008 at 09:14
|
|
I can see where Ford are coming from in this as the vehicle is clearly out of its one year warranty and has undoubtedly suffered some level of abuse from novice drivers. However, given the extraordinary level of brand loyalty and prospect of future business from this customer, this is surely something which the dealer should have been able to sort out amicably over a coffee at the dealership.
|
I often wonder, why Ford is still one of the most popular brand in spite of such below industry standard warranty policy!
|
in spite of such below industry standard warranty policy!
Eh? The Ford warranty compares well with most as does there willingness to entertain goodwill claims.
|
Mind you, the car has probably been properly abused if it's a learner vehicle. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with Ford, just making the point that under 'normal' conditions this problem may not have occured.
|
Just an observation which may help anyone with this problem. I too have a driving school car Fiesta 1.4TDCI which has done 50,000 miles. The gearbox selector became stiff one evening about 2 weeks ago. In the morning it was fine and as the day went on it became stiff again.
Checking on the internet I came across this post and was obviously worried at the diagnosis the OP had from his garage. My symptoms were exactly the same and i was thinking big bill coming my way. However after a week of stiff gearbox the problem went away completely and the selector is fine again.
My diagnosis is this: A small piece of swarf metal created when some pupil has crunched the box had worked into the selector shaft bearing. As the bearing heated and expanded this caused friction from the trapped swarf and the selector drags through the bearing. As it cools down again the gap between shaft and bearing gets bigger and the drag goes away.
Luckily the swarf must have come out of the bearing and so the problem went away just as quick as it appeared. So no bent selector shaft in my case and probably not in the OPs car either.
Hope this is of use to someone.
|
