Ford’s response
she’s visiting her newborn grandchild.
“I would be on the interstate and take the chance of getting hit by another vehicle,” Armstrong said, holding a stack of some of her Ford receipts.
“It would be OK for a couple months — I would say four to five months — and then it would start doing it again. So, I would have to take it back again, get another rental car and have it fixed all over again.
“There were a few times that they were not able to fix it because it didn’t meet the requirement at the time, but then when it kept not accelerating and slipping from first to second gear, I had to go ahead and take it back in again, and I was like, ‘Look, you’re going to have to fix it,’” she recounted.
Dropping off her car time and time again means taking time away from work and driving a rental car for about a week at a time.
The longest Armstrong has driven a rental car is two weeks. One time, she didn’t even make it out of the parking lot before she noticed the same problems with her car and had to drop it off for a second week, she said.
She believes Ford should repay customers who have experienced similar, continuous problems with their vehicles, or allow them to trade it in without payment. Armstrong said the company suggested she trade in her car, but it’s almost paid off. “I don’t want to start all over on a new car note,” she said.
“It’s frustrating to know that the dealership in general — Ford in general, I should say — is allowing these cars to be sold knowing they have these defects,” Armstrong said.
“For me, I felt like, I put my trust in the company and I was betrayed. I’ve done everything I could do to try to either get a new vehicle or have them fix the issues. Granted, they’re fixing the issues, but it’s not being fixed to where it’s not happening again…
“I’ve offered some suggestions with
Ford Motor Co. issued a statement to the Detroit Free Press in response to the publication’s investigation. “We acted quickly and determinedly to investigate the problems, alert dealers, recommend and pay for repairs, and extend warranties,” the statement reads in part. “While we eventually resolved the quality issues, the solutions were more complex and took longer than we expected. We regret the inconvenience and frustration that caused some consumers.”
Hoping for ‘reliability’
Armstrong has been a loyal Ford driver for years and has “never really had an issue” with other vehicles.
A late 1990s Ford Escort station wagon “ran like a dream” with more than 300,000 miles on it.
But after her transmission problems with the 2015 Focus, Armstrong said she would likely go to another dealership for her next car.
“Reliability of the transportation is what I was actually hoping for, something that I could have paid off and not have a car note, to be able to get back and forth to where I need to go when I need to get there, and that’s been an issue for me,” Armstrong said.
“I’m very (curious)to see what they’re going to do at this point, with all of the vehicles that are having issues like this and all the other customers.”
Armstrong said she’s interested in either adding her name to an existing class action lawsuit or filing her own.
“Be careful with who you buy a car from and do your research,” she urged other drivers. “I feel like Ford needed to let the consumers know, ‘hey, this is an issue,’ and took it off the market.
“I never would’ve sold a car to somebody like that.”
Kelly Fisher can be reached at Kpfisher@gannett.com, 615-801-3866 or on Twitter at @Kellypfisher.