Ford F-150 Owners

it looks like a coolant hose runs right by the tube. I would suspect coolant is leaking from somewhere and running down the coolant hose until it reaches the pipe and then it is pulled to it (and being constantly replenished).

Have you contacted the NHTSA, at least I think this is what the US calls it. This would be the agency that handles recalls. I had a buddy with a wheel problem that the manufacturer would no nothing about till he contacted Transport Canada, The dealer changed the wheels in his driveway.

I guess that it could be a coolant problem, but I find it hard to believe that you could leak that much coolant and do nothing about it.

There may be many people out there with the same problem. It could be a real problem when the power steering goes south at speed in the middlle of a corner.

You should tell the Ford people that they are not standing up to their responsibilities. They have a duty to correct the fault and they should be attending to it...immediately and at no cost to you. You should demand that Ford compensate you for the cost associated with the faulty power steering tubes.

You can also tell them that CR4 members are not impressed with their crappy service.

I believe this repair can be accomplished at any competent hydraulic shop for less than $60

Very interesting. This lowers my estimation of Ford, of course we all remember the Pinto Gas Tanks======BOOOOOM!

P. Mascarino

Hi Majordud,

Hats off to you. Never give up such complaints as it is in interest of general public and also Ford. Being retired engineer and Metallurgist your comments should have been seriously considered by Ford.Rather they they should have thanked you for your suggestion. My son has Ford Fiesta so far he is happy. Once taxi driver hit his car bonnet which is made of plastic and fixed on the car with small clips.The clips broke and he had to replace whole bonnet costing about $200/-.

I had also taken up similar complaints with other electric gadgets mfrs. I had given them suggestions as how to improve their product's quality. So far I found them co-operative and they thanked me for my suggestions and some have implemented the same.

If the tube is a low carbon steel it would work fine if it is properly galvanized (zinc plated), The process they use today and even 10 or more years ago has a 50% penetration. This is why todays cars do not rust like they did in the 70s & 80s. Maybe their supplier shipped them sub-standard tube assemblies, either way Ford would still be responsible.

Jim C

I used to be exclusively GM. Then, for a similar problem with Monte Carlo whining rearend and Pontiac factory brake assembly situation, I changed to Ford for my 2002 F-250 and later family vehicles.

Now, it is back to GM, for sure! At least GM did get around to fixing my problems without nearly so much ado.

I have been looking at Fords for my next car. I just changed my mind. NOW I WILL NOT BUY A FORD! It's inexcusable for them to sidestep responsibility on something that should have been caught by their Quality Control. I have never seen unplated carbon steel used in tubing assemblies in the auto business. I used to be an engineer for Peterbilt.

FORD STEP UP AND TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM!

If the F-150 had some miles, and your other Ford Vehicles are not rusting what is the possibility that the part in question is not actually OEM and is a cheap replacement? Just a thought.

Its not just ford. I have a 2001 GMC 2500HD that had a very similar problem about a year and a half ago. The low pressure hydraulic return line just fell apart from rust. I repaired it with 3/8" steel brake line. I never contacted GM.

I was never a Ford fan even here in Europe, they just make crap and shaft the customers, seen it time and time again.....

The last Ford I had was 1980 and was a company car, it was ALWAYS in the shop for something, the service was absolute crap....the car build quality was even worse....

A car reseller I know here will not even take a Ford in part exchange, except at less than half the book price, then he passes them onto a Russian to get rid of them at the price he paid......

Ford, simply avoid them is my advice.....spread it around, save a few other Joe's some hard earned cash!!!

GM is no better here either....

Let's see, now - - -

Nissan dashes squeak and squawk.
Toyota accelerators "stick" -- more like advance on their own with no driver input.
Chrysler products are loosey goosey rattles.

Of the other reasonably priced cars, that leaves Honda, which my family and I have been quite happy with (CR-V and Pilot) for the last several years. No rattles, excelent service, no worries.

