I purchased a 2016 F150 XL 2.7 fx4 Supercrew in late June. It immediately began to have AC problems so it was in and out of the shop a couple times with claims that it was fixed. It most certainly was not, so the last time I dropped the truck at the dealer it was July 11th...... I have not had my truck back since (nearly 3 full weeks!!!), but from what I'm hearing it will be ready for pickup today. I have expressed my feelings to the dealer that this is not how I expected my first new car experience to go. I have been provided with a rental car for this period of time, but not having my truck has been very detrimental to my day to day life.

The service manager at the dealer says hes let Ford know about the situation and a case file has been opened. I have not personally heard from anyone at Ford corporate, but the service manager says they have been checking in with him a few times.

So, my request to this community is to share any similar experiences and how I should approach Ford with my obvious dissatisfaction in the product/service. What would be reasonable for me to request or expect them to do for me? Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you for your time.

 

We have several Ford Customer service reps that are members on this site. Crystal is one that comes to mind. They're usually pretty good about dropping in

 

I moved your thread to the 2015-2016 section and retitled it to get more views/attention

 

Fix your truck. You might look at the Lemon Law in your State as it varies a lot. Here in Texas the Lemon Laws suck real bad. You have to give the dealer 3 opportunities to fix it for the same defect and then you can file under the Lemon Law with an attorney. You will then pay the dealer for all miles on the truck at the rate allowed by IRS. I had a bud go thru this with an F250 and his new truck would have cost him a small fortune to give it back at the then cost of .545 cents a mile plus attorneys fees. Instead, he had the truck fixed at a non-dealer and came out cheaper. After that, the truck never gave him one problem in 250,000 miles. One of his employees is still driving it.

 

Lemon laws are usually a bad deal for the customer but the THREAT of one will often "encourage" the manufacturer/dealership to finally fix the problem. That's a BIG improvement over the pre-Lemon period when a customer had NO leverage. I had a problem with a (non-Ford) car that I used to own and after the dealer's third failed repair attempt and numerous excuses, I started seriously documenting it's problems and that's when the dealership mechanics finally stopped making excuses and found and corrected the problem.

 

Thanks all. The latest update on the situation is that the AC is fixed. I had to take the truck back in AGAIN to the dealer after they returned it to me because they left some screws that rolled around in the dash every time i made a turn.

Since the repair the truck no longer feels "new" to me. The plastic is scratched up on some of the dash panels where the tech would pry at it to remove it. I can also hear what i suspect is the drivers side turbo whistling through the dash now, whereas before it was perfectly quite. The service manager is aware of my concerns and seems to want to help, but they couldn't find anything that would be causing more engine noise to be coming through the dash into the cabin. So i'm not sure what to do from here.

After dealing with Ford Customer care, the resolution is that they are going to refund me my first month's car payment because Ford had possession of my truck more than I did the first month ownership. It only seemed fair.

 

Glad you're starting to get back to where you should be

 

I thought the lemon law only applies to Disabling Defects.

 

Varies by state, but it's any sort of recurring problem usually. And in TEXAS during the summer, lack of air conditioning is definitely a disabling defect

 

Do not let this go until they replace any panel that shows wear/scratches.

It is their responsibility to make it look like new.

 

Yeah I agree, but that might not be the battle I want to pick at this time. I am more concerned about the turbo noise I'm hearing in the cab now. Its a whirling whistle at low rpms and you can hear the pitch get higher as the rpms increase, then you hear a squeak when the trucks shifts and BOV engages.

When they went back into the dash to check things out they said they found no smoking gun on what could be causing the noise. They never really admitted they heard the noise i'm hearing, which covers their butts.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what could have been put back incorrectly in the dash (related to the AC) that would allow excess noise from the engine area to enter the cab? I've attached the service log for anyone who is interested and think it may help to diagnose.

 

Looks like they had the whole dash out of the truck. As well as took apart the HVAC case. Maybe had the dash out multiple times.

Very possible the firewall insulation (inside the cab) could have been disturbed. Typically called "jute"
Its also possible something as simple as the grommet, or insulation block around where the Evap case comes through the firewall.



Sounds like you might ask to drive with the service manager, maybe a lead technician. And ask to have an equivalent new vehicle available for test drive as a comparison as well.

 

I did in fact have the service manager take a ride with me in my truck then in another new truck. I of course did not hear the turbo sound in the other truck, and the service manager still was hesitant to say he heard the difference between the two. He blamed it on his "old man" ears. After the ride along when they had my truck to the service manager said he had a younger technician take a ride and said he could hear a little something different. So from that point they did a cursory look behind a few easy to remove dash panels to "make sure everything looked good" (that's when he said they couldn't find any apparent smoking gun). The service manager then told me had listened to a variety of the 2.7 ecoboosts on their lot and "they all sounded different" to him. I believe i'm getting the run-around because they don't want to FULLY deconstruct the dash again to actually find the problem. Honestly I don't want them to do that either, but i'm not going to spend the next 5-7 years listening to this annoying noise, so it seems like the only recourse at this point.

 

Latest update: I took my truck back in to see if they could find any smoking gun since I had put some more miles on the vehicle. I was told the same thing again. The dealer service techs COULD hear the whinding noise, but it was deemed normal. I was told they got Ford tech help on the phone and were told it was nothing out of the ordinary too (Trust me, if the truck sounded like this on my extended 20mile test drive, I never would have bought it). My concern is still that Ford hotline tech help is not taking into consideration that the entire dash has been opened up TWO times, disturbing whatever sound blocking there may be back there, to fix the AC problems and if they are, the dealer is definitely downplaying it to them.

I spoke with Ford customer care the next day after I receive my truck back. They are monitoring the case but once the noise was deemed "normal" from Ford tech she basically said "case closed". My true feeling is that since there is nothing dangerous or mechanically wrong with the vehicle (ie check engine light) and the noise is subtle (yet still very annoying to the everyday driver, ME) that I'm being brushed aside by a dealer who doesn't want to correct shotty work, and a car company who wants to protect their dealer. In other words, I feel they've circled the wagons. I stated my final thoughts with the customer care rep and the best she could tell me was to write a letter to Ford and gave me the PO box address to send it to. GEE THANKS.

If anybody has any more advice at this point I'd love to hear it. Or let me know if I may be misunderstanding the Ford/dealer dynamic.

 

I'm not in the least surprised that the dealer doesn't want to fix it and that Ford isn't helping. There's only two choices as I see it. 1. Take it somewhere and have it fixed and then sue Ford and/or the dealer in small claims court to get your money back. 2. Use the Lemon law to have the sale voided. (I hope you kept all of your paperwork.)