On May 24, we took delivery of our brand new Ford Expedition VIN#1FMRU15W41LB13590. Since purchasing it brand new it has always been serviced at Lamarque Ford, 3101 Williams Boulevard, Kenner, LA 70065. On numerous occasions, beginning back in we have brought it to the Lamarque Ford dealership due to electrical malfunctions after periods of rain or heavy fog. Some of the many problems we experienced and brought it in to be serviced for were the horn not working right or at all, front and rear wipers not working at all or coming on by themselves, the door locks locking and unlocking while driving, dash lights not working, the alarm system (horn and lights) going off while vehicle was being driven down the road, fan blower staying on after vehicle was turned off, radio working intermittently and the interior lights going on and off themselves. Our latest electrical problems began on Wednesday, January 16 after the heavy rains the night before. The vehicle would not start at all that morning and we had to jump start it. It was driven all that day with the only issue being the interior lights coming on themselves (which we complained about before). The next morning, 1/17/08 the vehicle would not turn over and had to be jumped. There was a clicking type noise from the engine compartment that seemed to be coming from a black box (with Kelsey Hayes imprinted on it) that the brake lines led to/from. We immediately drove it to Lamarque and asked our service advisor, Courtney Lanier, to have a technician come out to witness it as it was still happening when we arrived so that we did not get the standard "could not duplicate" as had happened in the past. The technician came out and confirmed the noise coming from the Kelsey Hayes box and said that the problem was most likely caused to a windshield leak into the fuse box and GEM module which in turn was sending electrical current to the ABS module and causing the lights to turn on and off themselves. He went on to explain that the ABS module would be disconnected to see if that is what was drawing the power from the battery as well as checking the windshield for leaks. At no time, this or on prior occasions, was it mentioned that this was a known problem on our model vehicle. On Friday, 1/18/08, Courtney called and confirmed the technicians did a pressure test on the windshield and it was leaking and that the it needed to be resealed at a cost of ~$50.00 and that the fuse box and modules would need replacing which would cost an additional $900.00. When we inquired as to if this would be covered under our Ford ESP Premium Care Extended Warranty she replied no because the problems were caused by the leak which is not a covered component under our contract. I thanked her for the information and asked if I could call her back after discussing with my spouse. After a short time I called Courtney back and asked to speak to the Service Manager. Courtney transferred my call to Raymond Adolph who, after a brief conversation, said he would contact the Zone/Regional manager and get back to me but that most likely due to the circumstances the zone manager would step up and take care of the situation for us. Afterwards I placed a call to the Ford Customer Relations Center (CRC) to document what was happening at the dealership level (CRC Reference #1579770188). On Monday, 1/21/08, around 10:00 am I received a call from the CRC regarding my file with them. I informed them that I was still waiting on dealership action so the CRC representative said she would schedule a follow-up on 1/24/08. Since I still had not heard from Ray at this time I went ahead and placed a call to him. He said that he had left a voice message for the regional/zone manager, Randy Vanderendonk (sp) and was waiting on a callback from him but said he would call me as soon as he heard something. A little while later Ray called back and said that there was nothing that could be done for us and that we would be responsible for the repairs. I then called the CRC to update them on the situation and to request my follow-up call to take place sooner than the initial follow-up on 1/24/08.
Due to these ongoing electrical issues, including the Kelsey Hayes ABS module, we are in fear of this and/or other safety features of our vehicle malfunctioning which would compromise our safety and could result in an accident but do not feel we should be responsible for the cost of the repairs. I had looked into the windshield issue after speaking with Courtney on Friday afternoon and discovered that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had performed two investigations, #EA 05-015 & PE 05-033 regarding this same issue. Also Special Service Message #15773 was issued by Ford and was sent to all dealerships effective April 5. This SSM stated that 1997 Expeditions and 1998 Navigators may exhibit unusual electrical conditions which occur after a rain or snow which may be due to a GEM/CJB water intrusion resulting from a windshield water leak. To address this the GEM and CJB modules were to be removed from the vehicle, separated and inspected for water contamination. If found in either component, they were to be replaced and the windshield was to be completely resealed. As mentioned earlier, our vehicle had been brought back to Lamarque numerous times since the release of this SSM for strange electrical issues and yet this was never mentioned to us and SSM #15773 work never performed on our vehicle. Now that the vehicle is out of the After Warranty Adjustment period of 75,000 miles and our Ford Premium Care ESP plan will not cover the repairs due to being a result of a water leak the financial burden falls upon us.
Patricia
Metairie, Louisiana
U.S.A.
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