Warranty Nightmare (Advice needed)

[BroncoFrog]

So with around only 3 months of ownership last year, my 2023 Badlands when closing the soft top, the bracket just broke cleanly and completely. I took it off and into my Ford Dealer who stated they would repair under warranty (October of 2023). I was so fortunate in that I had both tops so I was able to switch to a hard top. For months I would try to get updates and always hear that the part was on the way, some of the parts arrived, or a part was backordered. I eventually had to start going in person to reach anyone or get a response. One day they said to please file a claim with Ford to ensure they got paid for the warranty work. I did that and Ford was incredibly confused and stated 100% of the warranty process should be handled by them, but that they would record my call and attempt to do what they asked. They then stated in April the part was finally set to arrive at the end of the month and I could pick it up repaired Early may. This week, I was called and told that Ford was denying their warranty despite their multiple attempts and they never seemed to have actually ordered anything as a result and that I needed to come get the top 'immediately'. They stated the manager was worried they would be out the $15,000 the repair would cost (that amount makes no sense) and Ford sent back their requests saying "no warranty". They have been in possession of it for 8 entire months saying it was just a part. They said to call Ford to get the warranty approved. When I contacted Ford they said the dealer has discrepancy to warranty items and to follow up with them. I got the contact for the manager but wanted some advice before calling or visiting to best get this resolved. How can it be $15,000? Looking at OEM parts most of the soft top parts are cheap, the most expensive one I ever found was around $2k, but I can't quite determine what I even need to be honest (help appreciated there as well).

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[flip]

The rear bow is available by itself, don't need to replace the whole frame. M2DZ-7851501-C has a list price of $1,710.42. Looking in DOW, there aren't any available and no remarks in the system. as to what the issue is. Usually they will say supplier issue or have an off-backorder tentative date but nothing as of now. That said, it does show 2 in route to the packager but no current dealer orders waiting for them to be released. Dealer may have been told by GCCT or COPIS to go to the next level service part which would be the complete frame.

ETA: Dealer should be able to get ahold of dealer decision support with pics to help get a determination. While they don't issue approval codes or guarantee claim payment, they're available to provide the dealer with policy information to help the dealer support their decision.

 

[NCLife]

There's a lot of opportunity to surmise what they may or may not have done at the dealership. I don't have a factory soft top, so I have no idea how scarce those parts are, but I would personally go see how much it is to order one outright. With the knowledge of the availability and price of the part, I would ensure the service manager will be there and go see that individual. Lay it all out and hopefully someone with some common sense will get you on track.

Out of curiosity, are you now out of warranty coverage for this? Based on the timing you laid out above it doesn't appear you would be, with the exception of mileage. It smells like they didn't do anything that got the issue logged under warranty and now are trying to get out of it as the cost of repair may hit their pocket.

 

[NCLife]

The rear bow is available by itself, don't need to replace the whole frame. M2DZ-7851501-C has a list price of $1,710.42. Looking in DOW, there aren't any available and no remarks in the system. as to what the issue is. Usually they will say supplier issue or have an off-backorder tentative date but nothing as of now. That said, it does show 2 in route to the packager but no current dealer orders waiting for them to be released. Dealer may have been told by GCCT or COPIS to go to the next level service part which would be the complete frame.

There's one piece of information you needed

 

[BroncoFrog]

The rear bow is available by itself, don't need to replace the whole frame. M2DZ-7851501-C has a list price of $1,710.42. Looking in DOW, there aren't any available and no remarks in the system. as to what the issue is. Usually they will say supplier issue or have an off-backorder tentative date but nothing as of now. That said, it does show 2 in route to the packager but no current dealer orders waiting for them to be released. Dealer may have been told by GCCT or COPIS to go to the next level service part which would be the complete frame.

ETA: Dealer should be able to get ahold of dealer decision support with pics to help get a determination. While they don't issue approval codes or guarantee claim payment, they're available to provide the dealer with policy information to help the dealer support their decision.

Thank you for helping me find the part number! Since there aren't any available is it a safe assumption that any website with that part for sale will process my payment but likely take forever to actually deliver? Just frustrated that if I end up paying out of pocket I could have ordered 8 months ago, and it seems like this should be covered. Imagine if I didn't also have the hard top to rely on..

 

[BadmansSAS]

This is what happens when you deviate from the normal process and try to take matters into your own hands. You should have brought the vehicle in with the damaged part and let the dealer do their diagnosis and order the warranty part.

At that point any normal dealer would have had you take the vehicle back knowing it was going to be a while for the part to show up, and they would have called you when it was in. Dont do this next time. Bring it in like normal and let the dealer handle it.

 

[flip]

Thank you for helping me find the part number! Since there aren't any available is it a safe assumption that any website with that part for sale will process my payment but likely take forever to actually deliver? Just frustrated that if I end up paying out of pocket I could have ordered 8 months ago, and it seems like this should be covered. Imagine if I didn't also have the hard top to rely on..

