What cracks? In early 1999 the Ford Motor Company issued Special Service Message #12071 to it’s dealerships. This message dealt with cracks appearing in the sheetmetal of F150 and F250LD doors. The message reads:

Message # 12071

Some 1997-1998 F-150/250 LD (Light Duty) vehicles may exhibit cracks in the door sheet metal at the lower rear of the belt molding. Engineering is investigating this concern. To address the customer concerns of immediate repair, the recommended action is to replace the door assembly. At the end of the 3rd quarter 1999, a new service procedure will be available to address this concern. This new procedure will utilize a reinforcement plate and structural adhesive that will avoid major disassembly of the door. This will be updated when the procedure is finalized.

Am I the only one? Much to the dismay of many light-duty F-Series trucks, it seems to affect many. In preparing to write this I received over 75 reports of cracked doors from F150online members in only 48 hours. Every F150 that I’ve personally looked at had the cracks with the exception of my own and new unlicensed trucks. I know it’s only a matter of time before they appear on my own.

Where are the cracks?

Pictures courtesy of Peter Taylor

Webmaster's Note: Following is an email message forwarded to us by a mailing list member that was received from Ford's Customer Service regarding this issue.

Subject: FORD RESPONSE TO CRACK

Dear Mr. [xxxxx],

Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company.

The circumstances outlined in your e-mail concerning
the repair procedure and its' availability, have been
given careful consideration.

Regretfully, the Customer Assistance Center does not
know when a permanent repair will be developed for
this particular concern.  Our dealers will be the
first to receive notice from Ford Engineering once
a fix is developed, tested, and finalized.

Please feel free to contact us again with any other
questions you may
have.


Sincerely,
Ford Motor Company
Customer Assistance Center

Here is some additional information from others plagued by this problem, compiled by mailing list member, Darin Cooney.

[name removed]
"There is a special service message (ssm 12071 ) that says that the fix for now is to replace the door, a fix will be announced 3rd quarter '99 which will consist of a reinforcement plate to prevent cracking."

[name removed]
"I spoke with a customer service supervisor at the ford customer service hotline (1-800-392-3673) and was told that ford will not replace the door. I was told that if I wanted to take it any further that I would have to fill out a waranty arbitration form and go from there. I don't care if the door is replaced or not. I want the problem that caused the crack repaired. That is where the defect is."

[name removed]
"It's on my 98 too. very tiny little thing. I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks to whomever for the heads up."

[name removed]
"After hearing about the crack in the doors, I took a look at mine and sure enough mine has one. It's on the drivers side at the rear of the window a couple inches above the bottom. It looks like it has already begin to rust. I stopped by my dealer today to talk about my door crack. He said they would drill a hole to stop the crack, then weld the hole/crack up and repaint. He said they won't replace the door. Has anyone had the door Replaced ? Has anyone had their door welded?"

[name removed]
"I have the crack. 5/16" long not as long as the picture. 98 lariat 4x4"

[name removed]
"I have finally taken a look at my driver's side door, and I also have a crack. 1997 F-150 w/120K miles. I'll ask a dealer, but I figure I will probably have to remedy this on my own."

[name removed]
"In case any of you do not know, there seems to be a design flaw of the 97, and 98 f150 passenger and driver's door. On the outside of the truck, if you lift up the weather strip where the curve in the window begins you can see a small crack in the sheetmetal. Some are rusting and all will eventually rust and cause big problems and many people have called ford and ford seems to not want to do anything about it if it is not under warranty but if it is under warranty they will "fix" it.

[name removed]
"I finally figured out where all of you were talking about. I didnt have to peel back the weather stripping though. They were already on the flatter surface of the door. Anyway, I took it by my Ford dealer today to let them check it out. They said that this was the second one they had saw and that they were gladly going to replace my door skins. Personally, I didnt know that they had skins. I thought it was one piece. The best news is that they honored my warranty even though it ran out 400 miles ago. I have one question though, are the doors going to be replaced with better ones or will this just end up happening again? I forgot to ask them about this part. Thanks for all the warnings before it was too late!!!"

[name removed]
"You can add another owner (F250 LD) who has that infamous door crack (1/4 inch on drivers side"

[name removed]
"Roof cracks? I've seen all the stuff on the door cracks. I've got 400 mi.on my 99 SC Lariat. No cracks yet :) A few guys at work have them though David in Phx - 99 SC 4x2 Gold/Black 4.6l auto"

[name removed]
"add me to the list. drivers side only (right now). think i'm going to take the door apart and see if there is a limit i can adjust to keep the window from driving into the stop.98 f-150 xlt sc 4x4"

[name removed]
"I just checked my truck (98) and found the crack. It's very small, but it is there."

