I purchased my Ford Fiesta zxi Fida limited edition car in Dec 2007. I was happy with the drive even though the service has always been patchy. Sometimes it will be good and sometimes, they were caught red handed while trying to cheat me. For example, once they did not do the protective quote, but charged me for that. Next time when I took the car for servicing, again they asked me to get the protective quoting done..just atrocious.
Anyways, sometime back around one and half year back (when the car was only four and half year old), I noticed that the car doors at the bottom
have started rusting. It was quite disturbing to notice that a car doors rusting, as this does not even happened to our 10 year old Maruti 800,
continously parked outside. My car stays in a covered car park in an apartment.
So I wrote to the Ford president's desk, and find below the email conversation.
My Mail
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Dear Sir,
I own a FORD FIESTA ZXi (Fida Edition) purchased in Dec 2007 from Metro Ford Bangalore. The VIN of the car is MAJBXXMRJB7U49350. The car has been serviced regularly since the date of the purchase at Metro Ford Service Centers. The car has run around 25000 KMs so far.
Around 4 months back I noticed that the bottom parts of the doors have corroded. When I gave the car for servicing this time around 15 days back, I mentioned the problem to the service engineer. The service engineer suggested that it could have happened because of the hardness of water in my apartment that is used for cleaning my car. I am staying in an apartment with around 300+ cars and more then 10 Fiesta. Not a single person has faced this kind of problem. The car is hardly 5 years old, well maintained with single owner. Having this kind of problems is really surprising and is not something expected from a ford car.
So it makes me believe that it could be a manufacturing defect. Hence I am requesting your attention to this and provide me with reasonable solution. I am attaching the picture of the corrosion that has happened to the doors of my car.
Looking forward to your attention and action in this regard.
Final Response from Ford
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Further to our telecon we had with your goodself on 29.05.2012, We had a detailed discussion with our dealership & with our regional service team regarding your concern.We have also gone through your vehicle service records We understand that the service records of the said vehicle is not inline with the Ford's recommended service schedules.
We also wish to reiterate that Ford India always recommends that every periodical maintenance service is to be carried out in accordance with the instructions & recommendations specified for the vehicle by Ford,as outlined in the Owner's manual. We also understand that the vehicle is out of the warranty period, hence we regret to inform you that we would not be able to support you on your claim (warranty). Hence,we regret to inform you that we would not be able to support your claim. We would request you to contact our dealership & provide your approvals so as to carry out the repair works.We would ensure that quality work will be carried out by our dealership post your approval & would be delivered to you at the earliest.
Request your understanding & co-operation.
Thanks & Regards,
Bindhu Vinod,
FIL-Customer Relations
Toll Free No 1800-425-2500 BSNL/MTNL 6000-2500 Add STD code of your state capital.
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Hence the overall point is, if the car is not serviced regularly and not within Warrenty, it can RUST.
First of all my car is serviced regularly enought, with a maximum of 2/3 months delays at times...
Secondly I am not sure what FORD does as part of the servicing which could have prevented the car from rusting.
And third, does all FORD cars rust, once they are out of Warrenty period?
I think instead of admitting to a faulty piece or some manufacturing defect, the manner they suggested that it could have happened
because of serivce problems, was hilarious.
Anyways, I will alert as many people as possible about the dishonest practices of Ford and request people not to go for any Ford Car.
Also whoever wants to go for the car should make an informed decision after reading through this.
I am going to write about it every where possible to alert as people as I can...
http://www.consumerscomplaints.in/complaints-ford-fiesta-car-rusts-within-5-years-of-purchase-c2043.aspx
