Leaving the Mustang Community for Good. Traded in the Lemon.

[Ciulster]

So I finally did it. I broke down and bit the negative equity I had in my loan and traded my Mustang in for a low mileage 2022 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro. I just couldn't handle being in the shop every month for a warranty repair especially for airbag electrical issues. I've been fighting electrical gremlins and significant build quality issues with my car since day one and I figured the writing was on the wall that it was a lemon. Warranty was going to soon turn into very expensive shop visits.

Reading posts on here and talking with other Mustang owners and dealerships you don't typically see the level of electrical issues or build quality issues that my unit had on many other Mustangs, which makes me that much more crestfallen over it as this car was my baby, special ordered and waited months for it to show up. Even if the issue was warranty I couldn't justify that much downtime in my daily driver and constantly organizing shuttle rides or rental vehicles.

I couldn't even get a buyback as there are no lemon laws in Canada and a CAMVAP claim would have taken months and was not guaranteed to award me anything as the issue was "technically correctable" according to Ford..... So long as you throw a new impact severity sensor and RCM in the car every couple of months.

So I guess this is goodbye, thanks to everyone on here, it's been real.

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[Hulkster]

That sucks. Love the trd pros. Enjoy and good luck.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

Sorry you had such a $h1tty XP with your Mustang! Best of luck with the new wheels!

 

[Alan Applegate]

I'm of the mind that most of Ford's problems are based on the individual dealers' inability to repair defects whatever their cause. In fact, Jim Farley has spoken publicly about this issue so at least he's aware of the problem! Personally, I can give details on two issues (two different Ford vehicles) which took days to fix what should have been done in a few hours. And I'm not alone! I'm sure owners of Ford vehicles living in other countries suffer even worse. I'm also sure that FoMoCo is just one of many companies with no clear plan to remedy these issues which are plaguing all of us, too many of which have been caused by fed mandated features.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the BMW starter issue which involves overheated starter motors. Two guesses and three don't count(!) what is causing the overheating? Now we're adding remote shutoff, driver aimed cameras, to go along with interior voice recording which has been with us for at least a decade.

So what else should the NHTSA Gods mandate?

 

[MAT1955]

I guess I have been very lucky. My 2014 never gave me a problem. Sold it to a good friend in 2024 when I bought a 2024 GT Premium Convertible. Not ONE issue with it in 2 years. It's sitting under a cover waiting for the 2026 GT Premium Convertible to arrive (build date set at February 23rd) and it goes to the sealer on a trade. Have 5 friends with Mustangs for at least the past 10 years no issue of any significance to report from any of them. I think we should remember when you go on any forum you have members who will - rightfully - speak out when there is a problem but for among the vast Mustang community there are IMO no more issues than any vehicle of any make in that price range AND I have friends with BMW, Mercedes and Porsche that have all kinds of problems too.

 

[LouG]

I'm thinking dealer incompetence too. Everything wrong with a car can be fixed with time and money.

 

[Skye]

Sorry to see you go, but I completely understand the why. Given what you've already experienced, waiting and hoping more still isn't worthwhile. 4Runners are great vehicles and very well-received; you'll love it.

 

[gbadger]

I feel you mine was in the shop for about 60 days with electrical issues and I’ve been waiting on a differential for five months. Ford just bought mine back and I am sad to see my dark horse go. It was wonderful to drive but I only got to drive it for eight months out of 12 months.

I even told them I don’t want them to buy the car back. I want them to fix the problem so I can have the car. They were like - we don’t know when we can ever get a differential for you. Which is crazy to me because I know they’re making new Mustangs with the same differential. I don’t know how you design a car where if the rear camera sensor goes out the entire BCM goes out and the car is useless.

To Ford’s credit, the buyback process was super easy and they’re very nice about it

Cars are too integrated now, too sensitive to failure and it’s gonna bite everybody in the ass in about a decade I think.

Currently trying to decide if I want to buy a used S550 or even older.

 

[tktrain]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Good luck with your TuRD. You're going from my #1 choice to my last place brand. As a retired automotive design engineer (for GM, LOL) Toy's are all 100% designed overseas. That's hurting my profession.

 

[onaccountof]

Enjoy your SUV.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

I couldn't even get a buyback as there are no lemon laws in Canada and a CAMVAP claim would have taken months and was not guaranteed to award me anything as the issue was "technically correctable" according to Ford..... So long as you throw a new impact severity sensor and RCM in the car every couple of months.

That sucks. It means somebody else is going to end up with a car with known, recurring issues. The lemon laws are supposed to avoid that result.

 

[needforspeedirl]

Should have just wrecked it on purpose.

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