Look what is happening on my new 2014 Mustang GT.

[wtd]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: wtd
I do want to say that the two dealerships that I have taken it to are not the selling dealer for the reason I stated above. Both times I was denied Warranty for this problem, the suggestion was to take it back to the selling dealer and maybe they could pay for it under a CS satisfaction thing. My selling dealer is also 60 miles one way from where I live so it's not very convenient to take it there. Warranty issues can be addressed at any dealer so I shouldn't have to take it to them anyway. With the issues I had with this dealer from the beginning, I highly doubt they will do anything for me and because of some of the things they did, I don't trust them at all.

The dealer should not have to pay for something that is a product defect. I'm not the only person to have this problem so it is not an isolated incident. Ford needs to step up and acknowledge that maybe they got some bad parts and that they need to fix this. I bought this car with 38 miles on it and should not have to be fighting to get this fixed.

Wayne


Have they flat out denied you, or did they take pictures and submit them to Ford? If they take the pictures and Ford denies it, the dealer's hands are tied.

FWIW I have the huge NAV screen on mine and no issues whatsoever. Totally random question, does your instrument cluster rattle like maracas over undulations in the road? Annoyed at that on my car and will have it fixed once my ESP goes into effect and I get my $75 a day free rental car.


Both dealers supposedly sent pictures but when I talked to my regional Ford CS guy the first time, he couldn't find where any pictures were sent. At the second dealer, they told me that their system was down and that they couldn't send pictures. That went on for over a month until I called the regional Ford CS rep again and asked if they had heard anything or if there was a problem with their system in regards to sending pictures. I was denied warranty for the second time the next day.

So I cannot say for sure if pictures were actually sent each time. They were taken at both dealerships and I sent the second dealer some of the ones I took at night which are some of the ones I have posted here. They turned out better because of no outside glare.

I do know that the first dealer said that he believed that the screen had been damaged and it probably wouldn't be covered. The regional Ford CS rep did say that they had to go with what the dealer said since he was the one who actually looks at the car.

To my knowledge, none of the Nav screen cars have this problem.

I have no rattles in my instrument cluster as of now but I only have about 4,200 miles on the car so far.

As far as what the screen is actually made of, I can't be sure since I'm not an expert in this. It appears to be plastic and from reading about the DIY repair that some guys on the Mustang forums are doing, those guys seem to think it's some kind of thin plastic that is tinted. It is only about 1/16" thick. They seem to think some type of delamination of the tint and plastic is taking place.

Wayne

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Major pee-off. Reminds me of the dead pixel cluster issue that BMW had with the E39. However BMW did extended warranty on those parts and were replacing them long after the warranty on the cars expired. A much better approach IMHO.


And another great example of customer service. A little bit goes a LONG way in situations like this.

IMO this is typical stealership stuff. The mfgrs are very tight about warranted claims and have intimidated the dealers into being squeamish over LITTLE [censored] like this!

 

[itguy08]

Definitely raise a stink cause it should be covered. Pictures should have been taken of the damage, the dash, interior, etc.

When the taillights started peeling on my SHO (common issue with the 10-12's) each time (I'm on my 3rd, which are holding up well), the dealer sent pics to Ford and they replaced them. Even at just under 36k. Now at 69k the last set is fine.

I even had a strange whistling noise at highway speeds and the dealer's body guy saw a piece of molding around the mirror was just slightly bent out (I never noticed it) and they took Pics and Ford paid for that too. I was there when they took pics and they took them of the trim, the mirror, the door, and the car. The service manager (who took the pics) explained to me that they want to paint the picture that the car is in great shape except for this piece and that no other damage caused it.

So I think the key is having a good dealer. The one I use is quite good and it probably helps I have my cars serviced there because the prices are in line and I get a ride to/from work.

Another avenue would be to escalate and force them into arbitration or sue them in small claims court. Depending on how you bought your car (I did X-plan and have to arbitrate) you may be forced to arbitration. But a "3-rd party" could clearly see there is no damage to the screen from outside forces.

I'd try to get ahold of the zone/local rep and tell them you want to meet with them and have them look at the car. If they won't, go up the food chain.

I'm a Ford guy and stuff like this is really poor customer service. I get that people have tried to game the system with broken trim and junk like that trying to claim warranty. But it seems that anyone can see you didn't damage it and that it is simply a defective piece of plastic.

 

[Trav]

Could it be some sort of anti reflective film that is delaminating ?

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: wtd
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Is the lens scratched, or is there an actual problem with the display?

I never could figure that out from the opening post.


This is not the actual screen that is on the radio but one that is in front of the radio. It is built into the plastic face that houses the controls for the radio as well as the heating/air.

I'm not sure what is going on with the screen. If you run a thumbnail over the damaged areas, you can feel it. It is hard to tell from the pictures but it almost looks like the screen is shattering. The cold weather has really made the damage spread.

Like a said earlier, this thing started out with a little line in the lower left corner of the screen and has spread to what you see now. It has actually gotten worse since these pictures were taken but I have not taken any new ones since the car is not stored where I'm living and I forget to bring the camera.