I would lean to being covered as long as nothing is bent and no visible damage. That elbow is complete junk cast aluminum. When you do replace, since you've swapped tops, make damn certain there isn't any tension on it when latching.

 

[flip]

Just looked at locator and these dealers show some available.

 

[BroncoFrog]

This is what happens when you deviate from the normal process and try to take matters into your own hands. You should have brought the vehicle in with the damaged part and let the dealer do their diagnosis and order the warranty part.

At that point any normal dealer would have had you take the vehicle back knowing it was going to be a while for the part to show up, and they would have called you when it was in. Dont do this next time. Bring it in like normal and let the dealer handle it.

Not sure I understand what would have been different. I couldn't use the top so it needed to come off either way (home or there), but you are saying since it wouldn't have been in their possession they would have 'actually' made the order but since I didn't have it at my home they didn't make the or

Just looked at locator and these dealers show some available.

Thank you for this! Would I just be purchasing from them or trying to get warranty coverage?

 

[BroncoFrog]

This is what happens when you deviate from the normal process and try to take matters into your own hands. You should have brought the vehicle in with the damaged part and let the dealer do their diagnosis and order the warranty part.

At that point any normal dealer would have had you take the vehicle back knowing it was going to be a while for the part to show up, and they would have called you when it was in. Dont do this next time. Bring it in like normal and let the dealer handle it.

Not sure I understand why them being in possession of the soft top would make them not order a part and it being at my home would have. I brought it in with the Bronco and asked if they needed the vehicle as well and they stated to just leave the top would be best and they could contact me not just when the part was in, but when everything was completely repaired and just put it right back on.

 

[flip]

Not sure I understand what would have been different. I couldn't use the top so it needed to come off either way (home or there), but you are saying since it wouldn't have been in their possession they would have 'actually' made the order but since I didn't have it at my home they didn't make the or

Thank you for this! Would I just be purchasing from them or trying to get warranty coverage?

I would ask the dealer what specific reason are they denying the claim. Ford does not make this determination unless it's a very odd case with a denial and a FSE involved. Dealer is probably worried about getting charged back since this falls in the "grey area" . Most of the time "broken" is a taboo word when writing up a warranty claim because normally things just don't break without outside influence. We replaced an entire frame because of a cracked busing on one that was only available with the whole assembly. About a $12K claim but I had pics, emails to digital imaging, dealer decision and to my Ford rep just in case they tried to give me crap.

Like I said before, as long as nothing was bent or showed signs of impact or other damage, the joints are junk, there was an internal message way back stating some of these (service replacement parts, not on the vehicle) could break in shipping due to rough handling, packaging or something like that.

There have been a few posted on the forum that have broken so I'm leaning more on defective part rather than abuse. Not sure if the dealer you're working with is your selling dealer but if they won't work with you, call the selling dealer to see if they can assist.

 

[flip]

I don't have the time or energy but some supplier should come up with an aluminum reinforcement/replacement for this joint that overlays on top. Ford eats enough of these it might force them to sell them individually.

 

[BadmansSAS]

Not sure I understand why them being in possession of the soft top would make them not order a part and it being at my home would have. I brought it in with the Bronco and asked if they needed the vehicle as well and they stated to just leave the top would be best and they could contact me not just when the part was in, but when everything was completely repaired and just put it right back on.

So did you bring in the bronco with the top installed to actually show them the broken part in place? If not, thats where this gets tricky. For the dealer to get the warranty approval, they will need pictures to submit for engineering purposes. This is very important on new lines of vehicles. And if they didnt get the pics of it on the bronco with the failed part, they could likely get denied for the warranty reimbursement after the fact. And for them, they most likely will need to order the entire top assembly at that $15k cost and they sure as heck dont want to eat it. You are better off getting the top and taking it to another dealer that doesnt have their head in their ass. And make sure the top is on your bronco and you bring it in as it was when it broke.

 

[Dan-O]

Hopefully you didn’t lose your patience with service advisor, after being in limbo and getting the run around for 8 months, and said some not so nice things to him, so he decided to change his mind and be an A**. If it ends up not being covered by warranty, I’m sure you could find a machine shop or the like that could either repair and reinforce it or put it back together enough to have it molded and casted for new part which sounds like it would be way cheaper than buying a new frame(again if it ends up be denied warranty for sure). Wow the costs for the soft top parts is NUTZO!!!

 

[HotdogThud]

Not sure I understand what would have been different. I couldn't use the top so it needed to come off either way (home or there), but you are saying since it wouldn't have been in their possession they would have 'actually' made the order but since I didn't have it at my home they didn't make the or

I think he's saying that unless you're willing to give up your vehicle for months while a dealership performs their regularly scheduled rectal-cranial inversion, that you're clearly doing it wrong. Everyone knows the best way to get something fixed is to give up your daily driver for weeks/months while it's sorted out by dealers that only have their own best interests at heart.

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