Big Brother Is Watching Your Fg

[robbo k]

I find it wrong that ford would void a warranty for having any mod like a simple exhuast.

I still remember the head service bloke from Expensive Daewoo when I used to take my ute in for warranty work said nuffin n wanted to know how much power it pulled with a tune lol.... mine had 20's lowered full exhuast system and a mafless tune n they didnt say nuffin and always carried out warranty work without a hassel.

[tmac450]

Tobe fair, that was probably without Holden's knowledge. A practice which Ford is obviously trying to crack down on. But instead of penalising the dealer, it's the customer who cops the penalty through poorer/slower service.

Instead of making the customer wait for Ford approval from the images, let the dealer do the work. Check the images after and if the dealer's doen the wrong thing, they don't get paid for the job.

[gregor]

I find it wrong that ford would void a warranty for having any mod like a simple exhuast.

When a simple exhaust can influence boost levels, play havoc with a/f ratios and increase power why wouldn't they?

Like turbo vixen said - you know when you mod it you are throwing away your warranty (for any system affected by the mod). Ford built and tested the T's and F6's with the power they have standard so why should they warrant it with 30, 40 or even 100% more power causing extra premature stress on components.

The one thing I don't like is that they can apparently void your warranty for going to the drags or a track day. As far as I'm concerned if it is standard I should be able to do whatever I like with it. You an't release performance cars and expect people not to use the performance.

I want to keep my warranty so I wont be modding until early next year.

[EZ2CME]

so what are you whinging about? you know that modding your car will void your warranty, so are you sulking cuz they caught you out!!!

sorry but your the silly one to think you could get away with it

I'm sorry but I have to agree.

[ZAP]

I am sure Ford are well aware of all the mods people are doing. Most of you post them here and with some minor investigation, they could easily identify who you are.

X car bought on this date at this dealer = this username.

This is why I keep my cars stock, as it is not worth the grief of defendign a mod causing a warranty claim.

Ford have most likely gone in this direction to reduce the need of their engineers having to go to dealers to approve some work. Instead, they take some pictures to make sure there is no aftermarket parts, and it is all good.

They can fine edit easily now in the FG's, so that has saved them a fair amount of checking. I do not have a problem with Ford taking pictures of my stock car, I do not see why you do.

[tpinto]

Sorry fellas but I think that some of you have JUMPED TO CONCLUSIONS and missed my point, My FG screams of modification from the bigger intercooler to the brembos and racing rims ,rear twin exhaust and GT rear bar and to add the icing on the cake an exhaust note that at idle overshadows that of an XR8 or GT at full reves,Its got nothing to do with me trying to get warranty on my mods, I would have to be an idiot even to attempt it, Its the fact that they took a pictures of my diff to get approval from Ford to fix the oil leak under warranty and pictures of the undercarriage which would of included the exhaust( which I did not give them permission to take) thus them knowing the car had been modified in some way and if Ford keep those picture on file along with notes then every time I go in for a legitimate warranty issue they will know the car has had work done on it and will question and go through every claim with a fine tooth comb making the process lengthy and probably result in me trying to prove that the mods did not in anyway directly or indirectly contribute to the failure of the part in question. It used to be up to the service manager to make the decision on most warranty issues but as I was told its not the case anymore.

EXAMPLE, as mentioned on one of my first posts I worked in spare parts for a Ford dealership for quite awhile and can tell you that if you lowerd a car then you void warranty on the the cars suspension components including control arms by Fords policy and it was usually left to managment to decide wether to go ahead with a claim or not and usually they would because they where sensible enough to notice that the mod had nothing directly to do with the claim , What happens now!? Your lowered FGs front lower control arm bush which happens to be liquid filled starts to leak and you take it in for a claim, they take pictures of the full suspension and Ford note that the suspension has been modified well guess what! even though the control arm has not been touched they will decline the claim because in their eyes lowering the car has put undue stress on the control arm, its up to you to prove otherwise and they now have a file for future reference. And what I was told is that if they refuse because what they see in the pictures then service will not even attempt to pull the suspension apart to diagnose the problem because they will not get paid for it unless you fork out the money.

Attatch a Dvd to your ICC or even aftermarket reverse sensors or camera, a picture gets taken with the top cover off and sent when you make a claim because of a fault with the ICC, they look at it and decline warranty straight away because they see the extra plugs connected to the unit and its left to you to prove the connected devices were not the cause of the ICC to fail and the service dept will not even attempt to diagnose the problem because they will not get paid to do so. you take it away and unplug everything and take it to another dealer but its to late Ford have your file with pics.

Listen Im not saying that what Ive written was exactly what was said word for word but its what was insinuated to me during a lengthy discussion with a service advisor which I know rather well and that's why I posted this articale to find out if any one else has come across these or simular situations lately with their FGs or heard anything along these lines. But it still upsets me greatly that they took picture of things other than the diff housing or oil leak, to me its an invasion of my privacy. Why get my exhaust in a picture if Ive made no claim on it?

[ZAP]

If you lowered you car and the lower control arm did start leaking, it should not be covered by warranty. As the ride height is lower, there is permenant pressure on the bush and it could cause premature wear. Thesame goes with the ICC, if you plan to plug anythign into this unit, why should Ford have to pay if it breaks. Ford cannot be responsible for anythign that is stuffed around with. Adding a DVD may have caused the ICC problem, or it may not have, but you play you pay.

I am sure that Ford pay a lot of claims that are user caused, and I ams also sure they deny legitimate claims. The idea behind the pictures would be to reduce the need for Ford personel to go to the dealers and inspect the claim. This would also reduce the time the car is in the dealers as Ford could approve/deny a claim faster than if they had to physically go to the dealers.

As for the pictures of the undercarrige, there is no intelectual property rights or invasion of privacy, so I do not think your points are that valid. Pictures and video are taken of you and your car all the time and stored for long periods of time.

I think that we just need to accept that Ford are most likely trying to improve customer service, to get warranty claims approved quicker.

[ronburgundy]

The other thing you need to consider - YOU are saying that all you've done is fitted a DVD to it.

But how does Ford know that? All they can tell is that the thing's been opened - you really think they're gonna take your word for it when you say you've touched nothing else other than the DVD?

The point is, if Ford hasn't done the work themselves, they cannot certify that the work is done properly (yeah I know that sounds ironic given some of the 'success' stories of Ford service!). Thus why should their warranty support something they can't certify?!

YOU PLAY YOU PAY, simple as that.

As for the photo... read the fine print. I haven't, but I'd be surprised if it didn't contain some loophole that allowed them to take all 'necessary measures' etc.

This thread is going nowhere fast!

Edited 06/08/09 09:39 PM by ronburgundy

[tmac450]

I think that we just need to accept that Ford are most likely trying to improve customer service, to get warranty claims approved quicker.

I can accept what Ford is trying to do here, but there's no way in Zeuse's buthole that this would improve or speed up warranty claims. It can only be another hinderence and delay for the customer. Nothing is quicker than having an on the spot approval by the service manager.

Ford clearly don't trust their own dealers, if they don't trust them, how the hell can we?

[jrfttf]

end of the day you play, you pay!