So the screen works 100%, its just that the outer glass refracts light now to make those colors and lines?

It looked to me like when an LCD breaks/leaks/fails.

 

[wtd]

The second dealer took pictures of the damage as well as the entire car, inside and out, as well as the tag on the inner door.

You can still see the radio display behind this screen at this point but it's not a clear picture behind the damaged areas. I've seen some pictures of other people's Mustangs on the internet where it got so bad that you could not hardly see the radio display behind the screen. Like I said before, mine has gotten a lot worse since the cold weather has hit and I'm sure it will continue to get worse as time goes on until you won't be able to see anything behind it.

The problem with this situation is that the people at the dealer level who are giving their opinion on what caused this problem are not plastic experts so they are not giving an expert opinion when they send their opinion on up to Ford.

The problem at Ford is that they are looking at photo's that don't tell them anything other than that the screen looks damaged. You cannot make an informed decision from looking at the damage from a picture that is not a very good picture to begin with on what caused that damage. So, they are going to go with the opinion of the person that actually looked at the screen. Ford should contact the company that makes the screen for them and have them look at a damaged one to see what caused it.

No one seems to be using any common sense here. The screen is not that tall and for something to hit the screen and damage it and not damage the surrounding faceplate plastic would be highly unlikly especially since this problem started in the lower left corner of the screen. When I brought this up to the original dealer I took it to, he didn't have an answer other than to tell me it was his opinion that something damaged it and that if he did a warranty claim on it, that Ford would make him pay for it.

Like I mentioned before, I'm not totally sure what the screen is made of or how they tint it to get the smoked look so I can't say how or why it's doing what it's doing.

Wayne

 

[Vikas]

The point is a manufacturer who considers customer service his priority would have replaced it immediately with no questions asked. For crying out loud, the car is brand new. Even a Walmart type of B&M store would take a broken thing back without making a scene if it is new.

There is really no excuse whatsoever for either the dealer or the manufacturer not to immediately step up to the plate. The cost to swap that part out can't be more than a hundred or so. It is not like a blown drive-train which needs to be replaced.

Do you think a Lexus dealer would have given him this grief?

 

[wtd]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
The point is a manufacturer who considers customer service his priority would have replaced it immediately with no questions asked. For crying out loud, the car is brand new. Even a Walmart type of B&M store would take a broken thing back without making a scene if it is new.

There is really no excuse whatsoever for either the dealer or the manufacturer not to immediately step up to the plate. The cost to swap that part out can't be more than a hundred or so. It is not like a blown drive-train which needs to be replaced.

Do you think a Lexus dealer would have given him this grief?


I agree. Obviously Ford is not thinking of Customer service in this case and like I posted earlier, the dealer told me the new front panel that includes the screen is only $110 so I'm sure Ford's cost is a lot less than that.

What sucks is that some people are getting this fixed under warranty while others are not. Obviously what the dealer says has a lot to do with it.

The second dealer told me he wasn't going to give an opinion and just let Ford make their own determination so that they wouldn't be influenced by his opinion. Obviously that didn't work either.

I think I'm going to contact Ford again and see what happens.

Wayne

 

[Tosh]

Originally Posted By: wtd
I think I'm going to contact Ford again and see what happens.

Make sure to direct them to this thread!

How many thousands of us BITOGers are reading about your 2014 Ford experience and swearing off a new Ford forever?

 

[Tosh]

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/301004-replace-your-radio-display-glass.html

According to the above, it appears this plastic lens problem has been going on since at least the 2011 Mustang, so not a new problem by far. If this is the 4th model year with the same problem, then you are witnessing first-hand Ford's commitment to product improvement and customer loyalty

You should just take it on the chin as part of the 'Ford Ownership Experience' and fix it yourself with a piece of glass.

 

[crazyoildude]

like i said...

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Tosh
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/301004-replace-your-radio-display-glass.html

According to the above, it appears this plastic lens problem has been going on since at least the 2011 Mustang, so not a new problem by far. If this is the 4th model year with the same problem, then you are witnessing first-hand Ford's commitment to product improvement and customer loyalty

You should just take it on the chin as part of the 'Ford Ownership Experience' and fix it yourself with a piece of glass.



That is SHODDY practice.

I would write to Bill Ford about the treatment you have received, send the letter return receipt requested, to be opened only by Mr. Ford.

Seriously.

 

[HM12460]

Stuff like this amazes me. You'd think Ford and the dealer would replace it if for no other reason than to satisfy a customer that bought an expensive car. They are more interested in cross threading a customer than building a lasting relationship with said customer. Yeah, I'd be royally pi$$ed and make more noise than a jack a$$ in a tin barn.

 

[wtd]

Originally Posted By: Tosh
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/301004-replace-your-radio-display-glass.html

According to the above, it appears this plastic lens problem has been going on since at least the 2011 Mustang, so not a new problem by far. If this is the 4th model year with the same problem, then you are witnessing first-hand Ford's commitment to product improvement and customer loyalty

You should just take it on the chin as part of the 'Ford Ownership Experience' and fix it yourself with a piece of glass.


