New owner and not happy

[Wingnut]

[bobcat]

???????

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Honorary Member

 

[bobcat]

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Honorary Member

 

[Eruliaf]

It was myself that raised this with the DVSA after being told by Ford that they no longer wished to talk to me, having refused to answer my very simple questions. Unfortunately, the DVSA have recently got back to me as follows:

DVSA investigates safety defects within the terms of the Code of Practice on Vehicle Safety Defects (the Code), which has the support of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (as amended). Please find attached a copy of the Consumer’s Guide to Vehicle Safety Defects for your information.

The aim being to establish if the defect is a failure due to design and/or construction, which is likely to affect the safe operation of the product without prior warning to the user and may pose a significant risk to the driver, occupants and others. This defect will also be common to a number of products that have been sold for use in the United Kingdom. Typical examples of this could be a sudden loss of braking or steering.

It is reported that your vehicle can be unpredictable with un-correctable swerving during overtaking and acceleration, but this is not always present and not consistent. You advised that the vehicle has been modified further with a Mountune performance kit installed (Ford warranty approved FPM375), increasing power from 345 to 370 BHP, but saying that the concern was apparent before the upgrade in performance.

I note that by making a change to your driving style the vehicle handles as you would expect. If driven in a manner suitable for the road conditions and speed limits the reported concern may be avoided. The combination of driver input and road conditions ultimately having an effect upon the handling and stability of the vehicle.

The manufacturer has confirmed that the characteristics you experienced are as expected due to the configuration of this type of vehicle. Ensuring that the vehicle is maintained correctly, such as using the original tyre brand and size and regularly checking the tyre pressures is strongly recommended.

DVSA has concluded the reported handling characteristic does not meet the safety criteria as set out within the code of practice (copy attached) and will now close this case.

The bits I have highlighted in bold above, I find truly amazing – firstly suggesting that this will only happen if I am speeding and then that the car is designed to do this. I asked Ford if they could confirm where in the marketing literature they informed everyone that the car would behave in this manner and they branded me a difficult customer and said they would no longer respond to any of my emails. (Happy to share these, as at no point did I get difficult or rude, I just asked some questions!)

I cannot stress how much I now hate Ford. I have been a life long Ford owner, but guarantee that I will never buy another. I know all manufacturers have problems, but it is how you handle them that is important and Ford have failed beyond all comprehension in this case.

I have never driven my car hard, but have now adjusted my driving further to accommodate this design flaw, as I do not want to end up in a hedge/head on collision and as a result my ownership of what should have been an amazing car is tainted, never to be recovered. If I can get my head around the financial impact, I would sell up.

My true opinion of Ford and their customer support would fall foul of the most lenient language filter, so I won’t bother going into detail.

 

[9designs]

All judged from a pc screen and I assume the car was never assessed? I would insists its road tested and inspected.

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Magnetic Grey with all the best bits

FPM375/COBB/MSD-  Quaife LSD,  DSC+Tractive  Suspension,  HJS200 cell sports cat and MT Cooler. Sync3 upgrade.

Was UK seller for DSC & Tractive  Active suspension !!!

    

[outtadrally]

I agree with Eruliaf above about Fords customers service being pants! Buying the RS even ended up a hassle for me…. the nonsense I experienced left me annoyed with the car before I even got it! Also been a Ford man all my life but not sure I’d buy another new one. One day I brought the car in with knocking steering noise (another common issue) and they said noting was wrong, I said there was and they sent the mechanic out who started shouting at me saying why don’t I fix it myself if I know what’s wrong to which I replied that I didn’t spend 35k on a new car to get my hands dirty! Just apauling service! It still has the knock btw…. again i learned to get used to it!

That being said most days I love the RS and have forgiven the car for Fords crappy sales and after sales service!

But the whole response to the VS steering issue has been a joke. I never had the PDC disabled because the garages over here are clueless! I now just drive the car exclusively in track mode to avoid the whole veering steering! First day I collected the car I nearly went across a hedge on route home from the dealer! Brother took the car for a spin too a few weeks later (at which point I was kind of used to it) and he said he could have no faith to push it on when the car does that!

Its clearly a genuine issue and Ford should hold their hands up to it!

[jonyscam]

Gents

I am with you on the matter that if there is a design flaw, then they should confess and resolve. Especially if it is safety related.

On the bad customer service, not all Ford dealers are useless w*****s, but clearly some are. Although i have experienced that with other brands too!

I tried a few ford dealers before deciding upon which one i prefer. They now have my business when i need something and my experience has been positive.

[ghand]

I’m still waiting for a response from Ford over this issue but I’m also going back to the dealer soon with a raft of pictures of the fecking rust bucket I’ve bought. I have a 14 year old Corsa which looks like new underneath and my just over two year old £26k Ford looks like a mot fail ! Maybe I should have gone for the Honda which felt awesome tbh ???. On the plus side my arms are getting plenty exercise with this awesome steering lock ?It’s just a few issues away from being the best car on the planet. For me it’s love or hate at the moment ?

[ghand]

Oh i also informed  Ford I regularly drive the car in Germany on unrestricted roads and on track so don’t even quote the 70mph speed limits get out of jail bull shit on a car with a top end in excess of 165 mph !  it has a design flaw an hard acceleration over 70mph end of. I still don’t understand why everyone didn’t just hand it back from new and ask for a courtesy car till it was sorted ???? Maybe some don’t drive it hard enough to exercise the problem ? The owner of my car had never had it in track mode and only tried sport mode a couple of times , wtf  ????

[peters]

Fords customers service being pants!

 

Thats a nice way of putting it !

Many many expletives could be used, once they get your money you get the middle digit till they want to sell you another car,  they didn’t have much success !

 

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Its back !

 

[rampant]

Eruliaf – I would strongly suggest that you find out whether there is a whole-European organisation that deals with vehicle safety along the same lines as the UK DVSA. I reckon there will be. If so, definitely follow this story up with them.

Even if Brexit results in the UK not being mandatorialy obliged to follow a Euro dictat, I don’t think that the UK would simply “ignore” safety controls coming out of Europe.

Even though I got rid of my RS over a year ago, I will offer to add to your case, mainly because the main reason I sold it was the VS design flaw.

Please – before anyone has a go at either me or Eruliaf, remember that we are only trying to help *you* out.

All the best

Mark H

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// ’17 Nitrous Blue // Forged Alloys // Michelin Super Sports // Painted Calipers // Sync 3 // Lux Pack // Winter Pack // Black Gel Spoiler Badges // Blue Gel Wheel Inserts // GTechniq Liquid Crystal // GTechniq Alloy Armour // sold Jun ’18

[Wingnut]

[Tubsy250]

Wow that review was written when the car was just release and he or she foresee the engine blowing up was it mystic meg the reviewer.

[bobcat]

Only interested in the Boot size!!!???

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Honorary Member

 

[GM]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Love the Parkers review … I’m  always looking for a big booted performance hatch that’s good on fuel… ? ??</p>

[Author]

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