Ford claims flat towing our 4 mo. old Bronco destroyed the transmission (not covering under warranty)

[Fordified1]

From what I’ve seen, only the Broncos with 4A (advanced 4WD system) have had transmission failures when flat towing.
This in itself is a smoking gun which could be used in court.
I will continue to flat tow our Bronco with very little worry until someone reports a failure with the regular 4wd system.

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[Fordified1]

Remove driveshafts?

Might as well use a trailer instead if you’re gonna go to that trouble. You’d have to pull both. Skid plate is in the way on mine.
We just need to pursue this until Ford is forced to make it right.

 

[Valhalla]

Might as well use a trailer instead if you’re gonna go to that trouble. You’d have to pull both. Skid plate is in the way on mine.
We just need to pursue this until Ford is forced to make it right.

I actually trailer mine when I take it wheeling. I try not to run my off-road tires on pavement much.

 

[73Corvetteman]

I actually trailer mine when I take it wheeling. I try not to run my off-road tires on pavement much.

Problem is for us that stay at campgrounds there is seldom anywhere to put trailer when you arrive. I understand this is way to avoid potential problems but the vehicle is advertised as towable 4 down and is why I purchased mine. I looked into all kinds of possible solutions, driveshaft disconnects, unplugging shift motor after setuo for neutral towing, etc but they all present another set of potential problems.
I have decided on having detailed checklists and video documentation of each time I place vehicle in neutral tow mode. If they deny warranty coverage I should have a pretty good case for lawsuit. Ford has no way to prove you didn't have it in neutral tow mode. Info is not stored in computer according to Ford mechanic I spoke to.

 

[CoolContractor]

Unless you filmed the whole trip it could be claimed it was taken out of flat tow and in again somewhere along the route. The computer logs everything so I'm sure they can tell if a step was missed or if it was indeed in flat tow mode. Now could a software bug take it out of flat tow somewhere along the way ? Hmmmm. I have a hard time trusting the electronic gimmicks when my cell phone reboots itself at random

There have been people who have videos and photographed the entire process and then still were denied the warranty repair. Someone posted that the manual says to leave the trans in neutral and Ford came back and said the trans should be in park. I bought my Bronco only for the flat tow feature. After reading so many posts about trans failures, I ended up buying a car trailer. Very expensive lesson.

 

[Fordified1]

There have been people who have videos and photographed the entire process and then still were denied the warranty repair. Someone posted that the manual says to leave the trans in neutral and Ford came back and said the trans should be in park. I bought my Bronco only for the flat tow feature. After reading so many posts about trans failures, I ended up buying a car trailer. Very expensive lesson.

The on dash display during the procedure even says to leave it in neutral.

 

[CoolContractor]

The on dash display during the procedure even says to leave it in neutral.

Correct. Someone also posted a bulletin from Ford stating that the trans needs to be put it PARK. Sounds like a class action lawsuit.

 

[73Corvetteman]

There have been people who have videos and photographed the entire process and then still were denied the warranty repair. Someone posted that the manual says to leave the trans in neutral and Ford came back and said the trans should be in park. I bought my Bronco only for the flat tow feature. After reading so many posts about trans failures, I ended up buying a car trailer. Very expensive lesson.

I am buying a dvr system with gps similar to what is used in commercial vehicles. The system will be active 24 hrs a day while towing. The cameras will be aimed at all applicable criteria that shows neutral tow mode enabled. I will be recording and downloading those videos to computer and cloud backup. I already anticipate they will deny warranty. When that happens I will contact a warranty attorney and Ford will pay for much more than transfer case and transmission. Remember Ford has no way to verify if it was in neutral tow mode, only info they have is the fault codes after failure occurs. Rather than fix problem they bank on the fact most people won't pursure case. I will.

 

[Ducati1098]

Correct. Someone also posted a bulletin from Ford stating that the trans needs to be put it PARK. Sounds like a class action lawsuit.

That was just a pinpoint test likely copy and pasted from a different model. There are plenty of errors like that in the wsm, which doesn’t really matter, because the customer doesn’t typically have access to that and should be following the owners manual to begin with.

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