Ford is being a party pooper when it comes to our Fiesta.
We put our trust in the company when we bought a used 2012
Fiesta last year. We were loyal Ford fans, having had 10 good years in a Ford
Escort. And we initially loved our red Fiesta hatchback, with its sleek design,
easy-to-park compactness and good gas mileage.
But Ford is failing us now.
Our Fiesta has a problem. Occasionally there is no response
to pressing on the accelerator pedal. Only after several seconds does the engine
engage again. Although this happens infrequently—about a half dozen times since
April—it is a dangerous problem for my family and other drivers. It once
occurred when I was trying to merge onto a highway, leaving me at risk of being
struck by fast-moving traffic. Were it to occur when my wife or I are making a
left-hand turn, we would be sitting ducks and could be hit by oncoming cars.
We have tried to have the car fixed three times. Once Ford couldn’t
find any problem, once it replaced the “throttle body” and a third time it
updated the software associated with the transmission.
But after each time we took it into the Serramonte Ford
dealership, the accelerator non-response problem occurred again.
Several weeks ago, we asked Ford to buy back the car for the
lemon it is. They denied us. They said the car didn’t meet the requirements of
the California Lemon Law. Ford seems to be relying on the grounds that their
dealer technicians have never been able to duplicate the problem we described.
But it’s not surprising that they couldn’t replicate the problem—it happens only
occasionally.
And Ford knows there’s a problem with this model of the
Fiesta. It recently extended the warranty related to the car’s transmission. This
Fiesta has a new kind of automatic
transmission. It seems clear the technology wasn’t quite ready for public
consumption.
The upshot is that Ford essentially is calling us liars. Refusing
to believe us when we say the car has a serious defect that they can’t fix. A
defect that puts me, my wife and our two kids—not to mention other drivers—in danger.
Regarding a car they know has
transmission trouble.
We already have spent upwards of $1,000 for rental cars while
we asked Ford to fix the car (our only car) and to buy back the car (a process that
took longer than the 15 business days they told us it would take).
The salt in the wound happened after Ford denied our lemon
law request. Our Ford customer service representative told us “they would work
with us” to fix the car. She said that in the past, she had arranged to have a
car tested for as many as 100 miles. I said great, that would probably allow
the technician to reproduce the problem. But when we took the car to Albany
Ford Suburu, they only tested the car in the shop and in a short drive. And our
representative backpedaled, saying she couldn’t force them to do the 100-mile
test. Ford lets us down again.
So we’re going to proceed with a lemon law lawsuit. The
first time my wife or I have ever sued a company. Incidentally, lawyers are
trolling for such lemon law cases. We’ve received two solicitations from
lawyers offering their services.
There's one more twist to this tale. I recently co-wrote
a report grading Ford as one of the best companies in the Fortune 100 when
it comes to their performance as a seller, employer and steward. Clearly they
have room to improve. They stalled, as it were, with our family and our 2012
Fiesta.
Fiesta means party in Spanish. But Ford has crashed our party—and
has made it clear they don’t care if we crash either.
