While I was deployed (MAR 2012 - NOV 2012) my loving wife decided to get me a new car to take the place of my aging, but fun 1995 Saleen S-351. In April of 2012 she picked up a brand new CO 2012 Boss 302 (#2968) from Mike Davidson Ford in Jacksonville, FL. At 209 miles she decided to take the car in to have the windows tinted and to have TracKey installed. Everything went great, or so we thought. She took great care of the car until my return from deployment.

My wife lives in Jacksonville temporarily and I am stationed in Virginia Beach, VA. So, I came back to work for a while until I could get loose to take some leave for New Years. Alright, bags packed, tank filled, it’s time for a road trip. I left Virginia Beach and drove through the night until I got to Jacksonville. 6 hours later we left for Key West, FL to visit friends that we were previously stationed with that live there now. We took the Florida Turnpike to US1 in Homestead, FL and let me tell you, it was insane. I had the cruise control set at 80mph and was getting passed left and right by everyone. So, I brought up my speed on my navigation unit (Clarion NX-602) and it said I was only travelling 72mph. My initial thought was....HUH?.....That's strange. Which one is right? So, I whipped out the trust old iPhone and brought up my speedometer and it matched the GPS. No biggie, I'll compensate for the inaccuracy by increasing my speed to match the traffic flow. So, we enjoyed New Years and made an uneventful return to Jacksonville.

Once back in Jacksonville I had my wife pace me in her 2011 Acura TSX. I set my cruise at 80, brought up my speed on my navigation unit and iPhone (both read 72mph and called her to ask what her speed was.....well, you guessed it, hers matched the navi and iPhone. Alright, 3 against one, it’s time to go to the dealership. Then it struck me.......my mileage is running up 10% faster than it should be, AND I'm getting 10% better gas mileage.

I took my car to Mike Davison Ford in Jacksonville after making an appointment for Jan 3rd and discussed with them the issues. So, they took the car back and kept it back there with me waiting on it for 4 hours. I finally went to the Service Advisor and asked what was happening so far. I got questioned quite sternly about whether or not I had changed the wheel/tires or if I may have had the gear ratio changed. I then informed him that I hadn't changed anything and if he or his technicians cared to look, they would have noticed that they were the selling dealership and that the tires and gears are stock. So, they fiddled with it for another 3 hours and came back to me and said that my speedometer was within Ford standards (3% under actual speed or 7% over actual speed) and that my other forms of verification were incorrect because I was seeing a difference of 10% over actual speed. He said that I couldn't verify my speed with another cars speedo because the other cars gearing and tires are different. I literally laughed out loud and explained to him that 80mph is 80mph. It doesn't matter if it's a baseball or wind that travelling a distance of 80 miles in the span of one hour IS 80MPH. He then said that I would need to take the car to a "more knowledgeable" dealership for the Boss Mustang. I couldn't believe I heard this. So, I calmly said give me my car and I WILL be more than happy to take it somewhere else and never do business with Mike Davidson Ford again.

So, I returned to Virginia Beach and took my car to Beach Ford. After a quick in-n-out they said the same thing that Mike Davidson said (after a phone conversation with the Service Advisor at Mike Davidson). Funny how that works...huh?

Well, one day as I was looking through some things I found a manila envelope that contained ALL of the paperwork a receipts for everything my wife had done to the car before I got home and guess what found? (I'll tell you anyway) I found the set of Dealer Installation instructions that John Wyatt at Mike Davidson Ford used to install the TracKey. In the blank next to the step telling the tech to write down the tire size there is "3.55". This SHOULD be 285/35-19. But yet it isn't. I believe that John Wyatt put 3.55:1 in as my gear ratio instead of 3.73:1. This would explain a constant 10% inaccuracy. So, now Ford Customer Service along with Ford Racing, and Beach Ford are working feverously to get this corrected. I went to Beach Ford on Thursday March 7th and Friday March 8th and their programmer would not allow them to access the Ford Racing website in order to make the necessary changes in order to correct the inaccurate speedometer. I am currently waiting for a call from Beach Ford pending a solution from Ford Racing.

You know though, it is SAD SAD SAD that a customer with motivation and understanding can figure this out before Fords own techs can. It is SAD that they can't take the difference between my current mileage and the original 209 miles, subtract 10%, add the 209 back, and reset my odometer to this amount. It is even sadder still that a service writer would suggest that I turn my Boss in using the Lemon Law. It's their people that messed it up in the first place can't figure out what's going on.

I love the car, but GET IT TOGETHER FORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That's some very sad customer service, it seems these incidents keep popping up more and more with ford

 

Yes, I have heard that. I can't believe I was grilled at the dealership that we purchased this car from. I hate to call them out like that, but what else do you do? Oh, and when I contacted Ford Racing regarding the connectivity issue to their database I about got grilled by the rep there as well. What is it with these people?

 

First off, thank you for your service to our country !!

Secondly, this is not a FORD issue, this is a dealership issue.

Third, post this in the warranty section here:

https://themustangsource.com/f804/

And you will see there is a Ford Customer Service rep named Deysha
who handles problems like this, with great results.

 

100% agree that its a dealer issue and not a ford issue.

 

Heck, as I was reading your post, as soon as I got to the part where the speedo was wrong, first thing that popped in my mind was the dealer tech entered the wrong gear ratio when installing Track Key. I can't believe they didn't think of this when you contacted them.

 

No doubt it's a dealer issue but that's sort if what i mean by its happening alot with "ford". As in they have TONS of faulty dealers.

 

Sad story indeed. Sounds like you have solved the problem. To confirm, drive the car with the silver key. Speedometer should be correct.

 

I am going to have to say that it is more than the dealerships. Had an issue (tires)this year that I escalated all the way to Ford customer care at their corporate office. End result? I was told issue was between me and the dealer and nothing corporate could do.

 

The speedometer is just as inaccurate with the silver key as it is with the red key. No change when switching keys other than the obvious TracKey functions.

 

Reposted in "warranty" section.

 

oh good

 

Hmmmmmmmm. I thought the tire size etc. entered for track key were specific for track key use (so, for example, you could run a different size tire at the track). Can't say for sure though.

 

This is just one of many reasons why you should only have the track key programmed by a dealer that has SUCCESSFULLY installed one or more track key programs. I have my own track key install story but I don't want to get into that. Sounds like it all worked out in the end. There are good dealers out there that will take care of you and treat you like a customer but they are not easy to find. I will not go back to the dealer that I bought my car from for anything.

 

A service advisor is a service salesman.

 

Chiming in...
1) While I don't own a Boss (wish like hell that I did!), I appreciate posts like this. Unfortunately, I've had a few bad experiences, and I've posted details about them on this forum, to HELP OTHERS. So, OP, thanks!
2) How about a vote for the OP's better-half? Wife of the Year, anyone?
3) OP, last time Ford Service (oxy-moron for sure) messed up, Deysha hooked me up with FoMoCo Corporate, and I got a free 3-year service maintenance plan...food for thought...for you.
4) This same post over in the Warranty and Service section of the Forum has turned completely useless, and off-topic, therefore I am replying here.
Good luck, OP. Keep us posted.

 

I feel your pain man, my dealership has been clueless from the day after I ordered my car. Went in for my first/free oil change at 3k miles the other day, watched them empty the oil out, then spend 15 minutes talking amongst themselves and making phone calls. After which they informed me they had no 5w-50 to put back in it.......

 

Wow.

 

That is priceless.

 

At least your dealership knew what grade oil to put in. Mine put in the wrong stuff after I warned them repeatedly and then they had to dump it and do it over again because I stuck around and caught them!