[name removed]
"Add me to the list of folks w/a cracked (driver) door. The crack is about 1/4 "long running horizontally near the bottom of the weather stripping on the window. 34,458 miles, 18 months old."

[name removed]
"I think I may also have the crack, but it kinda looks like maybe it is just the paint cracking, mine is in the middle of the thicker weather stripping. I wonder if it has anything to do with where these trucks were made at? Are the doors stamped out at each facility or do they come from a huge stamping plant?"

[name removed]
"I had my truck in the dealership this week and made an appointment for the 22 to have the driver door replaced. And possibly a reinforcement patch on the inside of the door. Southlake Ford, Atlanta Ga."

[name removed]
"I can also be added to the list as having a door crack on both doors. 97 F-150, no power windows. Hamilton, Canada"

[name removed]
"I too was about 400 miles out of warranty when I brought my truck in to have the crack in the door checked out. Went directly to the service manager and he said "No problem, we'll take care of it no charge". Well, after seeing Jean Marc's posting with the service bullitin (#12071. Thanks Jean Marc) I called the dealer and mentioned to him about replacing the door. He said he would have to look up the number on their computer and get back to me. After a day and a half he finally got back to me. "Sorry, we can't replace your door" is the message I got from him. He mentioned something about the TSB stating that the crack must be a serious problem in order for it to be replaced. After talking with the service manager some more, we agreed on not doing anything with the door until the "reinforcement fix" comes out from Ford. He has already written it up as warranty work, so he says that I will be covered once the fix comes out."

[name removed]
"I just checked my truck (98) and found the crack. It's very small, but it is there."

[name removed]
"I have the cracks in both doors. No power windows on my truck,I have a 97XL Supercab 4X4,4.6,Stick shift,3.08rear"

[name removed]
"No, a coworker of mine also has the crack in his driver door and he has manual windows. I too have the crack in the driver door but I have power windows. I am in Houston"

[name removed]
"Add me to the list of those with a crack in the driver's door. '98 150 Lariat"

[name removed]
"Mine was made in Norfolk and it has the crack"

[name removed]
"Does anyone know where one can get a complete list of service bulletins regarding these door cracks. There seesm to some debate about whether or not Ford will replace the door, or do anything at all about the problem. BTW, my truck has both door and roof cracks, and only has 900kms on it! Two weeks old and already showing the signs of age. Built Ford Tough, yeah right!"

[name removed]
"I was at the dealer on monday and they checked with Ford yesterday. Ford said that they will "repair the crack". I called the customer service line and got the same response. They don't seem to be concerned that it is a design flaw. Welding the crack only puts a band-aid on the problem. The source of the crack will always be there. My waranty protects me from manufacturers defects and this is definitely a defective design. I suggest that all of you who have found these cracks see your dealer and then call Ford. If this isn't corrected properly I will never buy a ford again. Going back today for the door crack. 98 xlt sc 2wd"

[name removed]
"I have one of the origional build '97 F-150s and do NOT have cracks in either door. The truck was built in November 1995 with Norfolk as the final assembly point. Maybe there is something to the theory that the origional trucks do not have the problem. I bought mine in Jan. 1996 and it currently has 41,000 miles on it. 1997 F-150 Lariat - Dark Toreador Red/Silver - 4.6L V8"

[name removed]
"Add me too! I've got a crack on the drivers' side door I just noticed last night :-( 98 XLT 4X4"

[name removed]
"I told myself it couldnt happen to me but NO i was washing my truck today and what did I find a $@#%@%$%#$@#$#^^ crack. Man I was mad. Then I talked to my brother that has a 99 with only about 6000 miles on it and sure enough he has one too the exact same size in the exact same place. He was rather mad too. Oh well I guess I take a trip to the dealership this week."

[name removed]
"I found them! In both doors, and with no need to remove the weather stripe. Since in Argentina it´s an unofficially imported vehicle (Ford Motor Argentina only sells Brazilians F250 SD Reg Cab, Short Bed under the old, nostalgic name of F-100), no dealer here will hear my crying. Good luck I have you, guys."