I think it is time to throw in my twist....I have a 2000 Chevy Astro, and during a yearly safety inspection last year I was told my rear brake line was extremely rusted and needed to be replaced. The fine gentleman that does my inspections knows he won't get the work out of me, I do all of my own, so he knows he can't rip me off. Same situation, though, very dangerous and the vehicle has only 150k on it. I have some vehicles from the 60s with thier original brake lines that are in much better shape. Have we just gotten to the point of putting junk in our cars? I wondered why my Astro wasn't undercoated from the factory, but upon climbing under the van I have a layer of rust on everything under there. I suppose I need to undercoat it myself, or buy something else and make sure it is done at the dealership.

Cheers!!

Mastrsmth

Copy everything you sent out to the States Attorney General, Local Congressmen and Senator under a cover letter that shows all who were copied as well as copying the letter without attachments back to Ford. That may get their attention, especially sicne they are trying so hard to maintain a good impression with the government now.

I would call Napa and get a quote on the high pressure and return hose. Call a few independent shops and get a labor quote. They can look in a flat rate manual and tell you the time involved.

Free is nice but don't take a chance on your safety.

You can also picket the dealer with signs.

Sorry Major (and sympathizers) but this is a Dud issue.

Ever hear of someone raising this kind of ruckus re: a rusted body panel?

6 years/85K miles is plenty of 'normal wear & tear' to occur and create the condition of your trucks power steering lines.And normal wear and tear is Not covered under warranty.

And who knows what conditions you exposed this vehicle to (or repairs/maint. etc.)that created this condition.

Your being emotional over the monies required to maintain your vehicle and not professional in your judgement of the problem.

Sorry this is such a trauma for you (and that is the only sympathy I will offer).

$100.00 from the parts store and a couple hours communing with your machine and your good to go.

How much time did you spend beating this dead horse anyway? (Prolly 3X as much time as it would take to fix the Damn thing)

And how much of other people's time did you waste?

AirBornOne over & Out.

You can easily understand from this guest post that many US citizens (and a good few in other countries too!) have been totally brainwashed by many large companies into accepting poor quality that does not stand up to normal usage of a car over many years....now its the customer's fault!!! And he REALLY believes just that!!!!

Actually he is right, it is the customer's fault, for being so gullible in buying certain makes, Ford or GM for example......the list is long but they head the list here and in the US!! The only US cars I would buy (if I had the money in the first place and room to store them!) would be old muscle cars of the Shelby Cobra era or similar.....

For Japanese cars I personally prefer Mazda (had 2), Nissan (had 2) or Mitsubishi, of which I have had 4! I have only had Mitsubishi (and the other Japanese makes) as private cars and VWs as company cars since '89, so my Mazda/Nissan experiences although excellent, lie a bit too long ago!! I do have several friends with Mazdas and they seem to be really good even today....

I will personally NEVER touch (let alone buy!) most British cars (be careful, some have Japanese names/makes!), all French cars (had a few all crap. My neighbour with his Peugeot wishes he had listened to me!), most Italian cars, all Korean cars, most US cars, all old communist country cars, as a start. There may be a few more if I sat down and really thought about it!!

On re-reading the last paragraph, I am suddenly surprised that one does not need to always name makes, naming the country usually is enough!!!!

British Cars! What British cars?

I can think of one truely British Car company and thats Morgan.

With their build quality i would definatly buy them if i could afford them!

And just on a tangent about French cars I am on my second Renault Clio and they have been great little cars and I love them to bits!

There are always niggles but you will get them with every car whatever it is and whoever built it!

Morgans are great cars. There are some really good Kit cars in the UK as well. Remember I said "most" not all British cars.....

If you have ever seen either a crash or a crash test of a prior to 2005 model Clio then you would never get in one.....the latest version has been dramatically improved I am given to understand.....but in an argument with a truck......

Also, unless they have improved the anti rust coatings (Germany uses a lot of road salt) over the last 5 years on the new model, rust is also often a problem on older German Clios.....

The one a friend's wife drove (older model) had loads of badly secured wiring if I remember correctly, or was it the crappy Citroen he bought her afterwards????

I will not buy or drive in small cars, purely because of safety (getting hit by a truck or an even bigger car for example) and inability to pull my heavy caravan....

My kids (2 daughters) both learned in big cars and can drive vans and small trucks (7.5 Tons) with no problems whatsoever.....too many women can only drive matchboxes.....sad.

We do have some great Kit cars here in the UK especially the Caterham!

