Paint bubble on trunk lid, Ford denying warranty claims. Do I have any options?

[BimmerDriver]

Whether I can afford it or not isn't a factor. It's a factory defect on a new car with a warranty that could progress to the whole trunk lid rotting. I shouldn't have to pay a dime. The whole, "just leave it or fix it yourself" attitude and lack of holding manufacturers accountable is why everything is sloppily-made garbage now a days. "Special car special car no discounts no rebates no special financing", ok Ford, give me the special treatment then of doing the bare minimum by honoring your warranty.

This is true, and I agree. However, how much is this stressing you out and are you prepared to have the dealer do it and it not be satisfactory?

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[smurfslayer]

And this was exactly my point. I agree 100% Ford should fix it and your dealer is underperforming. This should concern them

seemingly, however it doesn’t. My point was to illustrate that there’s more than one way to skin a cat

sometimes the pain in the ass factor overwhelmed the cost.

 

[OldCoastie]

IMHO, one thing you must consider, is liability of the warranty. If you take it upon yourself to fix this rather small bubble, than you will release Ford from this and future paint and finish warranty issues for the entire trunk area,. Ford now can claim the imperfection was caused by you, trying to fix this on your own disregarding final decision on honoring your warranty agreement. I understand it looks ugly, but it is located in an inconspicuous place and most people will not see this. You must continue to get this resollved through the Ford Warranty. With all facts on the table, I highly recommend you to escalate this issue to higher executive level at Ford, , You will have to do some research, and be committed to work this out with Ford. Do not let Ford off the hook. I have no doubt you could fix this, but in doing so, you now take on the responsibility for your fiix and Ford will use this as not abiding by the warranty.

 

[GrabberB]

Tl;dr Ghosted by Ford twice for warranty repair. Is there anything I can do?

It's on the outside near the lower corner. Noticed it shortly after buying last summer. I was able to make an indent with my thumb nail which disappeared the next day so that leads me to believe there's a void under the paint vs a drip when it was applied.

I had a warranty request submitted with the dealership I purchased the car from. Allegedly one of the top "Ford Special Vehicles" dealers in the country. About 5 weeks later after no update I stopped by to see if there was any news. Body shop manager said my case was closed by whomever she submitted it to. Fail #1 - Body shop manager didn't care enough to give you an update. She took more photos and said she'd resubmit my claim and promised she'd call me as soon as she heard any news.

That was 5 months ago, no call. Fail # 2 - Repeat of fail #1. I still have an open case with my PPF guy for about 6 months now because I told him to skip the trunk, anticipating a strip and respray like the bodyshop manager told me would be the fix.

My concern is this bubble looks just like the beginning of the classic Mustang engine cover rot my S550 had. Even worse because unlike the aluminum hood, the trunk lid is steel, which will corrode way worse once that bubble eventually ruptures from seasonal heat cycling or from thermal shock every time I wash the car after it's been in the Sun during the hot months. The chances of a repeat failure of the same nature (bubble) are unlikely at this point. I understand your concerns and given my personality would feel the same way. I would tell myself this - "Focus on the present, not the future".

Fun fact: Try going to your Ford account and make a service note like documenting you changed your oil. Include something like "Pending warranty repair", "Warranty request submitted", "Paint defect", etc. I bet it'll tell you, "Oopsie whoopsie something went wrong! Vewwy sorry we can't submit this record right now ". Then immediately try again like, "Oil changed" and wow a miracle it submits to your service records just fine.

After driving nothing but Mustangs my whole life, I knew paying full MSRP for one was playing with fire in terms of build quality, but I naively thought, "At least warranty will take care of it".

I've added some comments within your thread starter post to avoid any misunderstanding.

A little more advice.

1. The body shop manager is the biggest fail so far in your case.
2. Hard to say where FORD stands at this point.
3. Forum members can provide advice. Which road to choose is up to you. If you chose the fight road see #4 below.
4. You really need someone at the dealership who is willing to be your advocate. I suggest the General Manager. Someone who will say in a nice way "FORD this is clearly a factory paint defect and I would really appreciate a warranty approval to repair". Your dealer has communication channels to FORD that you and I will never have.

The photo you provided in my opinion shows a clear factory paint defect. If you have the time and determination to fight this by all means do so.

Some final reality based thoughts......

* We live in a world where true customer service has all but vanished.
* No matter the issue we all want to be treated fairly as it should be. Reality on the other is "Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug".
* Wisdom has taught me that happiness is sometimes better than being right.

I hope you get this resolved soon.

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