Thanks for wasting my entire day, Ford! (long car rant)

Goddamn Ford Motor Company…

I didn’t blame you for building that lemon of a Mustang I bought (well, I did, but…). I just wanted a different car after mine almost killed my husband, and your guys couldn’t ever figure out why. You had my car for a month, and could never diagnose the cause of the sudden loss of all power and total systems shutdown while driving on a busy freeway during afternoon drivetime! No brakes, steering, instrumentation or control, and the anti-theft system would come on like we were stealing the fucking car instead of driving it! A long story would ordinarily ensue, but suffice it to say that you couldn’t find out what the hell was wrong with the car, even after a test drive almost killed one of your service reps in the same way as my husband’s near miss! After 30 days out of service for the same problem, the CA “lemon law” would have required you to replace the vehicle or refund costs, so even though on day 29 you still didn’t know what was wrong, on day 30 you told us it was fixed and to come pick it up. Um, no, I don’t think so, sparky.

We asked about simply replacing the car with another. We didn’t want a dime from you or your dealership, just another car as we no longer feel safe putting ourselves or our children in this one. You tell us no. Just no. Too bad, if something really bad happens to you in the car, maybe we’ll look at it again. Lovely.

So now we are involved in a lawsuit. Which has already cost Ford more in legal fees than we would ever have expected for the fucking car!

Yesterday, we sit all day in the most ass-backwards deposition in the history of the world. The associate assigned to do our depo, we’ll call her “Idiot”, only passed the CA bar this spring! She has been practicing for less than six months, and if this WASN’T her first depo, she should be fired for absolute incompetance.

My husband is an attorney and former prosecutor, which Idiot discovered in the first five minutes. She was visibly shaken and remained flustered throughout the day. Our attorney almost had an apoplexy at the inane and irrelevant questions that Idiot put to us. There may be more objecting in the transcript than testimony! He even tried to feed her acceptable questions when hers were vague or unacceptable, but she still didn’t get it (“if you asked this, my client could answer you”). Our attorney finally got so bored he pulled out his checkbook and started paying his bills, fitting in an objection every few minutes. She missed opportunities for follow up that might have actually produced relevant information, perhaps because she was working from a script that she hadn’t written or even read before the depo started.

Bottom line- it was pathetic. IANAL, but even I know that you can’t ask someone “what did your lawyer tell you?”!!! How this imbecile ever passed the Bar is beyond me. Even the attorney for Ford Motor Credit, who was only along for the ride, was rolling her eyes and pacing.

Congratulations to both Ford and my dealership. Not only do you not have a single shred of information on record that you didn’t have before, but you really got our backs up. What’s that you say? You will offer to take the car back and refund every penny we have spent on payments? Not good enough anymore. Get your fucking checkbook out, worms.

This from a company who had Jacques Nasser all over my TV not too long ago, assuring me that my safety was his primary concern. Of course, old Jacques took one for the team last week, so…

nothing worthwhile to add, but let us know how it comes out!

IANAM (I am not a mechanic), but it sounds like the problem has something to do with the anti-theft system. Many anti-theft systems cut off all power to the car whenever they trip.

Attribute your bigger problem (Ford wasting your day and electing to go the legal route, rather than just replacing your car) to bean counters who handle risk management for Ford. I can’t believe they would take the chance of giving you that car back. The only way that would make sense from Ford’s perspective is if they were looking at their cumulative risk from a 30,000-foot perspective, which is the perspective that gave us the whole “5 cents for every Pinto” thing.

I hope everything turns out okay for you.

Thespos, their best guess ended up to be that “something” shorted out the PCM, or “car brain.” The problem is, they didn’t know what caused the short, why it happened after 9000 miles of driving, and when it might happen again. And of course, there are miles of wires in that car, any of which could have shorted.

Ford just had to settle another suit where the ignition system was mounted on the firewall, and it got so hot that the same problem as mine would happen. This was on damn near every model including Mustang from about 1993-1998 or so. Allegedly, the defect was corrected in the 2000 model, which is what we have.

I agree that it is a really stupid move for Ford at this point. I don’t think there is a jury out there who believes that Ford has consumer safety as it’s primary concern, after the “death tires” on the Explorers (I had one of those, too) and other problems. The fact that there is a baby seat in the back of that car, and that I waddled into the depo 4 1/2 months pregnant, did nothing to help their case, I’m sure. We had to sue them, BTW, in order to get them to take the car back. We are still required to make the $400 per month payment on it while it is parked and not being driven (hasn’t moved since 5/01), and we can’t sell it without disclosing it’s history, which makes it almost worthless.

A Mustang AND an Explorer?

Geez. I guess it’s not going to take too much to convince you to switch to Chevy, huh? :wink:

Actually (and this isn’t funny), we replaced the Explorer with what I consider to be one of the best cars in the world, a Land Rover Discovery II.

And then fucking Ford buys Land Rover! Dammit Ford engineers, if you weasels so much as lay one finger on my car design, I will hunt you down and strangle you!

