Moustang

I swear, I love my Mustang, but if this goes on much more I'm going to try to lemon law it.

Since I have bought the car last September, it's been in the shop no less than 10 times.

It's been in for M82 shifting problems, stuck passenger seat (wouldn't move forward or back), paint problems, intermittent TCS problem, rattle from the AC unit, and more.

I've had it in two different dealerships a total of 5 times for the same F'ing dash rattle, and even after that the only reason it's fixed now is because I removed the instrument panel, removed the chromed plastic ring from around the speedometer, and added some padded double sided tape myself.

Just how pathetic are Ford trained mechanics if they cannot fix a simple plastic rattle in 5 attempts?


And then came yesterday. 10 months old, less than 13,000 miles, and a dead battery that would not accept a charge.



I love the car, but I've never had to return any of my previous cars more than twice for warranty repairs.

The most frustrating part is almost all of the problems are either from Ford trying to be too cheap (ie. the dash rattle could have been prevented with a single drop of glue during manufacturing) or because Ford assembly workers do a crappy job (stuck seat ended up being a chunk of carpet stuck in the rails) It's a great car that is being killed by penny pinching design and **** poor workers.

I hate to say it, but I will be very hesitant to buy another Ford. An average of 1 trip to the shop per month for warranty repairs is inexcusable.

Glenn

I feel for ya hope its all resolved soon

cdynaco

Luck of the draw. Every manufacturer has them from time to time.

My Bullitt has been flawless from the factory. So was my F150 (which now has 253k on it). So were all the Super Duty's I drove for my coffee route job (6). Never had any down time from them.

And I'll buy another Ford for sure - because I like them and trust them. Some warranty glitches would not change my mind.

Flagstang

to be fair most of the problems you are talking about to not affect the ability to use the car. Ive sat in new 100k cars that had a dash rattle and paint issues.

Batteries die.. its a third party item and thats not that big of a deal. Try living here in AZ.. Top end batteries only last 2 years tops because of the heat.

doesnt sound like mustangs are for you if you are having this big of issues of mostly minor problems.

Moustang

I used to work at the service department of an Infiniti dealership, so I know that the occassional paint issue or dash rattle does pop up.

But rarely are there multiple rattles and paint issues on the same car. Even more rare is that the car will be brought back multiple times for simple loose snap-in piece of trim and after 5 trips to two different dealerships it's still unresolved, yet the owner fixes it himself in under 10 minutes with 2 cents worth of tape and no tools.

In fact, I've never heard of such a thing.

Why do I need to live in AZ?

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...+TX+75002:4:US

Still, the 8 year old battery in my wife's Camry still works like a charm.

Like I said, if it was one, maybe two minor problems I wouldn't have an issue. I've never bought a car that I haven't returned for warranty repairs at some point.


But come on.

10 trips in 10 months with multiple issues on most trips? Don't you think that's a bit excessive?


The heartwrenching part is that I REALLY love the car. I really, really do. If these stupid little problems would just stop happening it would easily be among the 3 best cars I've ever owned. It could be such a great car, but I have this nagging feeling that at some point I'm going to have to strip it and rebuild it myself, just to make sure it's put together right. It's really not the car that I'm complaining about so much as the quality of work done in assembly and service.

It's not a design problem, it's a human problem. Lazy and/or incompetent workers, plain and simple. I expected much better.

Kinyodas

That chrome trim rattles on mine only when it's cold...

Moustang

Lower your steering wheel as far as the tilt will allow. Then gently pull the instrument panel cover out bottom first. It only snaps in place. Once it's out turn the panel over and you can see the tabs holding the ring in place.

On my car it was one of the tabs that wasn't seating fully that was causing the rattle. Took the ring out, put a piece of padded double sided tape in the gap, and replaced the ring. Snapped it back in place in the car and it hasn't made a sound since.


5 trips to the dealership and they couldn't fix that.

Flagstang

I will say that the newer batteries they are selling and putting into cars and not as good as the ones from the 1990's.

wannabe

I swore I'd never buy another 1st year model after a nightmare with my '10 Taurus... but we swapped it for a '13 Escape. Which of course, had two recalls immediately. The fuel line was replaced fairly quickly, but it has to go back for the carpet/trim replacement. And yesterday the cruise control stopped working. Then started. Then stopped and started, etc. No workee today. And yesterday morning none of the windows would 'one touch up and down' anymore... and then the driver's only started working properly. And the climate control blows hard/soft in several second intervals. And I already know that when I being these things up, the cruise control will work properly, and all the windows will start working as designed again. And then I'll hear those dreaded words... unable to duplicate the problem.

texastboneking

Lol Ford factory batteries are notorious for being ****. They usually don't make a year.
The Ford motorcraft repalcement batteries on the other hand are good and last much longer

SilverSkoundrel

Optima Red top replaced my motorcraft

TwistedKarma

Sounds about right. I'm 10months in with 13 total repairs, 10 of which are for the same high pitched rotational squeak/chirp noise coming from my rear axle. I have the same rattle in my dash as you did, my passenger side speaker causes a god awful rattle, my engine makes a rattle in low RPMs and my front suspension clunks when I go over bumps. All issues listed on this forum somewhere or can be found if you do a google search. Ford isn't making cars like they used to, trucks are a different story.

Flagstang

please buy a chevy

TwistedKarma

I plan on it, once my lawsuit is settled

FordService

Hello members,

I'd like to escalate this to the Customer Service Manager assigned to your area. Please PM me with your VIN, dealer, full name, mileage, and best daytime number so I can help.

Deysha

alfaromeo

I read somewhere that one guy has similar rattle problem get his dealer replaced as a solution from ford. I have the rattle too but only at cold weather. If I can repeat it my dealer probably kind enough to fix it by replacing whole instrument cluster too. But your fix is very DIY friendly, thanks.

Shifterboy45

Like I've said before; give me a shout when you are ready to move into a different ride...

Just a heads up... A new KIA dealer opened right across the street from our BMW store -- they have some smoking deals going on and I heard they can install a custom O/S logo for car if you're a Windows or Apple fan