Dear Ford: Service & Reliability Experience

[TNewm22]

Dear Ford -

I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to take a few minutes to write about my experience with the Fred Beans Newtown, PA service department and the purchase of a 2023 Bronco Sport that is only 1.5 years young (Bought New January 2023 from Chapman Ford in Horsham, PA).

I purchased the 2023 Bronco Sport brand new in January 2023 as a safe means of transportation for my fiancé who travels daily to work on the NJ Turnpike. Prior to purchasing the Bronco Sport, she was driving a 2007 Ford Five Hundred with 220K+ miles on it. My parents drive a Ford Maverick & Ford Escape, and I currently drive a 2002 Ford F-150 with 150K+ miles on it. Needless to say we have been loyal to the Ford Brand over the years, and we were excited to continue this journey with the Bronco Sport.

While my Fiancé puts a relatively high amount of miles on her cars, the NJ Turnpike is a smooth driving and traffic-free commute that is nearly all free-flowing highway mileage. In April 2023, after only 3 months of owning the car, a Power Train Malfunction code was received and required replacement of the Gear Shift Module by Fred Beans Ford in Newtown.

2 months later, June 2023, I noticed that the coolant level in the car was below the ‘minimum’ line and brought it into Fred Beans for service. It was noted that the Water Pump was leaking and needed to be replaced. After replacing the faulty OEM Water Pump with the ‘new pump design’ it leaked again in January 2024 and needed to be replaced.

Prior to having the Water Pump replaced for a 2nd time in January 2024, I brought the vehicle in for Annual PA State Inspection. After picking up the car from Fred Beans, I noticed that the turn signal was now flashing quickly…I called them on my way home telling them I’d head back to have the turn signal bulb replaced and was told that I had an ‘electrical system malfunction’ and would need to bring it in for diagnostic testing. They claimed it was not the turn signal bulb, until the next day when I noticed that it was indeed merely a burned-out brake light bulb, not an electrical system issue. This should have been caught during the PA State Inspection process that requires function check of the turn signals…

Fast forward to Monday April 15, 2024, I brought the vehicle into Fred Beans for an Oil change and to fix the Fuel Injector Recall issued by Ford. Fred Beans called me to inform me that they discovered an Oil leak from the Timing Cover. Upon fixing the Oil Leak the following day, the Alternator would then need to be replaced as well as it had been damaged by leaking oil. Multiple days in the shop resulted in me finally picking up the vehicle Thursday. That Friday, April 19th, my Fiancé drives the vehicle to Marlton, NJ and when trying to leave work the vehicle will not start and has no power. Immediately I assume it’s an issue with the new alternator being installed and not charging the battery properly. After popping the hood it was actually that the battery terminal connections were never tightened. The Red Cap on the positive terminal was still sticking up in the engine bay and the battery terminal connection was not secure. After tightening the terminals everything functioned properly and car fired up.

This was concerning on a lot of levels, a simple lack of care when finishing servicing the vehicle at a Ford Certified Shop could’ve caused a much more dangerous situation.

What if the terminal shook loose on the highway causing the vehicle to lose power?

What if she wasn’t safe in the parking lot and was on a heavily traveled roadway?

At this point in April 2024, I expressed my frustration to the Fred Beans Newtown Service Department. They acknowledged that mistakes had been made, a lack of care was exercised by their staff, and that they would strive to be better moving forward… they even offered to compensate me with two (2) free oil changes moving forward…

I took them for their word, gave them an honest chance, and continued to have my vehicle serviced by them in the months afterwards including the said oil changes and tire rotations. Up until this past Monday, August 5, 2024 everything seemed well. A Power Train Malfunction code was received again, service engine soon, and it was dropped off at Fred Beans 1st thing on the 5th.

I received a call back the next day telling me that they were waiting on a “Ford Engineer” to visit their shop and provide direction on a few vehicles experience the same issue, unbeknownst to them why this error code is being thrown and no ability to diagnose the issue. After discussing with the Engineer, they were directed to fully drain the fuel, clean the injectors, and re-assemble the vehicle due to the potential for contaminated gas in the area. The contaminated gas was localized to one (1) Wawa store on the dates of July 17th and 18th, neither of which I filled up on. After waiting over a week for them to complete the work on August 13th, they took it for a test drive only to have the error code return. It is not a contaminated gas issue…

So here we sit, without our Bronco Sport, for over a week due to on-going warranty service issues for a vehicle with just over 36K miles and all routine maintenance completed in a timely manner by Ford Technicians, at a Ford Dealer, allegedly the best of the best….

As you can imagine, this has been an infuriating and frustrating process with both the dealership servicing the vehicle, and the reliability of the brand-new vehicle to date. All of this makes it hard to put my faith in Ford moving forward.

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[sandy g]

I bought my bronco sport from a dealership in Hamilton NJ in January 2021.
I have had several episodes of a blank screen and squeaky brakes while in reverse
but nothing major until now. I took it to the dealer for the 2nd recall and also had
an issue with the gear shift lights blinking/jumping around, then no lights and a Powertrain
Malfunction message.
The dealership called to say they had to order a new $850 gear shift knob that unfortunately,
was not covered under the warranty. I was shocked that a major part of the vehicle's
operation would go bad in 3 years and not be covered.
I called Ford support services and was told the same thing. These failing electronic modules
seem to be prevalent in the Bronco Sport and very disappointing.
I am reporting it to the NTSB.

 

[Quashish]

Good for you. These cars have a lot of lemons.

 

[BLUEOVALRACER]

FWIW i see A LOT of BS's on the road.

