fpliptak

Well it seems that my former vehicle has left the auction site in Massachusetts and is now at Zeck Ford in Leavenworth, Kansas. Verified by VIN. The auction site did note that the vehicle as a manufacturer buyback to the buyer. Also, CarFax also lists that the seller disclosed the Mfg buyback but the dealership (and CarFax) AutoCheck has it listed a "No Manufacturer buyback/lemon title record" CarFax has a red triangle at the top with an exclamation point with " Reacquired by manufacturer" BUT the title section indicates the title is clean (no lemon / no reacquire) but right under that there is another red triangle with an exclamation point with "This vehicle was listed at auction as a manufacturer buyback vehicle. This information was disclosed by the seller at time of sale." I was told by a Ford dealer salesman that Ford does mark the tile of reacquired vehicles and notes whether the problem(s) has/have been corrected. This does not seem to be the case (at least according to both AutoCheck and CarFax). At least the fact that it was a buyback is on the CarFax report but the number of visits to the dealership for repair is NOT listed on the CarFax or AutoCheck reports. Would anyone from Ford care to comment on why the vehicle is back on the market without fair warning to the next owner? I am convinced the problem was temperature related and the last I knew it could get pretty cold in Kansas.

KandB, I am sorry to hear about the errors you have been seeing as regards the Cross Traffic System Fault. My advice to you is to use a cell-phone or cheap digital camera and take a picture each and every time the fault shows up. I am convinced that if I had not done that I would still be fighting with Ford over the issue. Also in my favor was the Connecticut Lemon Law, which Ford avoided by not going to arbitration. Ford came very close to meeting the law but since they bought the car back without arbitration and the state being involved the title for the vehicle was not marked "Lemon" as per the CT state law. I am 99.99% certain that the car is currently sitting on a Ford dealer's lot outside of Boston Massachusetts waiting to be sold. And I would bet that if/when the car is sold the new owner will not be informed about the issues. I was tempted to get a CarFax report on the car to see if it had the information about the Cross Traffic Fault but did not want to waste my money. Again, KandB document each and every fault that shows up, it will help you force Ford's hand on fixing or replacing the car.

Well, it is over, at least the car has been replaced. My wife and I dropped off the Fusion Energi at the dealership yesterday and drove the 2016 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid home. Ford bought the Fusion back and replaced it with the new MKZ. There are still some sketchy parts to what went down. It seems that Ford went out of its way to never admit to the car being a Lemon. In fact I was told it "was not under the lemon law" but just a buy-back. I still have a couple of open items (at least in my mind). There were a couple of items that were supposed to be reimbursed (according to Connecticut's Lemon Law) that Ford did not cover even though I supplied receipts for the items. The dealership tried to contact the Ford Re-Acquired Vehicle Team but they did not answer the call and also did not return the call within an hour. Because of this the dealership said they would eat the cost of the extra keys I had purchased for the Energi and I would contact the RAV Team with my other complaints/concerns. It seems to me that Ford did everything it could to avoid the association with the Lemon Law. Connecticut is very specific about what happens to both the vehicle and the title associated with a vehicle that is determined to be a Lemon. For some reason I cannot paste into the Reply area so I have attached a document outlining what has to be done after a vehicle is deemed a Lemon in CT: Because of the requirements, I believe Ford did not want to go through the arbitration process and just repurchased the car. There are still some things I intend to do to get back the additional items Ford did not address (even though I supplied receipts multiple times). The GREAT NEWS is that I have a new 2016 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid in the garage! CT_Lemon_Law.pdf

Well, the sky opened yesterday at the end of the business day (4:17 P.M.). I finally received the worksheet with the official numbers for the replacement. It appears I only have to workout the final details with the dealership to take possession of the new MKZh. I will be in touch with the Sales Manager either today or tomorrow to finalize the transaction. Again, I would like to thank everyone in this forum who has contributed to my understanding of the process and the encouragement to make it happen. The sad part is the my wife and I both loved the car and the color but the color (Ice Storm) is not available for either the 2016 Fusion or MKZ. We also loved the Plug-in and used it to the best extent possible. Based on our current situation (moving and downsizing in the next two years) we felt it was best to drop back to the Hybrid rather than the Plug-in since we may end up in an apartment and there would be no way to take advantage of the Plug-in. I look forward to hopefully finishing the process by the end of the week. Wish me luck. Frank Liptak

Wow, Just got another e-mail from the Vehicle Reacquisition Team. Another delay. Right now I have ZERO faith that Ford has any intention to make this right. I did everything by their rules and they just keep me out on a string saying they will make it right. Ford Reps, WHERE ARE YOU??? This has been going on for 16 months and 4 months ago Ford agreed to REPLACE the car. Since then, nothing but delays and excuses. I have to ask myself, Do I even want to own another Ford product after being treated this way. Getting more disgusted by the minute. Ford Reps, WHERE ARE YOU????? Somebody step up and get involved and explain why I should not be upset. Now is the time! Disgusted Frank Liptak

Hello Ford rep. Are you listening? How about a comment? In many circles I would be a "Golden Customer". What I feel like is someone Ford could not give a cap about. Bad car that we can't fix, it's not our problem, it's your problem. We'll sell you a new car.