I had a late Series 1 Clio (97/98 ish) and that was a great little car and i loved it until a major problem with the power steering so i decided to get rid of it and get something a bit newer.

I now have a 2003 Clio and have not seen the crash tests but am not worried by that. Renaults are some of the safest cars on the roads and I believe that in the current model range all the cars are 5 star rated. The Clio I have may not be quite as good but in an argument with a truck any small car will lose!

As to the rust problem, I have never had a rust problem with either of the Clio's and I live by the sea!

I have always had small cars. I buy them for a number of reasons but these include fuel economy as I don't like fill up more than I have to and also I don't need to lug lots of stuff round or other people. So small makes much more sense. When I finally have a family I will go for a bigger car but only as there will be more to move.

In terms of safety big is not always best. It might seem to be that way but studies have proved that sometimes the wrong big car can be a worse safety risk and the right small car!

I learned to drive in a medium size estate car and have driven lots of large vehicles including vans with trailers with no problems at all but chose a car for environmental and economic reasons not because its the only thing I can drive.

In answer to your environmental comments:-

Sorry to have to say this out loud but you need to switch to diesel, or at least a far more economical petrol engined car.

My car weighs the best the part of 1.8 metric tons and I get nearly 50MPG when driving on the Autobahn, it drops to around 44 MPG in the town and even less than 200 grams of CO2.........

See here:-

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/EDITORIAL/CARS/FEATURES/MITSUBISHI/mitsubishi_grandis_car_review.html

On the following website, they display the max, Min and average fuel consumption of a 1.2 Liter Clio running on petrol, it averaged less than 30MPG!! Awful!! So don`t tell me you are driving it for reasons of the environment!! That surely cannot be true!

What is the CO2 output at that mileage, simply awful I would imagine.....260 Grams or more at a guess....

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/ste0803/clio

Even if it averaged 50MPG, for a car that small, it should in comparison to mine bring at least 65MPG (or more) to be in any way to start to be comparible/efficient/good for the environment, or better said, not so bad!!...

If you want to do something for the environment, you need a far more fuel efficient car with a lower CO2 value (assuming you run the 1.2 liter petrol engined version) than that. Generally speaking a good diesel engine will help dramatically, as a diesel is far more fuel efficient, and with an exhaust filter, very clean and far less CO2....

I can, with a little effort on my part, even exceed that 50 MPG by driving at only 60-65MPH on the Autobahn...I actually do that too occasionally......now that is helping the environment...

Also using my push-bike for local errands helps as well....just a few farts while pedalling sometimes.....That ruins the environment for a time. My weimaraner farts too galloping alongside!!

With the caravan attached (a sort of "house brick" on wheels! weighing 1.5 metric tons) I still get a better fuel consumption than that 1.2 Clio Petrol engine, around 33MPG on average!!! Total all up weight of about 3.3 Metric Tons...... Nom holidays in a Jet for us anymore......too heavy a CO2 signature!!

By the way, the new model Clio Diesel motor achieves around 60MPG......might that be a better buy?

Environmentally your calculations are way off the mark!

I usually get a minimum of 45 MPG tho i dont usually bother calculating, it also emits less than 150g of CO2. I do mainly short drives of less than 10 miles in and around town so its lots of "city" driving which doesnt help the fuel consumption figures at all! I am pretty happy with the fuel consumption figures and would not expect figures in the 60's for a car of the age of mine and with the engine fitted, added to which i am quite an enthusisatic driver so am not driving as fuel efficiently as I could do!

The Clio mentioned in that article was a different one to the one I drive. That one is the base model with the 8v engine.

Environmentally wasn't the only or the main reason that was just a little bit. Mainly it was the economic's!

Tho as my car is now usually used on only 3 days out of 7, environmentally it is even better as I either walk or cycle most places that I need to go. So that is really helping the environment!

I agree that a diesel engine car would be lot more fuel efficient and will be getting one as my next car. I did look when i bought the last car but secondhand diesel engined clio's in my price range were as hard to get hold of as hen's teeth!

Also if I could afford a new car I would buy one but again economics come into play! I always buy my car outright i never get a loan to buy/lease a car so until i can afford a newer car i am stuck with what I have. Which i dont mind a bit as I love my car!

Well done Sir. Thanks for your reply.

