My Bronco MIC hardtop cracked in cold (-11 degrees)

[Ducati1098]

My point is that your dealer should be your advocate and file the warranty claim. You shouldn't have to go directly to Ford.

You do realize that if the dealer files the warranty claim and it gets denied by Ford, the dealership has to eat the whole cost of the repair?
It would literally be stupid for a dealership not to get prior approval for something like this from Ford first. Especially considering a top failure this bad, to my knowledge, has never been seen. Also it sounds like the dealer did reach out to ford, not the OP.

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[BlueBronco]

Well… I’d call the dealership being hesitant to submit it for warranty work as a big f**king problem. That is 100% bs.

They documented the issue and reached out to Ford for guidance/instructions on how to proceed. You think they should have replaced it with no questions asked? Especially when no failure of this kind has been documented?

@flip what would be standard procedure for something like this showing up requesting repair?

 

[Snowdogyyz]

They documented the issue and reached out to Ford for guidance/instructions on how to proceed. You think they should have replaced it with no questions asked? Especially when no failure of this kind has been documented?

@flip what would be standard procedure for something like this showing up requesting repair?

I took my wife’s cracked top in. The service manager took pics and contacted Ford. He called me today and said Ford wanted me to bring it back in and have a service tech look at it “officially” per normal procedures and then get back to them for further instructions.

 

[dgorsett]

Well, not exactly…. You are correct in that the temperature of the top won’t go below -10 degrees F. ”Wind Chill” increases the heat transfer rate.

A more correct statement would be, “the skin on your nose is losing heat at the rate it would if the wind was blowing at XX speed.”

If it’s 34 degrees F and the wind chill temperature is say 5 degrees F, will water freeze? NO. But it will cool down to 34 degrees very fast.

Thank you

 

[Rusty Sheckelford]

Wow. Ford needs a clean-sheet-of-paper redesign effort on these roofs.

Hopefully that's the mod top. Maybe that's why Ford has delayed it so much, to do more R&D?

 

[Hossfire]

You do realize that if the dealer files the warranty claim and it gets denied by Ford, the dealership has to eat the whole cost of the repair?
It would literally be stupid for a dealership not to get prior approval for something like this from Ford first. Especially considering a top failure this bad, to my knowledge, has never been seen. Also it sounds like the dealer did reach out to ford, not the OP.

When I say file, I mean get approval from Ford, not process the paperwork after the repair is done. My criticism is not the dealer here, but Ford's warranty process. It seems like Ford is pretty shitty to their dealerships when paying for repairs. That's not right and causes customer issues.

Time after time we hear about Ford's business processes which are pretty antiquated. Screw ups on people's COVP certs because of data entry errors. Not at the dealership, but in a back office function. You know all this data is stored electronically...why is anything being typed? If my order is viewable on my Ford.com account, why isn't my Carry Over Private Offer visible on the website?

 

[Neps]

Two thoughts come to mind:
1. Get some of this until the new top comes in

2. I'd be talking to my daughters to see which on of their teenage Boyfriends tried to pull a Rapunzel move using my Bronco as a starting point, or asking about a Police raid of their party.

 

[labattbluebronco]

I had to Pentwater the top to attach racks it seems like there is a cardboard like material inside if that did get wet due to desalination it could get frozen expand and crack.

If that is not a typo, I'm curious how the removal of salt during the desalination process would have contributed to this damage.

 

[flip]

They documented the issue and reached out to Ford for guidance/instructions on how to proceed. You think they should have replaced it with no questions asked? Especially when no failure of this kind has been documented?

@flip what would be standard procedure for something like this showing up requesting repair?

Due to the cost, I would take pics and send to prior approval even if the part isn't on the list requiring digital imaging. If they give the canned, "follow the warranty and policy manual", blah, blah, blah, the next step is send it to the dealer decision support team (folks that would be dealing with the repair claim). If they don't give me the warm and fuzzy, I'd send the pics to my field service engineer to see if he agrees with the call we're making. If no one gives an approval then it's still up to the dealer and the only thing we have is a good detailed write up and pics of the failure to back up the repair if the assessor decides to get frisky and threaten a chargeback.

How do I know this? I just did all of this shit to try and CYA on a soft top frame we're getting ready to replace for a nylon support on one of the hinges that's split. Guess what step I'm at? Yup, no one will say yes or no so I'll be on the hook for an $8K+ repair if they don't like something about our documentation or write up.

I know most people probably see warranty in the simple terms of covered or not covered. The fact is, there are plenty of times the dealer feels a repair is warrantable, does the repair and is charged back due to a less than stellar write up by the tech or failure to use all of the one time use parts, cleaning wipes on an engine repair, etc. Don't know about other manufacturers but Ford has been really hateful with how they assess LEGITIMATE warranty claims. Every dealer has had stuff charged back for standards Ford doesn't even hold themselves to. So when I see threads like this I have to bite my lip because most of the time it's not that a dealer doesn't want to do a repair, it's likely due to it being high dollar, increased chance of a chargeback since it's a "trim" item, no approval prior to the repair and because they've been bitten in the ass by Ford in the past.

 

[RHeinz]

Thanks Phil.

 

[Donkeygyrl]

If that is not a typo, I'm curious how the removal of salt during the desalination process would have contributed to this damage.

Replace with delamination

 

[555-RGNE]

Fucking dealership service departments...

My wife bought a 2023 Wrangler yesterday. I had three prior to my Bronco, but there was a good year and a half gap between when I sold my 2020 and when my Bronco arrived. I forgot how solid and quiet Jeep hard tops are - it's a night and day difference. I don't know how Ford f'd theirs up so bad, but it's laughable that what they gave us is the best they can do.

 

[2112]

@flip great explanation.

I am a health care provider. You have just explained the exact same process we go through all day long with the majority of services we provide.

We have an added twist. The service will be covered but not at a level to cover the cost of providing said service, and we must write off the balance. And no, it’s not a deductible loss.

 

[DETT]

... What wax did you use? ...

Hey, that's my schtick!

 

[freebob]

My hard top has been in 110 plus heat to in the badlands to -14 in michigan .Never had a problem.Must be a bad top...

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