TSB 12-02-17 - Steering issue - New TSB?

[Some Guy From NY]

frustration, frustration, frustration.

My dealer last week said they were going to order a new rear view mirror for me after I told them how it continually droops down every few days. They also said they would give me a "great deal" on reparing some minor curb rash I have on one of my wheels.

My focus has been in at the service department since monday to fix those issues and the steering rack...Yesterday I spoke to my service manager who told me the "great deal" to fix the curb rash would be $225 dollars. I told him that was too much so to not do it. I can get it repaired cheaper else where. However he told me the rear view mirror was replaced, so I was happy.

I call today, wednesday to see when I can pick up my car...and the service manager I have been dealing with is not in today. I get another service manager who informs me that the rear view mirror was NOT replaced and was just ordered. It won't be in until friday or possibly monday-tuesday next week. I will have to GO BACK AGAIN to have it replaced. This was supposed to be avoided since they were going to order it LAST WEEK and replace it during the 2.5 days they had my car for the steering rack.

It's now 10:15am and I am at work waiting for them to call me back to see when I can get my father to pick it up. I am waiting right now because they need to take pictures of the rear view mirror to send to Ford.

I can't wait until this is all over. I pray that the alignment is right and the steering wander is fixed. I won't get to drive it until 7pm tonight.

[Some Guy From NY]

It just keeps getting better...

My father picks up the car and drives home on the highway and the alignment is significantly off. Since I'm at work I called the service manager to tell him this and he claims the tech drove the car for "a few miles and the alignment was fine" I argue with him that my father just drove the car..he knows how to drive...the alignment is off. simple as that....he tells me THIS "To be honest I don't know why we took your car in for repair...we just moved shops and we aren't fully up and running yet. Our alignment machine may be off..." WTF so I tell him "that really isn't my problem. You agreed to fix my car and it isn't fixed. my father is bringing the car back now and he is WAITING while you do the alignment." The service manager got all flustered and said he will try his best to get the car in as quickly as possible and see what the issue is.

This shit is never ending and it is really pissing me off.

[Some Guy From NY]

Apparently "the alignment is good, but they did not adjust the steering wheel at the same time." I never heard of that and it sounds like bullshit to me....but now I have to bring the car back in NEXT WEEK AND LEAVE IT THERE AGAIN for them to fix that and the mirror. In the mean time I am going to pennsylvania tomorrow for 3 days and will be driving the car hundreds of miles with the steering wheel crooked. GREAT.

I am officially pissed the hell off.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by Bostlaw

Anyone know how long the backorder for parts for this TSB is currently? My 2012 SE had a defective strut replaced during its first week of ownership back in May...The steering remained funky (exactly as described by many here)...the dealership looked at the car again on June 11 and said they ordered parts for the TSB...Any responses appreciated...

Originally Posted by Bostlaw

Thanks...the dealer now has the parts, although they didn't bother to call me when they came in, I found out by calling and checking...car goes in for the work next Friday...they said they can get it done in one day, I sure hope so...don't really want to be without a vehicle for a weekend...

Originally Posted by sgmfocus

...going back to dealer monday and see what they do. steering still messed up(low speed all over road), still have 8 other dealers close to take it to

How did the repairs go at your dealers?

Originally Posted by SlotTech

I just had this TSB done on Tuesday, the dealer I went to received the parts overnight.

Originally Posted by Kramer2K

It took my dealer 13 days from order to receipt of the parts. Then an additional 2 days to do the work. My car was there a total of 15 days.

Originally Posted by sgmfocus

some guy from ny your parts might be in this week i took my car in on same day you posted (07-23) parts came in today, going in shop tomorrow

Hey guys -

Thanks for responding to Bostlaw's post; you all rock!

Originally Posted by gzrfun

The TSB was installed on my Focus and it appears to have solved the (ping-pong effect) problem...

...Now that my steering is fixed, I'm really happy with the Focus.

