Ford Crashes Our Fiesta Party

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.