Dealership gaslighting me about tailgate rattle (and excessive wind noise)

[tambrico]

Please see video link at the bottom of the post as well. Picked up my Bronco (2.7 badland sasquatch lux) on 6/30/22 after waiting almost 2 years. At around 900 miles I developed the dreaded tailgate rattle. I also have loud excessive wind noise coming from the passenger side rear window. I made an appointment in August to have the car seen. Earliest they could get me in was October. Dropped it off 10/5. They replaced some loose weather stripping on the door and they said they tightened the bolts on the spare tire mount.

I drove the car home and immediately noticed that neither issue was fixed. I tried to grease the tire mount bolts from the back via the accessory ready panel as suggested in many threads about the tailgate rattle issue. This did not work. I called the dealership to bring it back and did a ride along with the service advisor who told me he definitely heard the tailgate rattle and it agreed that it was very annoying in regular driving, AND also heard the wind noise remarking that it sounded like a window was open. I felt pretty confident in dropping it off this time.

Just got a call today from the mechanic at the dealership who is now telling me that they drove it and nothing is wrong. They said the wind noise is normal and they did not hear a tailgate rattle just some noises that are "normal for a truck." This is despite the service advisor riding with me and agreeing with my assessment. When I brought that up they said "well he's not qualified to do a ride along."

I am genuinely at my wits end with this noise. Particularly the tailgate rattle. I want to love this truck but I can't love it if I can't stand to drive it. The wind noise bothers me less but it's still very excessive to the point where sometimes I can't even hear the tires on the road. I spent 65 thousand dollars on this truck after delay after delay and waiting 2 years. It's completely demoralizing to be told this and I'm not quite sure where to go from here. Wanted to maybe get some thoughts and opinions from people who have been in the same boat so to speak. And also just wanted to vent in general and make sure I'm not crazy

I'm not going to name and shame the dealership just yet because I'm still in communication with them and a family member used to work for the service department is communicating on my behalf as well.

Here is a video of the tailgate noise:

Sponsored

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Just got a call today from the mechanic at the dealership who is now telling me that they drove it and nothing is wrong. They said the wind noise is normal and they did not hear a tailgate rattle just some noises that are "normal for a truck." This is despite the service advisor riding with me and agreeing with my assessment. When I brought that up they said "well he's not qualified to do a ride along."

LOL, the dealer's own service advisor isn't qualified to do a ride along because . . . he's a human being with working hearing? WTF?

 

[tambrico]

LOL, the dealer's own service advisor isn't qualified to do a ride along because . . . he's a human being with working hearing? WTF?

I don't understand. I was flabbergasted when he said that. If he's not qualified to do the ride along then why did they set it up for him to do the ride along with me?

 

[crnmddoc]

Sounds like you need to take it to another dealer for another opinion

 

[Lifeliberty]

Sounds like that dealer is too busy to care about servicing after a sale. That sucks, go somewhere else, preferably another dealer with more bronco experience.

I will say, the bronco is not quiet. But if you did buy a new truck, it probably would be much quieter.

 

[Hbrichman]

I can understand your frustrations as I have the same rattle and and I’m on my 2nd tailgate. This rattle isn’t nearly as bad as the first one was so I’ve decided to live with it for the time being. I’ve also tried to grease the bolts behind the accessory panel as the thread suggests with no such luck. Thinking the next bet is to get a spare tire brace and see if that helps.. I haven’t considered bringing it back to the dealer because I’m not sure they even know what’s causing it. Ontop of that, I have yet to see anybody say the dealer was able to fix this for them without replacing the entire tailgate and even then it seems to reappear on the new one fairly often. Seems to be a pretty deep rooted issue that Ford needs to examine further. Who knows if that’ll happen

 

[tambrico]

Sounds like you need to take it to another dealer for another opinion

I may have to do this, but honestly, I'm afraid to waste my time to be told the same thing by someone else who doesn't want to do their job. This whole ordeal has been so upsetting to me. I want to love this truck but I can't enjoy driving it.

 

[TNcoupe]

I may have to do this, but honestly, I'm afraid to waste my time to be told the same thing by someone else who doesn't want to do their job. This whole ordeal has been so upsetting to me. I want to love this truck but I can't enjoy driving it.

