In the past my wife and our families have owned many Ford vehicles & have been satisfied overall with them. I have also had several company cars that were Fords. I am currently the owner of a 2005 Ford Explorer that has around 59,000 miles on it. It has been garaged during winters and kept clean and professionally serviced for as long as I have owned it.
Several times over the past year or so I noticed a little "dirt" on the roof in passing & took it to the car wash soon thereafter to give it a good cleaning. Recently I noticed some paint flaking off the top of the lift gate and a closer examination caused me to notice that most of the paint in the channels on the roof has peeled off and there is a considerable amount of rust there. Having never had a reason to climb up there before I hadn't seen what was happening. Outside of the annual Christmas tree I do not use the roof for carrying anything.
I had the dealer, Franklin Ford, examine the roof & lift gate during a service appointment on August 7th & they informed me that it was not covered under the warranty (3/36,000mi).
I addressed my complaint through Ford's Customer Service channels & while I repeatedly requested a decision in writing & received several e-mail responses without error inexplicably the rejection of my claim must have been caught in my junk mail filter or at least that is what their representatives have claimed. According to someone I spoke with my claim was rejected and I was informed that there are no warranties or other coverages that are available that would provide assistance..
Both my dealers service manager & Ford's representatives claimed no knowledge of any issues with the paint on these vehicles despite the fact that a little searching on the Internet returned over 8,400 returns on 2005 ford explorer paint peeling including several TV news stories & at least one technical service bulletin on the matter.
My local Chrysler dealer and several other used car dealers I have spoken with have confirmed that they are aware of this issue & actively look for it on trade-ins one dealer actually asks if there has been any repainting done on the vehicle as part of their trade questionnaire on-line!
After my initial discussion with the service department at Franklin Ford the service manager failed to return several calls & there has also been no response from any other local Ford representatives.
Two different body shops have quoted me around $1,200 to repair the roof & lift gate but both warned that there was a good chance that the same problem would likely show up elsewhere in the near future as lots of people have had this trouble with their Explorers.
Obviously this is a serious and well documented issue with these vehicles and I am apparently not alone in the belief that Ford should stand by their vehicles and address this issue.
I reached out to Rosemary O'Malley, Ford's Manager of "Consumer Affairs" and recieved a call from their Executive Offices stating the same thing as before, that there are no warranties or other coverages that are available that would provide assistance..
Why Ford? Why Now? Why Not! Not sure how that works as a tag line but it sure applies to my current situation!
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