poldrv

Ref: VIN 1ZNFT80N455199301
2005 V6 Coupe
4 Passenger Specialty
4.0L SOHC V6 Engine
5 Speed Auto Transmission



Manager
Ford Motor Company
16800 Executive Plaza Drive
PO Box 6248
Dearborn, Michigan, 48121

Original copy sent to Ford in Dearborn,Michigan, USA.


Defective Product Complaint
Slow Part & Repair Warranty Process


To Whom it May Concern:

On Sunday , 30 October 2005, my 2005 Mustang went into neutral momentarily upon acceleration and then bumped into gear. I immediately called the Ford dealership to book a service appointment to determine the problem. The service appointment date was on Thursday, 3rd November 2005. Between Monday the 31st October and the 3rd of November this same incident occurred a few more times.

I brought the Mustang into Denny Andrews Ford Dealership in Edmonton, Alberta on the morning of Thursday, 3rd of November 2005 and explained the problem (transmission slip) to the service representative along with the fact that the previous warranty work on this vehicle (fuel sensor - gas tank) was not performed to my satisfaction and is clearly not done as I still have this problem. At this time I also asked the service representative to have the 20,000 km service recommendations performed as per the service manual.

During the afternoon of the 3rd of November 2005 I drove over to the dealership to find out what the diagnosis was regarding the transmission. The service technician informed me that he had found a considerable amount of metal shavings in the transmission pan, but that the transmission fluid was the right color, not burnt and at the right level. The additional diagnosis was that the culprit was a transmission pump in the transmission housing. Personally I found this quite incredible for a Mustang that is only six and one half months old with a mileage of 23,300 km or 13,000 miles. To me this type of problem might be understandable if the Mustang had a mileage point of 300,000 km or more but not a low kilometer point of 23,000.

The service technician told me at this time that the Ford Motor Company decided to replace my whole transmission rather then have the dealership send the Mustang’s transmission our for repair locally. What I find incredulous besides the fact that the transmission failed at such a low kilometer point is the fact that a new transmission takes seven working days to arrive by truck from Flat Rock, Michigan. A reasonable person would assume that with a large Ford Warehouse in the City of Edmonton, Alberta that there would be a few SR55 transmissions available locally. As such of this lengthily delivery date this mustang will be out of service until approximately November 14th, 2005. Does this sound fair to me? Absolutely not!. You can be sure that if a major airline needs an engine for a plane the airline company is not going to wait seven days for an engine delivery date. Oops, I forgot I am not a business, just a customer that paid $28,800.00 for a vehicle that should perform according to the advertisements in Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Muscle Fords & Mustangs etc. In Canada we are bombarded with advertisements on television and the print media with Wayne Gretzy’s picture advertising Ford products indicating that they are built for “Canada Ford Tough!” It would appear that my 2005 Mustang did not get it’s share of Wheaties at the Auto Alliance Plant.

In addition to this dismal news from the dealership service department, I told the service representative that I would need another vehicle to drive. One would naturally think that being that I am a Ford customer with a defective Ford vehicle that I would be given another Ford vehicle to drive. I even suggested to the service representative that I would like another mustang to drive. The service representative suggested to me that that mustangs were not the type of car to drive in the winter, considering the 20,000 hours of winter driving at the Ford Proving Grounds in 2004. The dealer service department set me up with budget rent-a-car for a replacement vehicle until the mustang is repaired. As such I am now driving a Chevrolet Malibu, quite a difference from a Mustang and not my preferred vehicle. One would assume that a Ford Dealership would set a customer up with a Ford loaner rather than some other make and model. As does other dealers. This is clearly poor advertising on your part.

If the Ford Motor Corporation is going to advertise that it is committed to it’s customer base then it is necessary to:

1) Create a quality vehicle that does not have a severe breakdown at low mileage/

2) Make quick and timely repairs.

3) Have another Ford vehicle for the Ford customer to drive until the repairs are made.

4) Do repairs properly the first time.

I have had several vehicles over my lifetime (many Fords). This 2005 I bought for myself as a pre-retirement vehicle primarily through Bard’s Mustang Source and other web sites. I was quite happy when the new mustang arrived and was even happier in how the vehicle performed until these problems arrived. The spark and interest in this vehicle has now faded, this is unfortunate for Ford as you would think that the corporation wants to keep the customer happy and keeps him or her coming back to its product line. My online research has shown me that many thousands of the 2005 Mustangs that have been built have transmission faults and failures. It would appear that its time for your new engineer Mr. Thai-Tang to go back to the drawing board and at least create a new transmission that performs well and that is not easily defeated.