Well the saga continues. Ford agreed in December to repurchase the car but since then there has nothing but the run-around. My Ford rep must have left the company because his e-mail address is no longer valid. The Vehicle Reacquisition Team said they could not do anything until the new vehicle was delivered to the dealer (it finally arrived last Wednesday 03/23/16) and I was told three days to calculate the spreadsheet. I guess they are using the old method of stacking stones to add the numbers and then weighing the piles. The fact that I had to wait until the car I ordered arrived, in my mind, makes this a replacement vehicle and not a buy-back. They could have bought it back in December and I would have agreed had I know how long Ford would drag their feet. The sour taste in my mouth is turning bitter. If there is a Ford rep monitoring this forum please speak up and explain why Ford is being so recalcitrant. Do you want customers who feel they have been betrayed after waiting 16 months for a repair that was never done and then promising to "make it right" I have followed all the rules except that I did not go to arbitration with the Better Business Bureau. Why Not? Because Ford agreed to buy back the vehicle then decided to drag this out to make it painful. Wow, what a great company! I have purchased 5 brand new Ford vehicles over the past 21 years. I had faith in their products; two first year models (1995 Mercury Mystique, 2006 Mercury Milan), two bleeding edge technologies for Ford (2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, 2013 Ford Fusion Plug-In Hybrid [Energi]) and now all I get is "well, we need more time to calculate the spreadsheet" The Lemon Law in Connecticut is quite clear but Ford seems to have chosen to delay, delay, delay and drag their feet. I have a new 2016 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid waiting on the lot and a 2013 Ford Fusion Plug-In Hybrid [Energi] sitting in the garage that thinks 65 miles/hour in Drive is the same as being in Reverse. It spent 89 days in the shop during 2015, had all the sensors changed (at least I was told so), had the wiring harness changed (at least I was told so), had all the ground checked and magically found a bad ground and repaired it only to find the very next day that apparently that was not the problem. Does Ford even care?

My apologies to the group. I had said I would give an update around December 4th but there was a lot going on that I was not able to discuss. Things have progressed very well from my point of view. Ford has agreed to buy-back the car. We (my wife and I) have ordered a 2016 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid to replace the Ford Fusion Energi. We decided to change from the Plug-in Hybrid to the Hybrid because we my be moving in the next couple of years and we don't know if we will be able to take advantage of the Plug-in. Because of the price differential between Plug-in and the Hybrid we were able to move-up to the Lincoln. The replacement was ordered sometime between December 18th and December 28th. I am now waiting to get a VIN so that I can track the progress of the replacement vehicle. When everything is finalized I will provide some of the gory details. I really would like to thank all of the group who provided support and guidance during the entire process. Especially, but not limited to HybridBear, GrySql, CJN-MD, Fastronuat, acdii and the Ford Service Rep Meagan. Thanks to all of you. It has been difficult but in the end I think it was worth the effort

I was not aware of the ability to display the MPGe. I will look through the manual to see how it is set. Thanks! I have to assume that it used the kWh used in addition to the gal used to calculate the MPGe. Do you know what conversion factor it used for kWh to gal because of the difference between 100% gasoline and 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol (what we have in CT). I have not officially gone down the road of the BBB Autoline but I have been in contact with the Senior Customer Service Manager and he has indicated that he will have information about a buy back within the next few days. Along the way I have supplied him with a lot of documentation about what has been going on with the repairs. All of the documentation will be supplied to the BBB if/when we go down that road. We (me and my wife) have taken pictures of the dash display (including mileage) each time the failure has been displayed except for the first couple of times (when we did not know it would be a recurring problem). The story continues. Stand by for the next installment which I expect to be before the end of the week (Friday December 4). Wish me luck!

GrySql, They did not wash it (it really did not need to be washed) but they did charge the battery so I was able to drive the 15 miles home on only the electric drive. The dash displays the MPG as 999.9 for the trip home but it does not take into account the electric energy used from the battery (3.9 kWh) My wife (it was her birthday present and she is he primary driver) and I both love the car and the Plug-in technology but the Cross Traffic problem really leaves a bad taste in my mouth and she is afraid of what else will happen. We now have reached 88 days in the shop since 02/19/2015. That's 3 car payments and 3 months of car insurance wasted.