Full steam ahead! Please share your love story on our social site as well: http://social.ford.com/.

Originally Posted by Some Guy From NY

Apparently "the alignment is good, but they did not adjust the steering wheel at the same time..." but now I have to bring the car back in NEXT WEEK AND LEAVE IT THERE AGAIN for them to fix that and the mirror. In the mean time I am going to pennsylvania tomorrow for 3 days and will be driving the car hundreds of miles with the steering wheel crooked...

I escalated this with your regional CSM. If you haven't done so, please check your PM inbox for the case number.

Thomas

[Some Guy From NY]

UPDATE

Thanks to the help of Thomas I received a call from my regional customer service manager, Brian, and he was sympathetic to my story. I am going to receive a 3 year basic maintenance plan for free! This restored some of my faith back into Ford.

The annoying news is, I drove to Pennsylvania today where I am staying until Saturday with the crooked wheel. The alignment is definitely off as my car pulls to the right a bit. This will all hopefully be corrected along with my mirror when I bring the car back to the dealer on Tuesday.

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by Some Guy From NY

...Thanks to the help of Thomas I received a call from my regional customer service manager, Brian, and he was sympathetic to my story. I am going to receive a 3 year basic maintenance plan for free! This restored some of my faith back into Ford.

The annoying news is, I drove to Pennsylvania today where I am staying until Saturday with the crooked wheel. The alignment is definitely off as my car pulls to the right a bit. This will all hopefully be corrected along with my mirror when I bring the car back to the dealer on Tuesday.

Sounds great; you deserve it! I'm not pleased you had to drive to PA like this; your CSM will make sure everything goes smoothly. Please let me know how it handles over the next few days. As always, PM me if you need anything.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend,

Thomas

[sgmfocus]

Thomas no luck yet on getting car repaired ,took to another dealer(bigger shop saturday hours) road tested told things were normal,to come back when it got worse and they could here something.today made a loud popping/banging noise(twice on front drivers side) turning into subdivision, going to take it in again see if they can find anything now.

[dbenney]

to fordcustomerservice: what build dated do this cover? I have a 2012 SEL with a build of 07/12 and it suffers from this same steering issue. The steering feels nice and tight, but on the highway it will all of a sudden drift left or right and i feel like i constantly have to steer. It feels like when you drive a truck with wider axles/tires than most cars and it tries to track in the grooves in the road from normal cars. I thought maybe there was a learning curve with the steering like there was the trans.

[sgmfocus]

Originally Posted by dbenney

to fordcustomerservice: what build dated do this cover? I have a 2012 SEL with a build of 07/12 and it suffers from this same steering issue. The steering feels nice and tight, but on the highway it will all of a sudden drift left or right and i feel like i constantly have to steer. It feels like when you drive a truck with wider axles/tires than most cars and it tries to track in the grooves in the road from normal cars. I thought maybe there was a learning curve with the steering like there was the trans.

don't think customer service has access to TSB info from what i've read on here. it covers build dates up to 12/2011(originally 08/2011), if its doing same thing take it in to dealer and get it checked you could mention the tsb and see what they think

[gzrfun]

Originally Posted by dbenney

to fordcustomerservice: what build dated do this cover? I have a 2012 SEL with a build of 07/12 and it suffers from this same steering issue. The steering feels nice and tight, but on the highway it will all of a sudden drift left or right and i feel like i constantly have to steer. It feels like when you drive a truck with wider axles/tires than most cars and it tries to track in the grooves in the road from normal cars. I thought maybe there was a learning curve with the steering like there was the trans.

You need to have the service dept. check your VIN# to see if the TSB applies. A red flag is if they have no knowledge of the TSB, so give them the TSB#. This was the experience I had and the sevice advisor wanted to dispute that the car had a problem and then said all it needed was an alignment. The service dept. manager finally said "if there is a TSB that deals with the problem, then install it". It still took a month to get the parts and the help of the Ford CSM I was referred to by Thomas to get the problem fixed.