This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while the vehicle was at an independent mechanic for routine maintenance, the technician noticed that the subframe was severely rusted through. The vehicle was later taken to tony betten & sons Ford, Inc (3839 plainfield ave ne, grand rapids, mi 49525) where the contact was informed that the driver's and passenger's side subframe were severely rusted, and that the subframe needed to be replaced. The subframe was not replaced nor was the vehicle repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 167,000.
The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-150. The contact looked underneath the vehicle and noticed that the entire bottom of the frame was rusted. The dealer (Liberty Ford, 9311 Liberty rd, randallstown, md 21133, 410-504-2897) was contacted and stated that the frames were absolute. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was approximately 78,000.
I own a 2004 Ford heritage 4X4 and the frame is literally rusting away on or about the 10th of March the bracket that holds the rear driver side leaf spring rotted away and punched through the bottom of my bed. I was only going 30 when it happened so everyone was safe. I also had to replace the trailer hitch last year because the frame was so rotted away. I stopped at a stop sign and when I went to go I saw my trailer just go up and slam back down on the ground. Luckily I was not going 65 mph otherwise I would have had a accident. The back of the frame now is paper thin. Ford should do a recall on these frames. I have owned many Ford and never had rust this bad.
I took my truck to a garage to have the oil changed. While up on the rack the rust was noticed by my mechanic who said it would not pass inspection better have it fixed. I contacted a professional who came to my house and looked at it with the bed off. Upon his inspection he found it was unrepairable there was not enough original metal left to weld to. I have contacted Ford customer relationship center only to be told there is no warranty, no recall, sorry for your luck and got hung up on. While researching online I have discovered that Ford has a recall on 2004 escapes for this very same reason "the frames are rusting out" it would make sense to me that there must have been a bad batch of metal used in the building of these frames. I would like to know if any more 2004 vehicles from Ford have reported similar problems and what can we do about this?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Grand Rapid, MI, USA