corporate greed

Do you own, or have owned a ford vehicle that had a failed axod or some variation of the axod transmission?  More specifically; Taurus, Sable, Continental, Windstar, Freestar, Monterey. If you are, or were an owner, and you experienced a transmission failure, or PCM a failure then please read on. We are going to dissect as much as possible why the failure, and how Ford is accountable for allowing this to go on for 20 years without reconciling or attempting to do what is right for the faithful customers that have made them the conglomerate that they are.

In 1986 the axod was introduced, during a 20 year stint this transmission has had 3 major changes. However, these transmissions that were put out had significant failures despite the changes made. Ford made few attempts to fix the consumers woes. In fact, as these transmissions evolved the problems became more complicated to diagnose, the repairs were so costly Ford decided to start ignoring the problem all together. Here is a story from a police officer and a father of 6 in Maryland, “The transmission in our van failed at 45K miles. Our Ford dealership, Koon’s Ford of Annapolis LIED to me immediately and stated that they knew nothing of this type of problem in this line. A quick phone call to a friend of mine who owns a transmission shop and who also happens to be a retired Ford technician informed me that, not only does Ford know about it, but they tell everyone with the same problem the same LIE - “We have never heard of this before.” “You are the first person who ever had this problem.” Here is a loyal customer who has been buying Fords for 25 years, and this is how he was treated. Not only did he not get resolution from the dealership, but ford’s customer service department also turned a blind eye to him. This is a guy who protects and serves the very same people that are ripping him off, prime example of corporate greed. Here is how Jim was treated when he called the Ford customer service line “my experience with the Customer Relationship Center was probably the most maddening part of this nightmare because they lie to you just as easily as breathing, and treat you like a child. Their smugness was infuriating. When you ask to speak to a supervisor, the response is always the same “He/she is not available right now. I will give him/her your number and have him/her get back to you w/in 24-48 hours.” We decided to investigate this, here is what we found. We called Ford and gave a legitimate VIN so they could look the vehicle up; we explained that a control valve in the transmission has failed allowing the transmission fluid to leak. We stated the Freestar in question had 40k miles on this. The first line of Ford’s defense read the script just like they were supposed to, and gave no resolve to this issue. We then asked to speak with a supervisor for further assistance, and what do you know, they said the same thing to us as they did to Jim. We also decided to call around to Ford dealerships and talk with their shop foreman’s. These individuals are also educated on what to say about the notorious ax4n transmission, “I have never heard of this, why don’t you bring it in so we can take a look at it?” We then asked if they would simply pull codes, or would they investigate the root of the problem, here is what was said “we always investigate the problems, and very rarely do we find transmission have failed. It is usually some electrical component.”

Before we took on this story, we did some exhaustive research and found that not only are Ford transmissions a problem, but Ford has design flaw in their cowls that allows water to leak through onto the power Train Control Module. This defect happens to be prominent in the newer Ford Taurus’s and Freestars. Here is a link which gives example of what Ford customers are going through. There is a federal mandated warranty that covers pcm’s for 8 years or 80k miles. The problem with these warranties is, it is up to the service department’s discretion if this is defective due to manufacturers’ failure, or consumer abuse and neglect. If you have a failed PCM, and Ford will not take responsibility you can also use the “The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act” as your defense, here is snippet of this law; “The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is intended to help consumers with warranty disputes enforce their rights.  The Act permits consumers to sue a company that fails to live up to its promises under a warranty.  Among other provisions, the Act allows consumers who prevail in suits for breach of warranty under the Act to recover attorney’s fees and court costs, as well as damages and other relief awarded by the court.” This a pdf file for you read about the PCM, it looks pretty cut and dry that Ford would be responsible for full payment to fix this issue. We would like to rub a little salt in your wound; all freestars sold in Canada came with a 5 year 60k mile warranty, but only a 3year 36k in the United States read this link for the proof. We e-mailed Ford why they would construct a program for a foreign country that is better than the one they are offering to the very country who made them big in the first place. We received an auto generated reply that discussed current warranty options. They did not answer the question about 2005 models, we then resubmitted our e-mail, and after the 3^rd attempt Ford ignored us.

Now that you have some background on this mess Ford has created, you can understand why they invested 720 million dollars into upgrading their transmission plant, and dumping the Minivan assembly all together. If Ford can afford that kind of upgrade why can’t they fix the problems that are currently out there? They can afford it, but choose not to. Ford is a charitable entity, giving to some great causes. However, they really should focus on taking care of their responsibility. Ford will only fix these problems if the NHTSA forces them too. Look, we understand automotive engineering is not perfect. Just look at the Dodge Caravan, but when you have a serious defect early on, then take care of your responsibility Ford. If you were affected by a ford product please don’t just read this and move on, make yourself heard. Now for the owners of the all new Ford Flex………….good luck.

1.       Contact your state attorneys general’s office, and file a complaint.

2.       Contact the Office of Defects Investigations, and file a complaint.

3.       Write a letter to your state governor, let them know that the above two complaints are not enough. This is an election year, they will listen.

4.       This is a must, file a complaint with “the center for auto safety” this website is your friend.

Some links for you to look at

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2004-to-2007-ford-freestar-2.htm

http://www.motortrend.com/features/auto_news/112_news040420_trans/index.html

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/index.cfm