Just in case there is any question about what the Cross Traffic Alert is, this is from the Ford Owners Site: Cross Traffic Alert Cross Traffic Alert is designed to warn you of vehicles that are approaching the rear of your vehicle from the side when your transmission is in reverse ®. I get the Cross Traffic System Fault when I am in drive (D) and cruising at about 65 MPH.

Well, the saga continues. On Tuesday evening I visited the dealership to find out the status and speak directly to the Service Advisor. Although the Field Service Engineer was scheduled to visit this week to physically check the car and give advice he had not been there by Tuesday evening and with the Thanksgiving holiday that only left Wednesday or Friday for a visit. The SA did not know when the FSE was going to be there. That is the frustrating part. Since this supposedly has a high profile I would think the FSE would let the dealership know when he is coming. No such luck. I expressed my frustration to the SA and while we were talking the Sales Manager happened by and asked how everything was going. He was surprised by how long the car had been at the shop for repair and why there was no schedule for the FSE to be there. I asked to be notified when the FSE was on-site so that I might ask him why it was so difficult to diagnose the problem. Wednesday afternoon (4:15 PM) my wife received a call from the SA saying that the FSE had been there and found a bad ground on the right rear quarter panel from the wiring harness replacement. Tightened the connection and all is well. The car was road tested and everything was great. Since there were two recalls outstanding they were going to take care of those on Friday and I could pickup the car when those were completed. So Friday I get a call at 11:00 AM that the car is ready for pickup and the dealer will send a driver to pick me up. According to the Repair Order the following was noted; during inspections found ground not tightened from previous wire harness replace in right rear quarter panel g401. cleaned and reattached-confirmed lost ground with codes and fault messages. cleared and restested-ok. recharged vehicle and road tested-ok. Sounds great except for the fact that I took a picture of the odometer on Tuesday night (cell phones are great for documentation) and the mileage was 16,531.7 When I picked up the car on Friday afternoon the mileage was 16,532.1 My math indicates between Tuesday night and Friday afternoon the car was driven 0.4 miles, yes, ZERO POINT FOUR MILES. That is not a test drive that is driving it into the shop and out to the lot at most 2 times Based on that FACT, I have to question whether ANYTHING was done. I have sent an e-mail to the SA, the SM, and the Senior Customer Service Manager who is following my case. I know it may anger some of the people involved but there is no way that the car was road tested. During the 30 days the car was at the dealership this visit the only time it left the lot was on day 19 (November 17th) and yet the first item in the RO says it was road tested and then diagnosed. How can anyone call this good customer service?

Latest Update - 2015-Nov-24 20:00 P.M. EST Well the car sits at the dealership (now 26 days for this visit and 85 since February 19th). I have been promised that the Ford Field Service Engineer (FSE) will be visiting the dealership this week but the Service Advisor does not know what day. Since Thursday is a holiday (Thanksgiving) that only leaves tomorrow and Friday. I have asked to be called when the FSE is on-site but have been told that I would probably not be able to talk to him since he will only be there to do additional testing and verify that the technician performed the previously requested testing. I still want to be there if I can and ask the FSE what the plan is from here. Since my wife dropped the car off the car has only been our for one ride (14.7 miles on 11/17 according to the MyFordMobile site). I guess that the trips from the parking lot into the service area don't get logged if they are below a certain distance. The biggest frustration is that the FSE has really not found anything and has the technician trying a lot of the same things over again (sort of like diagnosing Microsoft Windows - Turn it of and turn it back on until the problem goes away) About the only good thing is that it makes it easier to prove that Ford cannot diagnose the problem and as such cannot fix the problem. CJN-MD: was your car a Hybrid or an Energi?

Thanks to GrySql and HybridBear. I will start to push on the Regional Customer Service Rep. Also, I will go back to the beginning of this thread and see what I can garner about the process. I heard nothing from the CSR today which is what is really frustrating. I am not going to go away. I will look at the BBB method and also the Connecticut Lemon Law. From what I saw about the CT Lemon Law I have already exceeded the number of days in the shop to qualify.

Well, It is now Monday morning (12:09 A.M) and the car spent the weekend at the dealership. As of 07:55 this morning that will be 19 days at the dealership for this visit, 78 days total since February 19th. I keep getting told they are working with the Technical Hot Line and the Engineer will be looking into the issue. I think it is way past time for Ford to step up to the plate and admit that they can't determine what the problem is and as such how to fix it. Nearly $49,000 out the door with options, dealer installs and extended warranty I don't have a car I can believe in. Meagan, what does it take to get this fixed? Very Frustrated Owner