I was thinking the exact same thing. I have worked a few different car dealers & that may well be the case.

~John

 

It took me about 2 seconds on google to find a Ford logo file. With computers, photoshop, and all the other desktop publishing software there is, a third grader could make up a pretty snazzy looking brochure for anything.

I wouldn't put anything past a car dealership. The dealer I bought my '04 Escape from showed me a brochure for a Ford warranty but the paperwork was for some aftermarket warranty. Fortunately I read everything but no telling how many people fall for it.

 

For a owner of a dealership to risk their business and be put in jail, I don't think that is the answer. This equipment can be traced back to the manufactures or distribitors pretty easy when you start putting people in jail. Most new car dealerships have a good law firm that would advise against those types of scams.

Besides, the parts and service dept. know better than risk voiding the warranty with unapproved installations.

GaryG

 

In an honest world I would agree with you 100% but car dealerships have been known to have some shady characters.

I have searched and found nothing indicating Ford's involvement with this type of item. I can't imagine Ford would require something like this to be a dealer option. If it was an effective gas saver and Ford endorsed it's use, there would be a press release somewhere.

Anyone have a copy of this brochure they could post for us?

 

Hi Ray

When someone sells a aftermarket warranty, it is basicly insurrance. If the salesman or finance dept. employee sales you something like that, most states have slider laws with criminal punishment. If he showed you Ford literature and slid another policy in your face to sign, report him to the insurrance comissioner.

GaryG

 

Remember when you talked about corruption earlier? I live in the state that perfected corruption, if not inventing it. I could report them until the end of time and it would go nowhere. There is a reason you can't get GEICO, Allstate, State Farm and all the other big name car insurance in this state.

Three years ago my nephews truck got stolen and the insurance company didn't want to pay and didn't. He had to sue. He just last month got the stripped carcass towed away since they finally decided to pay off. Meanwhile he is out a ton of money but nobody in this state would do anything for him.

Sorry, off topic rant over.

I would hope that no dealer would pull some crap like selling a ridiculously overpriced, unproven, ineffective, aftermarket add-on as a Ford-endorsed product but nothing would surprise me. When I see the item listed on the official Ford website with independent testing to document that it works and saves gas, I'll go back and buy one. Until then I'll settle for 38.9 mpg as my current tank is giving me.

 

Ok Ray

Your right, when the police, fire dept, elections office, tax collector office and everything else become part of the corrupt political system, it's every man for himself.

It sounds like your getting the hang of your FEH's now with a 38.9mpg tank reading.

The term "Fuel Saver" can be anything, which can include vapor recovery systems. There is a Ford patent back in 6/20/00 I need to read which involves lean burn for maximizing fuel efficiency. I hit the mother load on all Ford patents and took a minute to post. Also, I saw where Ford was working with a company in Texas on a devise that would do what were talking about and it would now be in production.

So many things in today's technology are about to burst big oil's bubble and the cost associated with stopping it must be getting out of hand. It appears the ultracapacitor is going to replace battery technology. I've heard this from my son (at MIT) and there is a article on http://www.cleanmpg.com/ discussing this now. My bet is that big oil is getting control (investing) of this new technology to keep control of energy and our pockets. Global warming can't be dismissed anymore either.

GaryG

 

My final argument on the topic. My brothers are both mechanical engineers in the auto industry. One designs for Ford. His group spent THOUSANDS of man-hours over the years trying to cut weight on hoods, doors, etc, to get a 1 or 2% increase in gas mileage. The reason was to sell big gas guzzlers but still keep the average MPG of the entire fleet above the limits set by the US government (big was what the consumer wanted at the time).

All the conspriacy theories about car companies and oil companies working together wont explain spending hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions) of effort to get 1-2% if you can get more with a cheap small metal part thrown in the air intake.... it makes no logical sense.

 

GM moved production of the Chevy Suburbans from the US to Canada and Mexico because they wanted to get the CAFE average economy to go up and needed to get the suburbans off the books to do that - CAFE standards only apply to US built vehicles.

Ford are selling every hybrid at a loss, they cost Ford more to build them than we paid for them. That is the reason for so many shortcuts in the interior of the escape with the structuring of the options packages and the crappy nav system etc.

I can just imagine the board room conversations - 'Even though our company, Ford, is facing bankrupcy, and we are spending so much money on fuel economy on the Escape that we are taking a bath on every one we sell, we need to ensure that it is not fuel efficient so that we can increase the profits of the oil companies which are already at a record high'

Tim

 

Really? I've heard that wasn't true. That is, I've heard that they don't lose money on each individual vehicle, but they aren't making up for their development efforts.

And I don't buy that as the reason for the cheap interior or crappy nav. The cheap interior is across the board part of the Escape lineup. And the crappy nav can't be much cheaper for them than if they simply bought one from Alpine or Pioneer. But they have one that works, and displays the hybrid info, so until the next real rev, why should they change.

At $2,000 per, they can't be losing money on the Nav.