My main point of writing this letter other then to describe the problems to make you aware of my extreme anger with the repair delay. This repair should in reality only take a few days, not two weeks. My other point is that all Ford Corporation employees and dealership employees should have a general knowledge of how all the product lines are suppose to perform rather then give a dissatisfied customer a poor performance rating on a vehicle (new mustangs and winter driving). Let’s get with the program folks or you will find you audience going elsewhere. In a nutshell, I am not impressed with Ford.

To answer you advertisement question “Have you driven a Ford lately?”
Yes……unfortunately……and you can be assured that this information will go to any new Mustang owners that I come in contact with.

Sincerely yours,




R. J. Spencer

edit: your address was removed, its not a good idea to post personal info online

GirchyGirchy

This is perhaps the whiniest post I've ever read. Your tranny's screwed up so they offer to give you a new one, provide a rental car at little/no cost (I know my dad would have paid $3/day in KY), and you're complaining about...what? Because you have a Malibu renter(which is NOT a bad car - I've rented one myself) and the work is going to take one whole week and a half? Cry me a freakin' river.

I expected this to be a letter explaining how your tranny died, but the dealer won't fix it. Not some long drawn out thing complaining that you have to wait a few days to get a brand new transmission installed while driving a rental car.

Premium car brands provide premium services - Audi will tow your car to the nearest dealer and provide you with a loaner when it's broken. Ford (and many other mainstream brands) won't. You should have known this when you purchased the car - it's SOP.

Oh...and comparing your car to a jet? That takes the cake. The bottom line is, be thankful that they're giving you a brand new transmission and a rental car.

grrr428

I sympathize with you, While "shift" happens it's not much consolation to you right now.
I hope my GT/Auto doesn't suffer the same fate. I think they are doing the right thing by replacing the entire tranny. The Malibu loaner may actually be good reverse advertising! After all you're missing the Mustang right? ;-) At least you're getting the Rent-A-Bu.

The fact that there aren't a lot of spare automatics in the warehouse makes me think that it's not a widespread problem. Nor I have I heard of cronic failures on this board. Cars break down ...even new ones....especially BRAND new designs: German, Japanese, Swedish, American, Korean....they all do. I'm quite sure the manufacturers don't want it to happen either.

Hang in there. Love may be off the bloom for now, but hopefully when you get your baby back you can rekindle the flame ;-)

Boltzman

sorry to hear about your problems.my 06 vert has been in the shop since oct 31.they told me two days max.I found out today that it probably won't be ready now until mon or tues. (i'm not holding my breath).I had the gas tank replaced,hesitation problem(I have a feeling this will not get resolved),and a window issue on drivers side(This is what has been the holdup)Also a paint chip repair that they owe me and I was told that they would not put in felt in doors or pay for the 2 huge scratches that were left on my tint due to no felt I feel your pain.My neighbor was ragging on me for getting a FORD(He's got money and drives 2 Lexus vehicles). I am pretending that I'm gettin a bunch of mods at the dealership cuz he keeps asking where my new car is.(I am quite embarrassed for the real reason)

Route 66

Do you ever try shifting gears with your hand as if your in a manual transmission? I'm just curious. I hear people doing this and I don't understand why.

grrr428

Still keeping up with the Jones? :worship:

Go to Lexus dealership and see how many cars are in for warranty work. I bought my last car (Lincoln Mark VIII) from a Lexus dealer. They needed to fix a slightly warped brake rotor and they gave me a ES300 loaner. There was a list of repairs in the Lexus for repairs that had been done on it....it was a mile long!

Oh BTW the idiots couldn't figure out the brake problem. I took it over to the LIncoln dealership and they fixed it a matter of hours. (Rant: I also think the ES300 is ugly and has the worlds most uncomfortable seats, they forced me to hunch over...really odd for a luxury car).

