Taillight Out

[SSuperDave]

I had a young lady bring her 6 mo, 7K mile '24 GT in this week for the left turn signal blinking too fast. Bulb, right? Easy, right. Oh nay, nay! The taillight is a sealed unit, and replaced as an assembly (must be LED's), and the back bumper has to come off to replace it. Its done and gone, and she was happy, but when I booked the RO, I noticed the warranty price on the lamp asy was almost $1,500.00!!! This is gonna be an issue down the road when these things go out of warranty. List price is probably $1,600-$1,700, and extended warranties will not cover it because its a light.
I shake my head daily at the quality of some of thes stuff, and don't know whether to blame the suppliers, or the engineers that send them the specs to build the stuff.
I post this as information for anyone who may have the problem, if I saw one, there will be more...

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[roadpilot]

Last year, I noticed that not one but BOTH of my rear taillamp assemblies on my '21 F150 had *holes* in them. I must have done something really dumb when pulling something or loading something into the truck bed. Regardless, it was my fault.

It is a Platinum with LED everything. When I started looking for OEM replacements, I found that each side was ~$1,200 new -- and that was WITHOUT the BLIS sensor!

Luckily, if found an outfit on eBay that sells replacement assemblies that they tint. People who buy them "sell" their OEM assemblies to them, and they tint them and sell them to someone else. Nice gig.

Anyway, I was able to score both assemblies (not tinted) for $1,174.48 (delivered). I reused my BLIS sensors. All has been working well for almost 2.5 years.

But, yea, that kind of cash for plastic taillamp housings and LEDs. Crazy!

 

[SSuperDave]

Once the claim is paid, I'm going to grab the light if Ford does not call it back, and see how hard it would be to disassemble and repair it. Might end up making it a side hustle for retirement!
Its common around here for people's F-250 taillights to be stolen, the lights, modules, harness and screws,abor and programming, its about a $6,000 hit.

 

[dusman59]

I purchased the rider for the lights on my Ford warranty. It was like less than $35. After reading through the main extended warranty I saw that the lights weren't covered. Its too bad they don't just add it in the extended warranty for that little amount of $.

 

[jboogie1289]

@SSuperDave, what Ford Dealership are located at?? I may have met or seen you!! Lmbo. But that sucks BIG TIME on that light replacement. I had a Cadillac Escalade some years ago and had to replace the front HID Assembly and then, that puppy was charging $1,000 dollars. The lights are cool on these more modern vehicles (cars and trucks) but the lifespan of them should be longer but I know that they don’t factor in or can’t for that matter how many times a person will utilize their turn signals. And also, it doesn’t have to be from extended use where it just “Fails” for some reason.

 

[SSuperDave]

Big Star Ford, in Pearland/288

 

[jboogie1289]

Big Star Ford, in Pearland/288

Ahhh, ok. The one Dealership that I have not been to as of yet. May come by to get my next Service done.

 

[FarNorth]

I had a young lady bring her 6 mo, 7K mile '24 GT in this week for the left turn signal blinking too fast. Bulb, right? Easy, right. Oh nay, nay! The taillight is a sealed unit, and replaced as an assembly (must be LED's), and the back bumper has to come off to replace it. Its done and gone, and she was happy, but when I booked the RO, I noticed the warranty price on the lamp asy was almost $1,500.00!!! This is gonna be an issue down the road when these things go out of warranty. List price is probably $1,600-$1,700, and extended warranties will not cover it because its a light.
I shake my head daily at the quality of some of thes stuff, and don't know whether to blame the suppliers, or the engineers that send them the specs to build the stuff.
I post this as information for anyone who may have the problem, if I saw one, there will be more...

Yup, everyone jumped on the LED bandwagon… low draw, long life. It’s a lie, well the long life part. They don’t last near as long as advertised.
It’s like when we were told “get cable TV, pay monthly and no commercials”.

 

[ListedGuru]

I purchased the rider for the lights on my Ford warranty. It was like less than $35. After reading through the main extended warranty I saw that the lights weren't covered. Its too bad they don't just add it in the extended warranty for that little amount of $.

I will probably end up doing the same. Just to confirm we are 100% sure this rider for the lights would cover this particular issues with the blinker situation? I would assume so but you never know what the small print says....

 

[Aramis76]

Yup, everyone jumped on the LED bandwagon… low draw, long life. It’s a lie, well the long life part. They don’t last near as long as advertised.
It’s like when we were told “get cable TV, pay monthly and no commercials”.

Long life is not a lie. Compared to incandescent bulbs they do last much longer.
Specially in a moving car where the hot filament doesn't like bumps.

But, there is quality in there too. The cheap ones won't last as long either...

 

[SSuperDave]

I haven't heard about this lamp rider, but something tells me that it's not going to cover what we think it will. I'll have to do some research with the Ford ESP and see what it says but I'm thinking it's not going to pay for this stuff

 

[dusman59]

The interior and exterior lighting option provides repair or replacement for electrical failures on incandescent bulbs, halogen bulbs, High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlamps and LED lamp assemblies. It does not cover failure caused by damage or the fogging of lamp assemblies
One must have the premium extended warranty to get the optional light coverage.

 

[SSuperDave]

Is this a Ford ESP contract?

 

[dusman59]

Ford ESP contract that has a box that is checked for light coverage. I believe it has been available at least since 2020.
I made sure the dealer had the box checked as I was being charged for it. I have the HID's on my 2011 that was a $500 option but I don't think the light coverage was available back then. There were some that did have issues and I was hoping mine wouldn't. I keep the auto headlights off on that car as eveytime you start in the garage they come on. Hard on the ballast for not needed wear and tear.

 

[dusman59]

Thanks man I fixed it.

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