 

[Bronco II]

So here we sit, without our Bronco Sport, for over a week due to on-going warranty service issues for a vehicle with just over 36K miles and all routine maintenance completed in a timely manner by Ford Technicians, at a Ford Dealer, allegedly the best of the best….

As you can imagine, this has been an infuriating and frustrating process with both the dealership servicing the vehicle, and the reliability of the brand-new vehicle to date. All of this makes it hard to put my faith in Ford moving forward.

I bought my bronco sport from a dealership in Hamilton NJ in January 2021.
I have had several episodes of a blank screen and squeaky brakes while in reverse
but nothing major until now. I took it to the dealer for the 2nd recall and also had
an issue with the gear shift lights blinking/jumping around, then no lights and a Powertrain
Malfunction message.
The dealership called to say they had to order a new $850 gear shift knob that unfortunately,
was not covered under the warranty. I was shocked that a major part of the vehicle's
operation would go bad in 3 years and not be covered.
I called Ford support services and was told the same thing. These failing electronic modules
seem to be prevalent in the Bronco Sport and very disappointing.
I am reporting it to the NTSB.

And this is one of several reasons why we no longer have our 2021 BS BL between Fords lack of quality and not able or willing to fix the problems and the dealers incompetence or not wanting to fix these problems we now own a Honda Passport that is extremely better in quality and workmanship.
I didn't leave Ford they left me.

 

[sajohnson]

I read the entire OP. What a nightmare!

That might be expected of a start-up auto mfr in (say) an Eastern European country -- but not Ford.

Generally speaking, it seems that many/most mfrs (of all consumer products) are allowing quality and customer service to continue their downward spiral as they attempt to squeeze out more and more profits.

In some cases, such as cable TV and internet services, we have no other (cable) company to do business with. Or, in cases where there are competitors, they are just as bad. Fortunately, as Doc mentioned, we still have plenty of choices when it comes to vehicle mfrs. There is quite a range of reliability:

It looks like the top half of the chart (a separate JPG) was not inserted. The top mfrs were:

Lexus; Toyota; Mini; Acura; Honda; Subaru; Mazda... Lexus' overall score was 79.

I am but the humble messenger.

CR contact page: https://www.consumerreports.org/member-support/email-member-support/

 

[Dude]

I read the entire OP. What a nightmare!

Good balanced points, thanks for sharing!

 

[mmazz71]

I have issue upon issue with Interstate Ford in Miamisburg Oh. Latest is the oil change brake inspection. Tech said brake pads were at 7mm after inspection on the paperwork. I had to replace them three days later due to grinding and decreased stopping. This is dangerous! Pads were at less then 1.5mm. Terrible. I use the inspection plan to know when to service. They also blow off anything which would be under warranty, such as the moaning rear brakes in reverse (Which was solved by replacing pads with Auto Zone ceramic). Left my underbody aero panels/wheel well liners loose to where they hit front tire and ground up. And the latest is they said they don't change transmission fluid until 150,000 miles. I am over 84,000 miles and am now having the lurching transmission issue at lower gearing until it heats up. That normally points to used up fluid. I give up. Trading this piece in for something more reliable. I can't trust Ford anymore. As someone said, I didn't leave Ford, they left me.

 

[BLUEOVALRACER]

And this is one of several reasons why we no longer have our 2021 BS BL between Fords lack of quality and not able or willing to fix the problems and the dealers incompetence or not wanting to fix these problems we now own a Honda Passport that is extremely better in quality and workmanship.
I didn't leave Ford they left me.

How long have you had the Passport?

 

[Mark S.]

These failing electronic modules
seem to be prevalent in the Bronco Sport and very disappointing.

I'm disappointed that you are experiencing this problem with your car. I have read of a few other forum users having problems with their gear shift, but I not aware that they occur at a frequency I would call "prevalent." Can you say where you got your information?

 

[Quashish]

I'm disappointed that you are experiencing this problem with your car. I have read of a few other forum users having problems with their gear shift, but I not aware that they occur at a frequency I would call "prevalent." Can you say where you got your information?

there's lots of threads and info on this forum about RDU issues, grinding, folks being told they need to replace transmissions for $8k or more, some experiencing issues as soon as 30k miles. from what I've gathered you're lucky if this car makes it to 100k miles.

 

[Mark S.]

RDU issues, grinding, folks being told they need to replace transmissions for $8k or more

Are you claiming these are related to the electronic gear shift module? If so, can you please share your data?

 

[Quashish]

Are you claiming these are related to the electronic gear shift module? If so, can you please share your data?

no just transmission related issues as a whole. She’s not the only one who has experienced transmission malfunction due to a knob issue.

 

[Mark S.]

no just transmission related issues as a whole. She’s not the only one who has experienced transmission malfunction due to a knob issue.

I was responding specifically to the claim that failures of these modules are prevalent. I haven't seen that. No, she is not the only one to have posted here; there've been a handful. But a handful compared to several hundred thousand doesn't make a problem prevalent. I would say the same goes for transmission issues in general. Yes, a few have reported failures, but before I would call them prevalent I would ask what is the failure rate fleetwide and how does it compare with industry standards? There's no such thing as a perfect product. Some assemblies fail before they ever get off the assembly line, some fail long before expected, and some last far longer than expected. I would hate to be one of the unlucky few, but I would hope I would keep some perspective. Nothing is perfect.

 

[Quashish]

There's no such thing as a perfect product. Some assemblies fail before they ever get off the assembly line, some fail long before expected, and some last far longer than expected. I would hate to be one of the unlucky few, but I would hope I would keep some perspective. Nothing is perfect.

few too many for my liking

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