Manual transmission clutch system failure - looking for advice on contacting Ford
10/16/13, 09:55 AM
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Manual transmission clutch system failure - looking for advice on contacting Ford
So I am driving my twins in 05 Mustang V6 to the daycare this Monday morning when I hear a small "crack / pop" noise and then the clutch pedal goes to the floor and does not engage the clutch. I am on a busy highway during rush hour with kids in the car and I can't shift - not good. Luckily, I was in the rightmost lane that had an "emergency lane" near by. I coast there, stop, grab my flashlight and discover that plastic linkage between the clutch pedal and the clutch rod split in half. I used duct tape to make an emergency repair and tape the two pieces together. This took forever as it is hard to reach in the foot well with my rear end sticking out to all the trucks going by, not fun at all. I get kids to the daycare and "limp" to the mechanic I trust. He ended up having to replace the master clutch cylinder.
I would like to contact Ford corporate and say "what's up with the linkage from clutch pedal to clutch cylinder braking in half?". I understand that clutch can get "burned out" if abused, cylinders can wear out and start leaking with time, but that's not the same as the sudden catastrophic failure of a clutch system due to plastic part snapping in half. Any thoughts on how to best proceed with contacting Ford? I have the original broken part in my possession.
I would like to contact Ford corporate and say "what's up with the linkage from clutch pedal to clutch cylinder braking in half?". I understand that clutch can get "burned out" if abused, cylinders can wear out and start leaking with time, but that's not the same as the sudden catastrophic failure of a clutch system due to plastic part snapping in half. Any thoughts on how to best proceed with contacting Ford? I have the original broken part in my possession.
10/16/13, 01:34 PM
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yea she can escalate it for you. I dobt they will do anything about it. I don't think I have ever heard of this part failing either. What would you want ford to do?
Last edited by Glenn; 10/16/13 at 01:37 PM.
10/17/13, 07:45 AM
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My goals in contacting Ford are two fold:
- Make them aware of the part failure. If my report is not unique, then it might help to reach a critical mass to trigger an action to recall, issue TSB, redesign the part, etc. I imagine there is always a number of reports for a specific issue that need to be collected before an action will be taken. Isolated incident is an accident, two - three are coincidence, 10-12 are a pattern (or whatever the ranges are - that's a statistician's job).
- Ask Ford to partially / fully cover the cost of repair. Again, this is not the part that should wear out. It had a sudden failure putting mine and my kids life in danger. No clutch = no power. Combine that with a busy highway and it's not a pleasant situation. This is not a part that is recommended to be replaced, checked, etc. I always take care of those.
- Make them aware of the part failure. If my report is not unique, then it might help to reach a critical mass to trigger an action to recall, issue TSB, redesign the part, etc. I imagine there is always a number of reports for a specific issue that need to be collected before an action will be taken. Isolated incident is an accident, two - three are coincidence, 10-12 are a pattern (or whatever the ranges are - that's a statistician's job).
- Ask Ford to partially / fully cover the cost of repair. Again, this is not the part that should wear out. It had a sudden failure putting mine and my kids life in danger. No clutch = no power. Combine that with a busy highway and it's not a pleasant situation. This is not a part that is recommended to be replaced, checked, etc. I always take care of those.
10/17/13, 08:27 AM
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There is a certain amount of trust we put in cars and by direct association in car manufacturers. We trust that if we maintain our vehicles, they won't suddenly explode, wheels won't fall off for no reason, power won't be lost out of the blue no matter how many miles are on the car (only 85k in my case). This is the reason why manufacturers issue mass recalls at a great expense to themselves. Public trust is a big deal.
I do believe in following manufacturer's recommendations for maintenance intervals. I went to Ford dealership for all of the required maintenance and repairs until recently when I moved far from dealer locations and it became simply too inconvenient for me. I started using reputable mechanics after that. I keep a folder with all of the service and repair records from day one. As a result, I believe I have a reasonable expectation to not experience a sudden complete system failure due to plastic part snapping in half. Could be an accident, could be a poor design. I do not remember seeing a disclaimer "if your Mustang has more than X amount of miles expect it to loose power on a highway even if you maintain it".
Regardless, I am not here to debate whose issue this is. I am simply looking for an effective means to contact Ford and discuss my concern.
I do believe in following manufacturer's recommendations for maintenance intervals. I went to Ford dealership for all of the required maintenance and repairs until recently when I moved far from dealer locations and it became simply too inconvenient for me. I started using reputable mechanics after that. I keep a folder with all of the service and repair records from day one. As a result, I believe I have a reasonable expectation to not experience a sudden complete system failure due to plastic part snapping in half. Could be an accident, could be a poor design. I do not remember seeing a disclaimer "if your Mustang has more than X amount of miles expect it to loose power on a highway even if you maintain it".
Regardless, I am not here to debate whose issue this is. I am simply looking for an effective means to contact Ford and discuss my concern.
10/17/13, 11:29 AM
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So I am driving my twins in 05 Mustang V6 to the daycare this Monday morning when I hear a small "crack / pop" noise and then the clutch pedal goes to the floor and does not engage the clutch. I am on a busy highway during rush hour with kids in the car and I can't shift - not good. Luckily, I was in the rightmost lane that had an "emergency lane" near by.....
Deysha
11/9/13, 07:03 PM
#8
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My goals in contacting Ford are two fold:
- Make them aware of the part failure. If my report is not unique, then it might help to reach a critical mass to trigger an action to recall, issue TSB, redesign the part, etc. I imagine there is always a number of reports for a specific issue that need to be collected before an action will be taken. Isolated incident is an accident, two - three are coincidence, 10-12 are a pattern (or whatever the ranges are - that's a statistician's job).
- Ask Ford to partially / fully cover the cost of repair. Again, this is not the part that should wear out. It had a sudden failure putting mine and my kids life in danger. No clutch = no power. Combine that with a busy highway and it's not a pleasant situation. This is not a part that is recommended to be replaced, checked, etc. I always take care of those.
- Make them aware of the part failure. If my report is not unique, then it might help to reach a critical mass to trigger an action to recall, issue TSB, redesign the part, etc. I imagine there is always a number of reports for a specific issue that need to be collected before an action will be taken. Isolated incident is an accident, two - three are coincidence, 10-12 are a pattern (or whatever the ranges are - that's a statistician's job).
- Ask Ford to partially / fully cover the cost of repair. Again, this is not the part that should wear out. It had a sudden failure putting mine and my kids life in danger. No clutch = no power. Combine that with a busy highway and it's not a pleasant situation. This is not a part that is recommended to be replaced, checked, etc. I always take care of those.
certain plastics disintegrate with certain lubes (i used a few drops of teflon 'tri-flow' from my r/c heli toolkit to quiet a squeaky wheel on the wifes new vacuum cleaner- a week later all the plastic crumbled like charcoal, yes she was pissed). kinda wonder if either it NEEDED lubricated, and that caused it to seize/try to rotate along with pedal arc breaking it- or maybe more likely, some idiot like me squirted the wrong lube on a squeaky part years ago and caused it to deteriorate...
I do so wish they would quit using ever cheeper materials on things that used to simply 'never break'.
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