It's not an overstress issue, it's a fatigue issue. It's pretty clear that with the low mileage at which these cracks began occurring, that the cycling of the window motor has nothing to do with the cracking. There isn't any way that enough cycling of the window-induced loading can occur to create a fatigue problem in that short of a time.

The issue is that there is a cyclic load being generated in the body at that location in normal vehicle operation, probably by flexural loads induced in the window frame just driving around. My sense is that there's probably a small static load from the window in the closed position, which may increase the residual stress at the crack location, and reduce the fatigue life of the panel.

So, everybody who is driving around with their windows closed hoping for no cracks is probably actually aggravating the problem.

In any event, I'm getting ready to do battle with Ford on this myself. I've called their Cust. Serv. dept., and am headed over to the local dealer later today.

I am pretty good at making a pest of myself, an I know how to write press releases. Perhaps FoMoCo will be more inclined to fix these doors if there's a segment about it on say, Dateline? Get a national audience on a story about how 80% of these trucks built over a 4 year span exhibit the same engineering defect, and Ford refuses to issue a recall or acknowledge that there's even a problem, while the dealers continue to resell the defective vehicles without disclosing the issue to customers. Might make good TV.

 

1997 F150 Lariat. Power windows. No cracks or rust, truck has 110,000 miles on it. I never slam doors, or let other ppl slam the doors on my vehicles. So far so good.

 

99' F-150 drivers side, they but a new skin on it sucks, air leaks, over spray on seat belt, seat covers, they then said it was there before, they still screwed it up. i saw more cracks on trucks up north PA. on all 97' to 2001

 

Ho-kay... visited the local dealer (Kayser, In Wisconsin, if anyone's interested in where NOT to buy another vehicle)..

Hum.

Me: "What is Ford doing about cracked door panels on F150's?"

Stealership Cu*t: "Nothing."

Me: "There's no repair available?"

Stealership Cu*t: "We were doing them for our (inflated rip-off) cost under the 3/36, but Ford decided it wasn't a safety item, so there's no recall."

Me: "What about corrosion inside the door from water entry?"

Stealership Cu*t: "Yep, that's a problem."

Me: "It's an engineering defect, they should repair it no matter what the mileage."

Stealership Cu*t: "Yep, they made a mistake. There's no help for you."

Me: "Why are you selling used vehicles with the defect unrepaired? (there were several on the lot, all with cracked doors)"

Stealership Cu*t: "Ford says it's not a safety issue."

Me: "Are you informing potential buyers of this defect?"

Stealership Cu*t: "I can't answer that,you'll have to talk to Sales."

Me: "This is why I buy Toyota's."


... and why I'll never buy another American vehicle.



I'll call Ford Cust. Service & complain about this *****, and maybe the local news to let the public know what they're trying to pull.

I devised a simple fix. I'll drill a 1/8" hole at the crack tip to keep it from running further & make a nice little masked off rectangle of RTV to fill & seal it all up. Won't hardly notice it unless ya look close.

 

2000 Lariart here crack on drivers door and my brother(99' XLT) and My one buddy(2000 XLT) Both have it cracked in the same place. Ford told my friend that they cant do anything about it.

 

I've got a 2000 F-150 Lariat with almost 92,000 miles on it and my exterior is nearly PERFECT. I only have one major scratch on it and that's above one of the tail lights (backed into a fence, oops!).

I've never heard of cracks in the door. But I have a friend who has a 1997 F-150 Lariat with 120,000 miles on it with massive cracks around the little black things on the hood that shoot out the windshield-washer fluid. I don't mean a little crack, I mean there's several massive cracks around them going out in all different directions. He doesn't know what caused that. Although, it could be because he treats his truck like crap. Shame on him.

 

I have a 2000 F150XLT Supercab and have the crack on the drivers side door only.What is Ford's responsibility with this? Will they repair it at their expense? Does anyone know why this is happening? Any info would be greatly appreciated,especially about dealing with Ford on this apparently common problem. Walt

 

97 with 133k and i have the cracks on both freakin doors!!!!

 

1998 f150 153,000 miles. I have a crack on the drivers side door.

 

Got them on driver's side just above the bottom of the window. 99 F-150 Supercab.

Also the other 99 F-150 that I looked at had them as well but on both doors. Same size, same place.

 

97 F150 Supercab XLT 4.6 2wd....just bought 4 months ago with 88000 km and both doors have very visible cracks......I haven't gone to a Ford dealer about it but I'm thinking maybe now I should

 

does anybody know the cost of getting this problem repaired. i've got major crack on driver side and now small crack on passanger side. i'd like to get if fixed after this winter and save money during the summer to get both doors repaired. mine as well do it at the same time. i know it will be expensive, but anybody have any ballpark ranges for me?

thanks,
John

 

99 F-150 XLT Supercab Flarside both doors have cracks. Has anyone had the repair done for free recently? If so, what is the process? Isn't the corrosion warranty 5/100,000?

 

My old 2000 reg cab XLT did not have the door cracks on it at the time i traded it in for my current truck had it six years and put 96k on it. Hopefully the new owner is still going strong without the door crack.

 

No crack here in my 2000 reg. cab (knock on wood) but rust at bottom of driver door along the fold.