Just out of interest, what engine do you actually have in your Clio?

I am sure that you understood that my 4 year old Grandis, with a 2 liter Diesel engine can still hold its head up amongst other cars in terms of environment, consumption, power and performance......although some of the newer diesels are now even slightly better still, but I am keeping mine for a few years more.....at least!

Yes, I paid cash for mine too, shocked the salesmen out of his socks! so he gave me a HUGE discount and winter tyres on wheels/winter tyres as well as electronic parking sensors front and back....I saved about €4000 on the purchase in all as the car had been used as a demo for about 3 weeks and had 400 Kilometers on the clock (of which I had driven 200 in testing!)......there are tax reasons in Germany as to why they can sell a car less than a month old far under the normal price....

You can easily understand from this guest post that many US citizens (and a good few in other countries too!) have been totally brainwashed by many large companies into accepting poor quality that does not stand up to normal usage of a car over many years....now its the customer's fault!!! And he REALLY believes just that!!!!

Really, trying to put people out of work are ya?? Ford or GM Warranty reads essentially similar to BMW and when it's out of warranty they say it too, I know.

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Owner/BMWUltimateService/Warranty.aspx

Put that in your pipe an smoke it sir, if all were made as well as your insinuation you too may be out of work.

...which is exactly why I dislike BMWs and Mercedes and drive a Mitsubishi......

3 Year warranty is standard.....

Hi Andy,

You have also included "Rolls" among British cars?.

Sorry but that unfortunatly is not a British car as they are now owned by BMW

also I think the new phantom looks horrid but thats just my opinion

Agreed, not that I have the cash even to think of buying one!!

They still make good cars, but can one still call them "British"? I believe the company belongs now to BMW!! or it did fairly recently.....

It seems that few people read clearly what I wrote, I actually wrote "most" British cars, not all........

You were not alone in not reading exactly what I wrote.......

HI Andy K & Germany,

BMW took over Rolls may be few years back, but it has been mfg cars since many years back.It is still mfd in U.K.

Well thats not the entire truth!

BMW just bought the naming rights to the cars from the holder Rolls-Royce Aero Engines.

The Car maker was bought by VW and became Bentley in its entirity!

Since they have been bought by a foreign company i am not sure that they can be considered to be a British company!

You were not alone in not reading exactly what I thought I wrote.......

LOL

FORD ~ Found On Road Dead~

~Flippin Old Rusty Dodge~

During the last ten years many different mixtures of compounds have been applied to roadway as de-icing measures and many of those compounds will produce accelerated corrosion.

Dear Ford - 150 Owner,

Thank you for informing us about the arrogance and sheer disregard of the safety and comfort of their loyal customers by Ford Motor company. Ford products are also marketed in South Africa. I (in my personal capacity) am currently in the market for a new vehicle and as the new Ford small cars are getting more and more stylish I looked at them too. However, your experience have just put me off from buying a Ford (my family have and had quite a few Ford cars, and we found that even the Indian manufactured vehicles are currently competing with Fords for style and reliability). In short; if you cant trust a manufacturer in this technologically advanced era to select the correct materials on safety critical (and potentially environmentally damaging) components for normal operating conditions, and being ignorant about it, we know where to spend our money.

Thanks again for informing us of a misaligned motor vehicle manufacturer. I am responsible for selecting vendors for capital/high value items and now know to steer clear of Ford products. The simple lesson I have learned over the years is that if suppliers are arrogant, especially if competition is stiff, they (and their product) will let you down in future. Simple as that. Prevention is better than cure.

Keep up the good work of informing the uninformed. You may use this reply to forward to Ford Motor Company (if you think this arrogant supplier will bother to listen to their customers).

Regards,

Fanus Roodt

It does not look like you got a very good, or very smart answer from Ford.

I have had similar experiences with companies and have come to the conclusion that they employ some good law graduates who are able to let you know the legal position, but very few business graduates who know how to develop future business.

Posting on the CR4 website has some advantages. I live in UK and, yes, we do have Fords here. years ago there used to be a story that it was an acronym for something old and rusty. we use the term dustbin for garbage can so you can piece together the rest.

