www.silverstatefordparts.com has it for $213 + shipping, although I hope none of us has to repair it ourselves. This kind of issue is why I won't be buying another hybrid and certainly never another Ford.

 

Econoline, did you get your fans covered under warranty somewhere near Ventura, CA? And if so, would you mind telling me the dealer name or possibly sharing your censored receipt? If I don't have any luck here in AZ, I'm willing to make the drive.

Thanks,
Tanya

 

I haven't had the fan problem, yet. The blend door actuator was replaced under warranty and I replaced the MECS pump myself (out of warranty).

Any legal action against Ford over the fan issue might best be done as individuals through small claims court, like the woman with the Honda Civic Hybrid did. http://jalopnik.com/5881477/civic-hy...-against-honda

 

GatorJ,

My point to them is:
They (Ford) said there are no user serviceable parts inside the battery case.
If fact for the first two years of sales no Ford dealer or service center was autorized to open the battery case and tne battery could only be replaced at a whole unit due to "lethal voltages" inside the battery pack.

About the third year Ford either retrained all its service personnel and/or determined there were parts of the internal battery that did not contain lethal voltages and could be serviced with resonable safety.

In their eyes opening the battery to replace just a fan was much more cost effective than removing and replacing a whole pack.

In brief at the time the car was sold, the battery was just one item.
Only in more recent years did Ford decide it was ok to replace individual components.
What they are telling you now is baloney.

I would let them do the repair and not pay a cent for it.
The burden of proof is on them and they dont have a case.
Let them try to take you to small claims court and K suspect they won't.

But at the same time the local dealer should not be out of pocket unless you can show fault with them.

Thanks for keeping us informed
John

 

Here is what I think. All of us here understand that this part is covered by the warranty, and we have good and valid reasons why the part should be covered (case in point is the reason that gpsman1 provided). BUT Ford will not listen to reason and they seem to believe that they are correct when they state that the cooling fans are not a warrantied item. So all they hear when we talk to them is why we think Ford should cover an item under warranty when Ford knows (in their mind) that it's not a covered part. So based on my experiences, trying to reason with Ford is like flogging a dead horse. What I think needs to happen is we need to find out what it is that the Ford dealers are doing wrong when they look to see if the part is covered and then conclude that it is not. Clearly, trying to tell Ford that they've made a mistake is not working. Right now, GatorJ is in the best position to get that information and hopefully he can do that.

 

I have my Escape back, but unfortunately not in a way that assists anyone else or even creates finality to the matter. This was my plan "B" all along, but not one I was willing to disclose in case Ford representatives were monitoring any of these threads.

I called Ford CS this morning and learned my case was elevated to the level above Milli. Milli is apparently a manager of level one CSRs and I was now dealing with someone in level 2. That person was scheduled to call me Wednesday, April 18th. I informed the person that this had gone on for three weeks, a Wednesday call was unacceptable and I wanted to speak to the level 2 person today. I was connected to her and was told (yet again) she was waiting for information from my dealership before she could proceed further. She was also leaving the office at noon today, so I ended the conversation and called my local service adviser. The service manager is off on Mondays and I asked that his assistant call my level 2 person to supply any needed information.

Of course I received no follow-up calls from anyone so it was time for plan b.

Florida Statute 559.917 allows a person to post a bond with the Clerk of the Court for the total amount of the invoice (plus towing and storage charges, if any) and a modest Clerk's fee. The Clerk then provides you with a certificate that directs the motor vehicle repair shop to release the vehicle. Failure to comply is a second degree misdemeanor (60 days in jail and a $500 fine) and creates a separate cause of action for damages.

After posting the bond, I arrived at the dealership with the certificate. As luck would have it, a police officer I know pretty well was there picking his patrol car up after servicing and he hung around for a bit. The representatives at the dealership were actually quite cordial and within 15 minutes I was on my way.

The dealer now has 60 days to sue me. If they don't, the bond less the service fee is returned to me. If they do sue me, the prevailing party is entitled to attorney's fees. Those fees will undoubtedly exceed the amount of the invoice, $684, so I will wait and see. This obviously creates some pressure on the dealer to get this covered by Ford.

I almost did this 10 days ago, but I really was trying to resolve this on a more global level. I had other cars to drive, so the loss of use of the Escape was not as major an issue as it might be for others. My fuel expense had nearly doubled, however, so at some point enough was enough.

My advice to anyone going through this:

1. Try to find an informed dealer that knows how to get this repair covered.

2. Go in with as much information as you can including pictures of the fans in the battery assembly and copies of the service manual where it states these fans are part of the HVTB.

3. Call Ford Customer Service and get this elevated to a supervisor as quickly as possible. Being nice and cooperative doesn't work well at the first level. I believe the first level CSRs lack the authority to approve the repair.

4. If you don't get a reasonably fast resolution, find out if your state has a bond procedure similar to Florida's...many do. Putting the burden on them to sue me and exposing them to paying my attorney's fees gives me a huge tactical advantage over paying them and then me having to sue them. Word of caution: trying to defend a lawsuit against the dealership's or Ford's legal staff does have perils. Even though I believe "our" legal position is the correct one, you will be at a significant disadvantage going against trained lawyers. Small claims courts rules and procedures are somewhat relaxed, but the rules of evidence and other procedural requirements still apply.

5. BTW, in most states it is illegal to pay the bill and then put a stop payment on the check. Do NOT try this unless you have competent legal advice telling you it's OK.

I will update further as events unfold or on day 61.

 

Thanks for the update. It's good to be in position where you know the legal ins and outs. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

Final Update: It's over. I received a phone call today from another individual identifying himself as THE service manager at my dealership. He apologized profusely, indicated the fans ARE covered and offered to help get my bond returned immediately. (Unfortunately, the bond can't be released early under Florida law, I have to wait the 60 days.)

I told him there were several people on the Escape Hybrid enthusiasts forums who had experienced similar frustrations and asked him how to properly submit this repair so others could get it covered by Ford without having to go through the nonsense. What he told me was consistent with what I read on the other thread. If you just enter the cooling fan kit part number, it will not show as covered by the unique hybrid component warranty. He said they entered "10B759" which is the HVTB itself part number and it showed which components in the battery assembly were covered (there was actually a list of 6 or 7 he read off to me). He also mentioned a reference to TSB 09 17 7.

My Escape is the only one they've serviced with this failure which is why they didn't know how to handle it. Unfortunately, unless this problem reoccurs with them, I don't believe they are going to try to get a system wide procedure in place with Ford.

I hope there is some information of use in this thread. I'd be happy to help anyone I can.

 

Great, now we know what we already knew, you had to use the HV battery part number. It appears Ford does not want to replace the entire battery, so they list the parts to be replace as covered under the battery part number. Ford needs to list the fan kit and other parts inside the pack as covered under those part numbers also. What a mess!

GaryG

 

Did what I could. Even if I had sued Ford and won that decision would not have been controlling anywhere, merely persausive.