I, too, really want to know how this comes out. I’ve heard of instances where Judges just get pissed off at the idiocy of Auto Makers and stick 'em with pretty much everything. They like them about as much as crooked insurance companies.

Keep us in the loop!

First, let me say that what the dealership did was INEXCUSABLE. I am curious if the dealership and Ford are both in the lawsuit. If they are and Ford has not assumed the defense of the dealership, I would have a WAG (not a legal opinion!!!) that Ford and the dealership are probably duking it out behind the scenes…

But, have pity on the poor associate. Judging from experience, some prima donna partner decided that you weren’t worth his time or had a good golf game come up at the last second (I guess both amount to the same thing) and said something to the effect of “You, girl [of course he would not even know her name] cover this depo for me.” Said associate was scared shitless as this was probably her first depo and tries to do her best, but, is also terrified when she finds out your hubby is a lawyer. Poor girl. I would think that this type of behavior will eventually lose that firm a client. Associates should start out with fun cases like small rear-enders…not this…I myself will never forget my first depo–two lovely elderly Chinese people “injured” in a car wreck–shit we needed an interpreter and everything…I walked out not even sure what had happened and I had “pitted-out” my best suit.

Good luck on the case!

Yeah, Jeannie, the dealership and Ford are both named in the suit. And Idiot is one of two attorneys on the case, I’m sure that the guy didn’t want to bother with the depo.

This whole thing can be traced back to the dealership, which shall remain nameless (Joe MacPherson Ford in Tustin, CA). Ford cannot or will not do anything on a buy-back or anything like it unless the dealership submits the request, and they won’t.

It’s surprising, because we had a great relationship with the dealership prior to this mess, having bought both our Fords there, and the family has purchsed at least 10 Toyotas from a sister dealership which shall also remain nameless (Joe MacPherson Toyota in Tustin, CA). Very disappointing, really.

Ford also has no department to deal with customer safety concerns. None. The only hotline they will answer is for repair issues, and we spoke to 3 of the reps who said that not only could they not help us, they didn’t know the address or phone numbers for the corporate office, any customer service helpline, any safety helpline, or any supervisor. One guy claimed he didn’t HAVE a supervisor!

Whatever, guys. The longer it takes, the more it’s going to cost you.

EJsGirl,

I wish you the best of luck with your lawsuit, but after dealing with Ford for 2 years regarding my Explorer problem you might be in it for the long haul.

Sunset Ford in Westminster, CA told me, “The engine knocking you hear at 2500 rpms is what Ford calls an acceptable defect.” Of course they didn’t consider the fact that the “banging” noise started 6 months after I bought the car. In other words, Ford says if they can’t figure out how to fix it, then it’s your problem to deal with. Sure, the problem is not life threatening, but I when I’m ready to sell the lemon, no one if their right mind would buy it with that noise.

They’ve put me through SO much shit, I eventually gave up.

Acceptable Defect. An oxymoron and and potential bad name. :slight_smile:

What are they going to do if you stop paying them? Sue you?

What are they going to do if you stop paying them? Sue you?

Oh, I’m sure of it!

Linear, I know that they are in this for the long haul, but so are we. I have another car, so I’m not totally screwed, but the $400/mo paperweight taking up garage space is a pisser.

Our problem IS life-threatening (ours & other drivers), so we are prepared to go all the way with it. And our lawyer is a prick, and this is all he does. He is amazing and tenacious and successful. As I told someone today, he may be a prick, but he’s OUR prick! Besides, if we have to buy another car during this ordeal, it becomes another part of our damages.

And yes, in CA you have to legally disclose all this shit, so we will never be able to sell it. Besides, I couldn’t sell it and sleep at night.

Judging from what she’s already said, they’d probably have the balls to actually issue a repo order, which would show up on their credit record and affect their opportunity to buy a car elsewhere.

Oh, how cute. Today’s mail brings a summons-type-thingie about the vehicle inspection by Ford and it’s lawyers. Scheduled for when? Fucking January 2002!

They figure the longer they draw this out, the more anxious we’ll be to settle. Nope, no such luck. I will walk to work before I let these assholes off the hook.

They succeed in frustrating me and making me crazy, but I will put up with it because they are wrong and should have to fix it.

And yes pldennison, there is no doubt in my mind that a default on this loan would haunt us forever.

EJsGirl, I don’t know if you’ve tried this or not, but you can go directly to the Ford Co. Chairman of the Board:

The American Road, Dearborn, MI 48121
Chairman of the Board: William Clay Ford, Jr.
313-322-9545

It’s also suggested that you send a copy of the letter to your Attorney General:

California Attorney General’s Office, Public Inquiry Unit
1515 K Street, Sacramento, Ca 95814
(916) 322-3360 or 1-800-952-5225.

I know this probably won’t stop the lawsuit and such, but if enough people complain it will certainly hurt the dealer.

You can find this type of information at cartalk.com right here.

I love they way they put it: “Got a problem with your car? And, are the Rogaine-drenched polyester-clad lads down at the local dealership not being particularly helpful?”

I went shopping for a new vehicle today. Even put an offer in on one. It wasn’t a Ford. Thanks, EJsGirl.