My experience with rusty brake pipes has been:

Volkswagen - suspected a problem, called all the cars in for a check. Found no problem with mine but coated them with rust preventative- all no charge. Result - I always think Volkswagen are great cars.

Fiat - As above but replaced brake pipes free. Brilliant cars. The tie-up with Chrysler may result in some interesting developments.

Mercedes - Rust on door which I was told by one of their technicians was due to a paint revision in 2002 and 2003 to meet new European regulations. They repaired some other areas but said the door blistering was due to stone chips. I have two Mercedes and I was planning to replace them soon. I will probably buy another European make or a Japanese replacement (There are not many US models available here so that is not an option).

I will certainly think twice or more before buying a Ford having heard your story about Dearborn's standard response procedure.

I run my own company and if someone has an even half-legitimate complaint I find the best policy, where the value is relatively low, is to re-imburse them without any acrimony. I have found the future business and word of mouth pays off well.

Conversely, if I have a bad experience or hear of others being unfairly treated, I will on principle stop using or reduce my usage of that product for a while. The only problem is letting the shareholders of the company in question know why sales are down so that they can ensure the company delivers a good reasonable, competitive service for everyone's good.

For all those who have contributed - I have the following article to post to the chain. Just saw this article published in Quality Magazine.

Ford Turned a Profit in Tumultuous 2009

January 29, 2010

ARTICLE TOOLS EmailPrintReprints Share

SANTA MONICA, CA - Today Ford Motor Co. reported a $2.7-billion profit for 2009, one of the worst years in decades for global vehicle sales and auto company profits. The automaker boldly declared it plans to be profitable for all of 2010.

In 2009, Ford gained market share for the first time since 1995 by posting sales only 15.6% lower than 2008, compared with the industry average drop of 21.2%.

In the last quarter of 2009, Ford vehicles took about 44 days to turn – that means it took about 44 days for a Ford vehicle to be sold after being delivered to a dealership. That was below the industry average of 48 and far below Ford's average of about 92 days to turn in the first half of 2009.

Relatively brisk sales and tighter inventories have allowed Ford to lower costly incentives. Ford's incentives in 2009 were only 19.2% above the industry average, whereas in 2008, Ford spent 29.7% above the industry average, according to Edmunds.com's True Cost of Incentives analysis.

As a result, Ford is discounting the price of its vehicles less. In December, Ford's average discount was 14.4% off the sticker price, according to Edmunds.com's analysis; the industry average was 12.4% and Ford discounts had been running as high 20% in some months during the past year.

"The company is the first of the domestics to really turn around, perhaps because Ford started the process several years ago when its product pipeline was so clearly lacking compared to GM's and Chrysler's," says Karl Brauer, Edmunds.com editor in chief. "An automaker does not turn around on a single product; it turns around by introducing a string of successful products. Only a consistent level of quality and design excellence can change consumer perception and convert buyers from other brands, particularly in an atmosphere as competitive as today's automotive market."

Edmunds.com's Brand Interest metric, which looks at customer consideration for new models over a four-week period, shows Ford rose to the number two spot as of January 24, moving ahead of Honda and Chevrolet, which were second and third in the previous four-week period.

This out-of-warranty problem is definitely not worth the attention you are giving it; and you are sure to only compound your grief. Shop the job and bite the bullet after you get your best price bid - and, by the weigh, you'll probably be safer getting the job done at other than a Ford service department - dealership service departments are virtually never without risk. The price you were quoted, while hard to chew is not unusually high, all things considered. (How about my latest Ford repair adventure: $300 plus to install a generic ground cable; plus about 150 residual value for the OEM cable that was not defective...plus my expertise at discovering the ruse; cornering the service manager; and directing them towards the original requested diagnostic: failed alternator.

You must also consider the condition of that hydraulic line, which, from the appearance in the pic, had been permitted to corrode for quite a long time; how would you ever convince an arbiter that it was not your own neglect? No matter what the reality. By the same token, you may consider yourself to have "enjoyed" one of the major boons of owning a Ford truck: superlative fault tolerance (judging from lack of any steering or safety failure in spite of the belatedly observed fault. That quality, one might guess, will also afford you some leeway while your maintain steering fluid level...and save up for the repair.

You might feel good about the situation now; but such pain always goes away quickly after the money is spent and the problem is "in the past."