Do your Fusion Sill Plates Glow After Car is Locked?

[smr2112]

I got my Fusion Sill Plates installed at a dealer last week. For the first time today since

having the car, I parked in my dark garage. I noticed that the plates were still on

(or so it seemed) after the car was off and lights went auto-off I locked the car doors

and lights were out - they seemed like they were still on.

 

I was hoping they weren't hooked up wrong and still on a live circuit and then realized

they must act like a capacitor and glow on for a while after the car is off and locked

up. I noticed this in my dark garage after the car had been locked a while - they

appeared to glow faintly, not as bright as when the door is opened.

 

The dealer did such a beautiful job of installing them, I was really hoping they weren't

wired wrong and realized that would be realy hard to do since everything shuts off

in 10 minutes.

 

Can anybody confirm that these plates glow? You can see them doing this in

the dark either from inside the car or through the window.

 

Before I go bug the dealer that something is amiss...

[smr2112]

Well got this problem solved with my Sill Plates - and just an FYI for others

if you are considering.

 

The Fusion/Milan 2008/2009/2010 years all differ in the wiring of the lighted

plates - just slightly. The instructions mention this, but there is no text

in there to explain exactly.

 

The dealer was good and fixed this all with a 2nd visit (got to test out my

ESP as this is covered and got a rental) and claimed they had to call Ford Tech line

as the instructions were missing critical info for 2010 cars. All fixed, locks

work, lighted plates go out with the interior light going off. Nothing glows...

it was weird.

 

Check everything on your car if you get it back from dealer doing anything electrical

or custom.

[DaveM]

Well got this problem solved with my Sill Plates - and just an FYI for others

if you are considering.

 

The Fusion/Milan 2008/2009/2010 years all differ in the wiring of the lighted

plates - just slightly. The instructions mention this, but there is no text

in there to explain exactly.

 

The dealer was good and fixed this all with a 2nd visit (got to test out my

ESP as this is covered and got a rental) and claimed they had to call Ford Tech line

as the instructions were missing critical info for 2010 cars. All fixed, locks

work, lighted plates go out with the interior light going off. Nothing glows...

it was weird.

 

Check everything on your car if you get it back from dealer doing anything electrical

or custom.

 

I guess my question is now that you have them would you do it again or do you consider this a novelty item that will wear off in a month or two

[smr2112]

The answer is "yes", I would do it again. It adds a very nice touch and protects the plastic

sill a bit from getting scuffed - who knows what the sill plate itself will look like down the road...

It was a bit more of a hassle than I expected, but it's fine now.

 

The installing dealership - not where I got the car from - only charged me $48 to install! Other places

could not give me a price and most said they never installed these before - so no idea how long to do it.

That's B.S. - was told it finally took 2.5hrs. This dealership said they never installed them, but would

learn - manager of body shop assured me he read the directions and there was nothing strange in there.

We'll figure it out at our expense basically. Don't expect the same, but was a good faith gesture that

won me as a new customer for the dealership. So despite the hiccup, they made it right in the end

which is all I cared about and it was done beautifully and very neat. Covered by Ford ESP if any issues

ever.

 

The trick...call around for pricing and ask for the body shop. Get a firm price. Should be about 2 hours.

The regular guys that put the stickers and mud flaps on new cars should not be doing this.

You want guys that are comfortable taking the car apart and putting it back together.

That was my issue and why the purchasing dealership could never install these. Buy the part mail order

from partscheap.com and save some money, they get somebody you trust to install. Installation instructions

are on fordaccessories.com