I read that thread on that forum after my screen started doing the same thing and is what I will do if I can't get Ford to replace mine. I'm going to use a piece of tinted Acrylic from a website a guy on one of the forums gave me that custom cuts this acrylic to your specs. I already have the piece but I'm unsure if it will work for sure since this company would only cut the piece 1/8" thick which is twice as thick as the original piece. If it doesn't work, I'm only out $24.

Supposedly the screen is held in place with a black tar like adhesive and there will supposedly be enough left over after taking off the original to install the new piece. Looking on youtube, it doesn't look like it takes very much time to take off the front plastic face piece. I also don't have the proper nylon pry tools to remove the bezel around the shifter so I don't damage it and with it being so cold, I wouldn't want to mess with it right now because of the risk of breaking all of the plastic pieces that need to be removed to fix this. At least if the dealer breaks anything, they have to pay to repair it.

I could fix this myself and not deal anymore with the hassle but I'm still trying to get Ford to replace it because of the principle of the situation and the fact that this problem is not new and it should be fixed under warranty.

Wayne

 

[wtd]

Just so you guys can see how fast this problem spread, here is the first picture I took a few days after I took the car in to the dealer for the first time. The day that I took the car in, was the first time I had driven or been in the car for about a month and it wasn't like this the last time I drove it. The damage you see in the lower left corner is the only damage at this point. It had not spread to the rest of the screen.


Here are some not very good pictures taken 11 days later where you can see it has spread to the other side of the screen.




Wayne

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Tosh
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/301004-replace-your-radio-display-glass.html

According to the above, it appears this plastic lens problem has been going on since at least the 2011 Mustang, so not a new problem by far. If this is the 4th model year with the same problem, then you are witnessing first-hand Ford's commitment to product improvement and customer loyalty

You should just take it on the chin as part of the 'Ford Ownership Experience' and fix it yourself with a piece of glass.


Let's put it in perspective. Ford sells about 80k Mustangs a year, so for 4 years, that's 320,000 Mustangs out there.

If 1% of them experience this issue, that's 3,200 of them. And then there's the going back to the supplier, testing a new part, getting it into the channel, etc. Like I said before, I went through 3 sets of tail lights on my 2010 SHO before they got the chrome right. And I notice that in the 2013 refresh they ditched the chrome covered plastic....

What is appalling is Ford's handling of this. It should be done as there is no evidence of foul play. As a fan of their products and also a shareholder, I think it is poor management. I hope the OP gets things straightened out.

 

[wtd]

I forgot to mention that the 11/22/13 date is the date that I took it back to the first dealer after I discovered that it had spread. I had not been in the car during those 11 days and was amazed at how much it had spread.

I also took the car to the second dealer on the 11/22 date. When I took the pictures on 11/24 that I first posted, I could not believe how much it had spread in just two days. I will say that the temps around here during that time were very cold.

As I mentioned before, the car is currently stored about 30 miles from where I'm living and when I went there the other day to check on the house, I looked at the screen and it looks like it's worse than it was on the 11/24 date. The next time I go, I will try and get some new pictures.

Wayne

 

[wtd]

I just found another thread on the same forum that Tosh posted a link to that talks about this issue and there are some good picture of other people's screens and they talk about how the cold weather has really caused this to spread. A couple of people on there describe the damage as looking "etched" and I think that describes the damage pretty accurately. It's kind of hard to really get a sense of what this looks like from pictures.

I will mention that my screen has never been cleaned with any type of chemical. I did gently wipe it with a dry microfiber towel to get off the finger prints from when the dealer service guy was running his fingers on it before I took pictures.

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/603234-cracked-radio-display-screen.html

Wayne

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: Tosh
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/2011-mustang-talk/301004-replace-your-radio-display-glass.html

According to the above, it appears this plastic lens problem has been going on since at least the 2011 Mustang, so not a new problem by far. If this is the 4th model year with the same problem, then you are witnessing first-hand Ford's commitment to product improvement and customer loyalty

You should just take it on the chin as part of the 'Ford Ownership Experience' and fix it yourself with a piece of glass.



That is SHODDY practice.

I would write to Bill Ford about the treatment you have received, send the letter return receipt requested, to be opened only by Mr. Ford.

Seriously.


That won't do much, he isn't the CEO, Alan Mulally is the CEO.

I have seen this before actually, there is a protective film that the customer is supposed to remove when they take delivery of the car. 9/10 times that happens from the customer not removing it and it is not covered under warranty.

Either way, make a stink, keep coming back until they fix it. When it comes to dealers, long time customers get helped the easiest, but people that make a stink get taken care of to make them go away.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
I have seen this before actually, there is a protective film that the customer is supposed to remove when they take delivery of the car. 9/10 times that happens from the customer not removing it and it is not covered under warranty.
Can you explain how leaving the protective film on would void the warranty? Besides if it really needed to be removed, then it should be the part of the new car delivery preparation.

Either way you slice it, this stinks to high heaven.