Door rust question...
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Door rust question...
Background info... I have a 2000 Black F-150. I recently noticed extensive rusting on the bottom of my driver side door. I've done searches on this forum and am aware that this is a problem and a TSB was issued by Ford. I took my truck to my local Ford dealer to have it evaluated. The body shop manager looked at my door (and tailgate) and said that the driver door would need to be replaced and the other doors plus tailgate had minimal rust which could be fixed without replacement. I am outside of the 3/36 warranty but withing the 5yr/unlimited rust warranty. He said because the metal is not perforated it is not covered. He contacted the regional Ford rep to see if anything could be done. They just came back and said it is not covered because the metal is not perforated.
My question... Has anybody had Ford cover the cost of fixing their rusted doors outside of the 3/36 warranty and without having the metal perforated?
I'm a little pissed at Ford about this. From what the body shop manager said it was a desing defect that caused the rusting. Ford even issued a TSB to fix it. Well with a black truck it is hard to spot early signs of rust. Also, I never thought to examine my doors for rust and only noticed it recently. I know my door has been rusting for a long time. The extent of rust does not occur overnight. I think Ford new about the problem but failed to notify me of the potential problem while I could still have tried to prevent it. Now I'm stuck with a door that needs replacement and I'm outside of warranty. I think Ford should be held accountable for some portion of fixing my truck.
Again, if anyone has had this problem covered by Ford please reply. I want to see if there is anything further I can do with trying to get my problem fixed.
Thanks for any replys!
My question... Has anybody had Ford cover the cost of fixing their rusted doors outside of the 3/36 warranty and without having the metal perforated?
I'm a little pissed at Ford about this. From what the body shop manager said it was a desing defect that caused the rusting. Ford even issued a TSB to fix it. Well with a black truck it is hard to spot early signs of rust. Also, I never thought to examine my doors for rust and only noticed it recently. I know my door has been rusting for a long time. The extent of rust does not occur overnight. I think Ford new about the problem but failed to notify me of the potential problem while I could still have tried to prevent it. Now I'm stuck with a door that needs replacement and I'm outside of warranty. I think Ford should be held accountable for some portion of fixing my truck.
Again, if anyone has had this problem covered by Ford please reply. I want to see if there is anything further I can do with trying to get my problem fixed.
Thanks for any replys!
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Joined: Jan 2002
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From: in a house
The design flaw which jbird is referring to is the gap underneath the door ,I have a 99 and it to has rust underneath the drivers door. Road salt and dirt get lodged underneath the doors because of the opening ,thus leading to rust. I was unaware of a TSB, does the tsb apply if I am over my warranty period ?
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Hi FatBoy.
It really depends on the dealership. A TSB is not a recall, so unless your vehicle is under warranty, from what I understand, the dealership is under no obligation to do anything about it. I mentioned it to my dealership the other day while I was in for some service and they said they wouldn't do anything about it for me. I think I'm going to take the advice of several other postings and not worry about pursing the issue. I don't think its worth my time and effort. But if I were to pursue it, I'd try to contact Ford Corporate and try to raise as much stink as I could. I'd try to find someone on the list who had been successful in getting Ford Corporate to "convince" the dealership to do something about it. In the meantime, I'm going to break out the wire brush, some good old rust reformer, and some touch up paint and try to clean it up.
Good luck!
Chris
It really depends on the dealership. A TSB is not a recall, so unless your vehicle is under warranty, from what I understand, the dealership is under no obligation to do anything about it. I mentioned it to my dealership the other day while I was in for some service and they said they wouldn't do anything about it for me. I think I'm going to take the advice of several other postings and not worry about pursing the issue. I don't think its worth my time and effort. But if I were to pursue it, I'd try to contact Ford Corporate and try to raise as much stink as I could. I'd try to find someone on the list who had been successful in getting Ford Corporate to "convince" the dealership to do something about it. In the meantime, I'm going to break out the wire brush, some good old rust reformer, and some touch up paint and try to clean it up.
Good luck!
Chris
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A little update on my situation....
Basically not much has changed. The regional Ford rep basically said that the repair is not covered because I am outside of my warranty and for the rust warranty to be applicable in my case the rust would have had to perforate the medal, which it hasn't. I was going to try and get the number of the rep so I could call and raise a fuss but as cstout says I don't think it's worth my time and effort because I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with them. Maybe I should just go take a hole pucnch and shoot some holes in my door panel, let them get nice and rusty and take it in to be fixed under warranty in a couple of months. Obviously, I'm not going to do this but it just pisses me off that Ford never notified me of this problem. From looking at recent topics it seems as if more and more people find the problem everyday. Many of them are going to end up in the same situation I am in.
Again, if anyone has been able to get Ford to address this problem outside of the warranty period I would be interested in how they went about getting some results. I could atleast use it as ammo if I talked to the rep.
Basically not much has changed. The regional Ford rep basically said that the repair is not covered because I am outside of my warranty and for the rust warranty to be applicable in my case the rust would have had to perforate the medal, which it hasn't. I was going to try and get the number of the rep so I could call and raise a fuss but as cstout says I don't think it's worth my time and effort because I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with them. Maybe I should just go take a hole pucnch and shoot some holes in my door panel, let them get nice and rusty and take it in to be fixed under warranty in a couple of months. Obviously, I'm not going to do this but it just pisses me off that Ford never notified me of this problem. From looking at recent topics it seems as if more and more people find the problem everyday. Many of them are going to end up in the same situation I am in.
Again, if anyone has been able to get Ford to address this problem outside of the warranty period I would be interested in how they went about getting some results. I could atleast use it as ammo if I talked to the rep.