MeanStang

this belongs in the issues forum. i have to agree with GirchyGirchy, you're being a bit of a cry baby.

adrenalin

hmmm, I can understand the frustration but really, come on. First model year and you expect replacement parts to be available at the drop of a dime. Heck, when my car arrived the windshield was cracked and it took over 2 weeks to get a replacement. When the hydraulic tensioner went, the car went to the shop 4 times and took over 2 months to properly fix it. I know, I know, you have had several vehicles in your lifetime. Same here, 18 to be exact from the top 3 and a few others. All have had their "issues" but out of all of them, FORD has always been #1 in service. They are replacing your transmission and giving you a rental. As I said, I can understand your frustration. After all, my car has been in for service for just about every TSB there is, however, unlike you I am not frustrated. I expected problems, after all, it is a new design. I have had the same issues with other cars I owned when I purchased a new model.

Just chalk it up as a learning experience.

Galaxie

Given that production is going full-tilt on the Mustang right now, it could be understood that transmissions are in short supply and the service parts warehouses have not been adequately stocked up. Like adrenalin has mentioned, windsheilds have a wait time associated with them as well, and other members can attest to that.

I believe the dealership is doing the best they can to get your car running asap. Although a malibu isn't exactly glamorous, I am sure if you read the fine print they said they would provide a loaner car, not specifying what kind. Driving a rental car to work is much more plesant than walking or taking the bus.

As for the demeanour of the service people in the dealership, if you have a legitimate issue with their actions, it is best to take it up with their supervisors or the dealer president. They are better suited to educate/reprimand their employees as they see fit.

In short, if the dealership refused service because they thought you were doing neutral drops, or they didn't provide you with temporary transportation, I would agree with your claim. I wouldn't expect much sympathy from them to be honest.

red454

Inconvenient, yes - but it could be much worse...

Look on the bright side... I would be happy that it did not happen a few weeks or a few hundred miles past warranty.

At least it didn't stiff you in the middle of the highway during rush hour.

Regardless, waiting is no fun.

ISELLFORD

I can't believe you took the time to write Ford Motro Company because the dealer is taking care of your problem. I personally have not heard of "THOUSANDS" of transmission problems as you mentioned.
I do disagree with giving you an off brand loaner. That is a no no in my book. At least you have a new trans coming and be grateful that they didn;t try to cobble things up by a quick repair that they hoped would hold.
It is still a machine, and machines can malfunction. That is why there are waranties. The dealer is fixing it so stop whining.

Sonic05

Waaaaa, my transmission broke. Yeah, things never go wrong. Every car is 100% for its lifetime. There are 0% low mileage fluke failures. Get real.

Waaaaa, I didn’t get another Mustang to drive while mine was being fixed. Hmmmm, and I thought every dealer kept a huge fleet of loaner vehicles to hand out to everybody, and so they could match the loaner to the customer’s current car. Give me a break.

I'm sure there are tons of spare transmissions lying around, too. Heck, they have been making this car for what, geez, a whole year? Ford should have produced 1000's of spare parts by now. It's not like the car is selling well, right?

Ford will appropriately File 13 that letter.

Now Honda, there's a company that never does anything wrong, and never dodges blame. Case in point, the hitch on my brothers new Odyssey sounds like it is going to fall off, and good ol' Honda jumped right on it. They gave him a Pilot to drive . . . Oh wait, not an Odyssey . . . then after they had it for a day, they told him the noise is normal . . . Huh, they didn't fix it? What the heck!!! I guess he should have bought a Ford?

SixtySix

Judging by the tone of the letter, there's a reason why his past warranty work wasn't done to his satisfaction either.

Nagman

Wow This guy sounds like a lot of customers I see in my shop!

You can see some people are never satisfied.Seems to me the dealership was very helpful this case opting to replace your entire trans instead of calling the shavings in your pan as a 'normal operating condition" and a free rental to boot!.
adrenalin is also right about parts availability on a new model,it takes a couple of years for parts to become avail. as most parts are going to the assembly line rather than part wearhouses.
It is not unreasonable for Ford to ship a VERY HEAVY part by truck to Edmonton in a week,and dont forget Edmonton is pretty much in the middle of nowhere (no offence, Go Oilers!)

So time to take a reality check buddy and chill out!!

Tip of the day: When writing a complaint letter,rant,whatever ,best to keep it short and to the point so you dont look like just another a hole customer with too much time on their hands and a poor me attitude! :notnice:

ok ok my rants done

cheers!