Ok, hear me out on this....check your rear wiper cover. Mine has separated and was causing a rattle. I guess it separated when the rear window slipped out of my hand and slammed down. I Gorilla taped the seam back together until I can get to a dealership and the rattle stopped.

 

[tambrico]

Ok, hear me out on this....check your rear wiper cover. Mine has separated and was causing a rattle. I guess it separated when the rear window slipped out of my hand and slammed down. I Gorilla taped the seam back together until I can get to a dealership and the rattle stopped.

Interesting. I will look but it makes the noise with the rest window in the up position so I think it's coming from the tire mount. Did yours sound like mine in my video?

 

[RustysBronco]

Please see video link at the bottom of the post as well. Picked up my Bronco (2.7 badland sasquatch lux) on 6/30/22 after waiting almost 2 years. At around 900 miles I developed the dreaded tailgate rattle. I also have loud excessive wind noise coming from the passenger side rear window. I made an appointment in August to have the car seen. Earliest they could get me in was October. Dropped it off 10/5. They replaced some loose weather stripping on the door and they said they tightened the bolts on the spare tire mount.

I drove the car home and immediately noticed that neither issue was fixed. I tried to grease the tire mount bolts from the back via the accessory ready panel as suggested in many threads about the tailgate rattle issue. This did not work. I called the dealership to bring it back and did a ride along with the service advisor who told me he definitely heard the tailgate rattle and it agreed that it was very annoying in regular driving, AND also heard the wind noise remarking that it sounded like a window was open. I felt pretty confident in dropping it off this time.

Just got a call today from the mechanic at the dealership who is now telling me that they drove it and nothing is wrong. They said the wind noise is normal and they did not hear a tailgate rattle just some noises that are "normal for a truck." This is despite the service advisor riding with me and agreeing with my assessment. When I brought that up they said "well he's not qualified to do a ride along."

I am genuinely at my wits end with this noise. Particularly the tailgate rattle. I want to love this truck but I can't love it if I can't stand to drive it. The wind noise bothers me less but it's still very excessive to the point where sometimes I can't even hear the tires on the road. I spent 65 thousand dollars on this truck after delay after delay and waiting 2 years. It's completely demoralizing to be told this and I'm not quite sure where to go from here. Wanted to maybe get some thoughts and opinions from people who have been in the same boat so to speak. And also just wanted to vent in general and make sure I'm not crazy

I'm not going to name and shame the dealership just yet because I'm still in communication with them and a family member used to work for the service department is communicating on my behalf as well.

Here is a video of the tailgate noise:

Welcome to being a Ford owner! Service is the second worst I've experienced of all OEM's (Jeep being the first) and that issue isn't exclusive to just one dealer. I'll get ripped for saying this, but you know who had the best service of all the cars I've owned? Tesla.

I had the same issue and after 3 dealership visits, multiple failed calls to Ford customer service, I finally have up. With that said, if you can get past the noise, it's been a great truck.

 

[jehines3]

did you take the spare off and try and replicate it

OEM wheels and tires?

did you change the rear brake light height

Have you pulled the clamshell off?

 

[Ground_zero298]

Pretty sure the rattle comes standard with the Lux package on a 4 door.

 

[TNcoupe]

Interesting. I will look but it makes the noise with the rest window in the up position so I think it's coming from the tire mount. Did yours sound like mine in my video?

Yep. It was making a ticking rattle sound every time I went over a bump and banging whenever I went over a big bump.

 

[kirnma]

did you take the spare off and try and replicate it

OEM wheels and tires?

did you change the rear brake light height

Have you pulled the clamshell off?

I agree with jehines3 that this might not be the spare tire. First thing is take off the spare tire and see if the rattle occurs. Then go through the process of disassembling the other rear-door components until you remove something that stops the rattle. However, IMHO only, to me it sounded like your rear tilt-up window isn't seated correctly and bouncing against something when you hit a bump, and that's causing the rattle. This also could be causing the road noise to filter through as well.

 

[tambrico]

did you take the spare off and try and replicate it

OEM wheels and tires?

did you change the rear brake light height

Have you pulled the clamshell off?

Everything is OEM, no mods.
Idk what the clamshell is.
I didn't take off the spare. I assumed service department would be competent enough to do that troubleshooting for me.

Sponsored