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Ford Focus rust and warranty problems (UK) .

Dear All, I've own a late 2000 UK Focus 1.8 Collection which is rusting in places.

Last year the tailgate was replaced under warranty which I didn't expect in a car of it's age (4 ½ years) but it had a happy ending. Now I've got rust by the door mirrors and on one of the passenger doors and in each case it's by the seals.

I took the car to Ford a few days ago and right away the inspector told me that Ford will not correct it because it's the "wrong type of rust". He explained that the 6 year warranty only covers rusting from the inside out (which is why they changed the tail gate as the rust was inside).

The rust problems I have are caused by the seals rubbing the paint away and according to the dealer are known problems with the Focus by Ford. As he explained they issued fixes (for the door mirrors they told them to bevel the bottom edge to stop it rubbing on the door)

That particular Ford dealer said it was a manufacture defect (I wonder if Ford sees it like that) and as such would not sort it out (but he did try). He said the only thing he could do is to give me the Ford customer care number and take it up with them (but not to hold my breath).

Has anyone here had these issues? And managed to resolve them with Ford?

I'm open to suggestions on how to get Ford to honour the warranty (I misplaced the service guide book that has the warranty details) as anything to do with bodywork costs a bomb.

Thanks

Reply to
SJT
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Here in Sweden most Fords have 6 year rust guarantee, but the Focus has 12. (Most Ford Focus here come from Germany plants.) The seal putty on Fords apparently are hygroscopic (holds water). I have gotten a couple of new doors and a new tailgate so far, and the company has gotten new doors on the company Mondeo. The local car painter has been full up fixing up Fords. Mine is a year 2000, but I know they also have fixed

2002 and maybe even as new as 2003 models. Not long ago I found new rust bubbles on top of the door sills, but now they will not fix it anymore. I suspect that Ford could not accept rust appearing on the "new" Focus, but now this has become the "old" model, after the release of Focus II there is no more good-will fixing anymore. The rust through guarantee will take care of just that. But the car will look ugly many years before the rust has worked its way through the doors and body panels, but I suspect that many 10-12 year old Focus will eventually have to be fixed for free by Ford anyway, when that time comes. /per

"SJT" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@pipex.net...

Reply to
per

Disappointing. I had paint on the lower door sill abrade away (someone careless stepping in?) and I was surprised (1) how fragile the paint was in this area (2) that the outer sill is not galvanized and (3) it started to corrode immediately. Turns out Ford only used galvanised metal for the inner chassis. This is a joke if they want to compete against the Golf. I know from experience that a deep scratch even on the external door panel (down to the metal) of a VW/Audi product will not rust. We left one for months in the winter without problems. They use galvanized metal for all body panels (except maybe the roof).

Stephen

Reply to
Stephen F.

Stephen F. schrieb:

Hi For Focus 1, the whole car is galvanized without the roof. For Focus 2, I don´t know, but it might be the same. That´s for German build Foci. bye Jupp

Reply to
Josef Erbs

The New Focus is fully galvanized.

-Nick

Reply to
Nick the Greek

In which country?

Reply to
Alt Beer

I'm talking about the European ones that were manufactured in Germany. I don't know if the Russian or Spanish plants have new Foci out yet, but they should have the same specs.

-Nick

Reply to
Nick the Greek

"Josef Erbs" skrev i meddelandet news:d9b3ji$pfl$05$ snipped-for-privacy@news.t-online.com...

Mine is German built, and door sills seem to rust easily, galvanized or not. /per

Reply to
per

My engineering intuition thought so. Seems Ford has been stocking up on those nice spray cans of "zinc primer". Great effort Ford.

Stephen

Reply to
Stephen F.

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