Big-Foot

I've really tried to read and respond to your message in a positive manner. It's difficult.

Very few mass produced vehicles are 100% trouble-free in their first or second model year. I'm sure that many of your friends and maybe even you thought about that and said something..

My hat's off to the dealership for doing the right thing and repairing your car to the best of their abilities and within the scope of the new car warranty..

When was the last time you compared a McDonalds Cheeseburger with a Cheeseburger from a upscale sit-down restaurant? Want to compare your Mustang to a Lexus? Have Toyota build a Mustang to the degree that the Lexus is built and you'd have paid an additional 10k for it..

All this said - You may best be served by trading in your Mustang on a Toyota or Nissan or Honda.

Thank you for dining at Toyota - Would you like Rice with that?

adrenalin

Actually, he compared it to an airplane needed a new engine. Someone else made the Lexus statement.


Now, if only I could find the "Bard’s Mustang Source" he is referring to

Sonic05

I just can't see how anybody can get so worked up over something happening to their car. To think that a new car will never have any problems is just ignorant and unrealistic. I wonder how many letters the manufacturers get like this.

Google cannot find "Bard's Mustang Source."

DaTT(1sK)

I think you guys are being a little hard on the man. I am personally interested in what Ford says in a response...if there is one. The man is frustrated and he vented, I, too, get frustrated sometimes. Sometimes the dealership can be hard to deal with, everybody has a bad day.

Hope your car gets fixed sooner than later.

edit: With that said, I disagree with the fact that you think you should have gotten a Mustang to drive as a loaner.

poldrv

I would like to thank those members of the forum that showed some support for this issue. For those that had other opinions you have the right to your viewpoint.

Consumers in this country and the Unites States have a right to complain. Such rights are enshrined in both constitutions.
Consumers have a right to expect that a product with live up to the manufacturers product statement. Consumers also have a right to fair and reasonable treatement.

It is great to see some many people enthralled with the new mustang concept. I have notice though that diehard mustang owners do not like it when someone complains. It is too bad sometimes that the forest cannot be truly seen because of the trees.

As for the comments that the letter was whiney I wonder what your response would be if your new car had the same problem. To suggest to me that a transmission failure is an acceptable action for a new car is just so much baloney. The comment that I should be grateful that Ford is going to replace the transmission and gave me a loaner to drive is equally incredulous. The Ford warranty requires that Ford repair the mustang to its original state. The car rental is part of the warranty, ten days at $35.00 per day. Ford has to perform the warranty repair it is in the warranty, failure to do so can result in legal consequences and they know it.

Would Carroll Shelby have released a product without first doing quaility control? I doubt it.

As for my comment about businesses waiting for parts I was not trying to state that a jet plane and a mustang were on the same footing. I was just indicating that there is a slow response for the consumer.

Could my letter have been toned down, yes it could have, but that is how I felt at the moment and that is still how I feel. If Ford is going to release a production performance vehicle it should have been done right the first time.

Mach 73

Perhaps he is speaking of Brad Barnett's forum site. That name is fairly close to what was typed.

I also understand your frustration. Sometimes when we are deprived of something we really really love, regardless of the reason, we get upset and it seems as if everything and everyone is working against us. A very dear friend years ago told me to put my problem in writing addressed to whomever I thought was the source of the problem. Then wait 2 days, open the letter, and decide if I still want to send it. Most times I don't -- Just putting it in print helped ease the frustration.
Well, you've already sent the letter so that option is now in the hindsite location. The dealer is doing right -- replacing instead of "fixing" the transmission. You've got transportation even if not a Ford. My dealer has had me in a Taurus, a Camry, and once a Dodge Ram. No big deal -- I just needed transportation. Each one reminded me how much I enjoy the GT !! And each time the problem was resolved to my complete satisfaction (but -- I've got an awesome dealer)
Try to reconsider your frustration. Try to see your dealer is trying to solve the problem with NEW not REBUILT. As the problems are resolved, you will enjoy and love your new Mustang even more. Think how fantastic the car will be with all the problems ironed out with correctly replaced new items. At that point you might want to send a different kind of letter to the dealer and Ford indicating your appreciation for correctly fixing the issues in you Mustang.
Good luck -- I do believe you will have a fine car in the Mustang and one you will really enjoy over the time you own it.
Mach 73