[name removed]
"I checked my 98 F150 and I have a small crack in the driver's side door. The passenger's side is okay. I also checked several 97 and 98 F150 on my local dealers lot and they have cracks. It is apparent we are dealing in a design flaw by Ford. The question is what are they going to do to fix them?"

[name removed]
"I finally checked this past weekend. Yup - sure enough, got a crack on the driver's side in exactly the same place that Al describes."

[name removed]
"Add me to the list of CRACK owners! Mine is only about 1/16" long so far, and drivers side only. Truck is a 98' STX SC w/PW and only 21 000 Km's and has only been driven for 11 months since new. This bites!"

[name removed]
"Checked my door today and found a crack almost a quarter inch in length. I think this "crack club" is going to be quite large. 97 SC Flareside"

[name removed]
"After reading about the door cracks recently, I checked mine and sure enough; there it is. I stopped by the dealer, Bob Baker Ford in San Diego, and the body shop consultant said they were aware of it. She did not hesitate to tell me that they had to replace the door; with no mention of other options to fix the problem. She said she would order the door and when it came in would need the truck about 4 days. 1998 F150 SC 4X4, 4.6 Rick CritcherThanks for the detailed directions on where to look Nic. And while following those great directions I did indeed find the "dreaded crack", like most, mine's on the drivers door only, about 3/8" long. '98 SC, 4.6L" for those of you having trouble locating the whereabouts of the door crack, someone posted a picture at the following website."
http://arrowaranch.com/truck/crack.html

[name removed]
"When you go into your Ford Truck Dealer, walk through the used truck area and look them over. At my dealer, a small town dealer, I looked at 9 used 97 and 98 pickups. 16 out of the 18 doors did have the cracks. I did not touch any of these trucks, just looked at them and found the cracks. You do not need to roll down the windows and move the weather strip to find them, the cracks are there looking right back at you."

[name removed]
"Hi all, thought I would check my truck to see if it too had the infamous door crack and sure enough there she was, just goes to show that even brand spanking new 99's with less than 4500 kms are not immune. 99 XLT SC 4.6 auto"

[name removed]
"Did I mention that "I too" have the crack in the door ? There are actually "2" cracks ! They are only about 1/8" long for each. They start in the lower right corner where you push back the stripping & it looks like a "V". The 2 cracks start at the same point (in the corner) & one is going up the door & the other is going toward the back of the door. Dealer noted this the other day on his note pad & said "It's documented"!"

[name removed]
"I checked last night for the cracks count me in98 Black SC Flareside 4X4 4.6L"

[name removed]
"I have a 97 w/.The same crack everyone else has. The truck was assmblied in march of96 so it over 3 yr.`s old. The crack less than half in. long both doors. So add me to the list too. See if dealer in area will work with me. (miles 39,958)"

[name removed]
"I have a Black 98 F150 XLT 4x4 SC SB w/ORP and unfortunatley also with a driver side door crack."

[name removed]
"I have the door crack on both doors on my 97 f-150 with 28,000 miles"

[name removed]
"Ah the crack saga continues. I went to the dealership today to see what they were gonna do about my door. All of the service technicians (13 i think) were looking at my door and only one said he saw this one time before. So i told them all to follow me and we walked over to the used car section and started going from truck to truck and out of 10 trucks....guess what they all had cracks. They were just dumbfounded and i do mean DUMB. Well we went back to the service dept. and they said let us make an appointment with the body shop to get it fixed. I asked them what they would be doing to fix it and they said a little welding and bondo work should do the job and they were totally suprised when i said no you arent. I sadi if you dont fix the cause...no matter how much welding and bondo you put on the truck....it will come back and another thing there will be NO bondo put on my truck and that it will be replaced and they basically said we will think about it. Oh and when i was leaving I saw some of the techs. walking over to their trucks and I heard a little cussing from a few of them. Oh well i guess ill have to wait to see what they are gonna do about it."

[name removed]
"First of all I guess I want to say I have a 1/4" crack on the driver side and a 1/8 crack on the passanger side."

[name removed]
"...now I check my driver door and sure enough... a crack."

[name removed]
"Hi, I noticed mine at 4500 km's but I think there is another one out there with door cracks and roof cracks with even less km's 99 XLT SC 4.6l auto"

[name removed]
"Just checking in with a '97 F150, 42K miles, drivers side crack 3/8", no passenger side crack. I check every F150 I can (97-up) and tell each owner I see about it. Misery loves company...."