Hardtop cracks? Something else?

[Imaginary Friend]

Ford got back to me. They also closed the case.

"Hello Mr. [----].

I apologize for the late reply, I was out of office. So, in order for us to assist with the repair cost or rental cost, it has to be diagnosed as a warrantable repair by the dealership, which is why I advised you to take it to the dealership. Since it is not a warrantable repair, I cannot assist. I sincerely do apologize for any inconvenience this situation has cause. I would urge you to keep receipts of all work performed, if you do pay to get that fixed, in order to be considered for refund eligibility if a recall or customer satisfaction program is announced in the future. Lastly, we encourage you to have any work completed by our Ford dealer to provide you the peace of mind that a factory-trained technician has completed the repairs. Repairs performed by our dealerships are eligible for our Service Parts Warranty (SPW). For additional information about coverage details, please visit https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/search/service.parts.warranty.



Thank you for your continued loyalty to Ford Motor Company."

Ouch. Twist that knife, Ford.

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[1986Bronco]

Admittingly, I'm a little more sensitive to looking over the hardtop these days to keep an eye on the "stress cracks".

Noticed new ones around the back window on the passenger side, vertical at the far back of the window. These look to have penetrated the outer layer. 1,616 miles. A bit of a temperature swing here, but mainly in the 50s. Humidity outside has shifted back and forth from 40% to 70% back to 40%. Bronco is garaged in a relatively climate controlled environment.

Zooming in reveals the edges of the crack.

Cannot catch it with my nail or feel it with my finger.

 

[Dadsquatch]

Admittingly, I'm a little more sensitive to looking over the hardtop these days to keep an eye on the "stress cracks".

Noticed new ones around the back window on the passenger side, vertical at the far back of the window. These look to have penetrated the outer layer. 1,616 miles. A bit of a temperature swing here, but mainly in the 50s. Humidity outside has shifted back and forth from 40% to 70% back to 40%. Bronco is garaged in a relatively climate controlled environment.

Zooming in reveals the edges of the crack.

Cannot catch it with my nail or feel it with my finger.

So terrible. Can't believe this happens and is STILL happening.

 

[Loesch]

This will be a class action down the road at some point for sure. Be sure to bookmark this thread. lol. I'll be on the lookout for this problem once my 2024 gets delivered. I wonder if it's better or worse on the Heritage models?

 

[soldier989]

My passenger side rear window seal is now letting water in, at 2 spots. Called my dealership and told them to forget what I said about waiting for a top, and to order another, hoping it gets here in good shape. I cant imagine Ford would warranty a window seal on a top thats been approved for replacement.

Another to add to my list of issues - This morning, my passenger door window has a significant delay to its drop. I mean like, you open the door almost all the way, then it drops. Love it

 

[Ashventure]

yup those will def turn into cracks. They start off like lil marks but then develop into full on cracks. Make sure you alert your dealer about it. Ford Engineers know it’s an issue but has yet to really do much about it unless you pursue it. Mine developed a few months after I took purchase. They all seem to start around the edges like that. After a year of trying my roof finally got replaced after getting the BBB involved. Keep pushing. It’s unacceptable they give so much pushback to this issue. Hope y’all get yours replaced! Ford needs to seriously reconsider these MIC Tops. They’re 100% faulty. Until they go back and discuss options to change the tops it’ll continue to happen.

 

[1986Bronco]

I sent a message to Webasto in an attempt to offer raw data points to come up with an understanding of what is happening or at least some possibilities of taking care of the issue in lieu of replacement. I also sent them a link to this thread. They responded this morning. I will post their response. It is translated from German, but basically says that they built these tops for Ford and it is a Ford concern. I mostly expected this but thought there might have been some interest with direct experience vs second hand from Ford.

Translation:

Thank you for your inquiry to Webasto.

In your case it is a series-installed roof, i.e. H. Your vehicle has already been equipped with it at the Ford factory and delivered to you. Although this is originally a Webasto product, Ford purchased it from Webasto as part of a large series quota. With this general framework agreement, Webasto is automatically prohibited from intervening in sales and spare parts procurement.

You can obtain information about this hardtop from your Ford dealership. Unfortunately, we do not have product-specific documentation for this roof. Complaints should also be directed to your car dealership or directly to the manufacturer “Ford”.

We regret that we cannot help you and remain

Sincerely, / Kind regards,
Your Webasto customer center

 

[1986Bronco]

I also sent the Ford bot the new pictures. I'm not sure if I'm communicating with a bot still or a person, but the response message has an actual name. I will have to wait until I have time to go to the dealership again. One of the last pictures was at the dealership but there was no one available that day to help.

 

[1986Bronco]

yup those will def turn into cracks. They start off like lil marks but then develop into full on cracks. Make sure you alert your dealer about it. Ford Engineers know it’s an issue but has yet to really do much about it unless you pursue it. Mine developed a few months after I took purchase. They all seem to start around the edges like that. After a year of trying my roof finally got replaced after getting the BBB involved. Keep pushing. It’s unacceptable they give so much pushback to this issue. Hope y’all get yours replaced! Ford needs to seriously reconsider these MIC Tops. They’re 100% faulty. Until they go back and discuss options to change the tops it’ll continue to happen.

In case I keep getting the runaround, did you file a BBB report against Ford or the dealer?

 

[Ashventure]

In case I keep getting the runaround, did you file a BBB report against Ford or the dealer?

My claim was filed against Ford. Once filed BBB will speak to Ford on your behalf to get it resolved. My Dealer in Fullerton, CA has always been fantastic. They tried as much as they could to get it to go thru. It was all held up on Fords end. Going thru the BBB was my last ditch effort and ended up being super successful.

 

[1986Bronco]

My claim was filed against Ford. Once filed BBB will speak to Ford on your behalf to get it resolved. My Dealer in Fullerton, CA has always been fantastic. They tried as much as they could to get it to go thru. It was all held up on Fords end. Going thru the BBB was my last ditch effort and ended up being super successful.

How is your new top?

 

[1986Bronco]

Also, any plans for a roof rack at this point are on hiatus; I can only imagine that further cracking will be leveraged against me.

 

[Ashventure]

How is your new top?

So far so good. I do need to keep an eye out tho just in case. Here’s hoping Ford finds a fix for the issue!

 

[Obeh4ve]

Also. This is not dirt, a trail of dirt, a trail of water from condensation or washing. It is in the material. In the exact same spot. On every hardtop Bronco that I came across this morning.

Smells a lot like a design manufacturing issue. Likely a shrink issue as a guess. That kind of repeatability always points to a failed process or design. Or both. I'm waiting on our Bronco and fingers crossed this is fixed before Jan 2024. I'm placing no bets on that happening.

 

[1986Bronco]

Maybe so. I was initially upset at the problem but entertained about trying to find out why it was happening.

Now that I have new vertical cracks along the back, I lost a bit of steam. I tried Ford again with the new cracks since they are through the outer material and visited the dealership. They took pictures and said they would get back to me. That was a week ago and I have not heard a thing from them.

I also re-contacted Ford through a message they sent me here. They told me to contact the dealer. So around and around it goes...

The warranty process on this has been rather horrendous. I have not owned an American brand vehicle in decades so maybe this is just how it is?

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