2008 Ford Taurus SEL Sedan - FWD - 3.5v6 - Titanium Green Metallic -----------------------------------------------------------------

TRIM ISSUE.

If you walk up to your driver side door.....and put your hands up at the very top of the door. There is a plastic strip that runs from the windshield at the front to the back. This plastic part hides the weld that secures the car at the top. It's something they do with new cars.

Well i noticed that the top piece stuck up a bit on my car where it met even with the windshield. So i took the car into a body shop and he looked at it ....he noticed there are little plastic inserts or plug ins for lack of a better word. Basically how it works is ...on the roof there are a series of metal pieces that stick up out of the roof and the Plastic Body Paint Matched trim piece will seat over top of them. So they plug into the metal piece essentially.

Well the plastic piece was broken. So i go to the ford dealer and they tell me i can't replace one of these little plastic pieces i need to purchase a whole new paint matching trim piece for $200.

So i said forget that. Went back to the body shop and he told me go to a Window / Glass shop and they will stock Urethane....he said they will put it under there similar to glue and it will seal and won't come off.

So in the mean time i took the entire piece off so it the wind didn't catch it and peel it off backwards and spear a car behind me going down the road.

Shabby quality ford. Trim Issues and Rust spots at the back fenders persist on this car.

Update from Oct 2, 2014: 2008 Ford Taurus Sedan SEL (titanium green metallic)

Took it into my local Auto Glass Shop Sept 30th, 2014. (type that fixes cracks, replaces windshields)

The top roof trim piece had stuck up above the Black Rubber Trim. The 1st plastic clip that would be closes to the front windshield wouldn't hold into the "male" metal tab that ford has welded on the roof to fit into that white "female" plastic tab. (Unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of the plastic tabs underneath the body paint matching trim, so you can see it)

All the rest held down, just the front one wouldn't hold it down & it stuck up above that Black Rubber that is a seal by the windshield.

After I found out at my Local Ford Dealer that Ford does not sell replacement clips, only the entire Body Colored/Coloured trim piece for $200.....the parts guy & a body shop i showed the car to both said, get Urethane to put in side the plastic clip and on the metal roof tab and it will hold down permanently and not come back up.

At the advice of a Body Shop I showed the car to. They said it would be best to remove the entire piece from the car and stick it in the trunk until i got it fixed because: 1.The entire piece would have to come off anyway to repair 2.Because it stuck up if it ever came off because the wind caught it (which was pretty likely as it stuck up and wind would easily push under) if it came off it could spear another motorist or i might lose it on the road.

So the body shop took it off for me and said we don't stock Urethane just go to a Auto Glass shop.

Which is what i did. They used the same Urethane that is used to install /bond your Windshield to the car. It seems to have held down nicely after getting it back from the glass shop.

-Also the "male" Metal tab at the very back (closest to the rear windshield on the roof, under the trim) it was not exactly welded or covered / sealed up proper at the factory i noticed. -There is little slats, or almost cuts in the metal there, i assume from not being sealed up....it is 100% different than all the rest of the tabs which look just fine and sealed proper.
-This last tab which you will see in my very last diagram picture in green. It had the beginnings of rust starting in these little slats or cracks. So the while the Auto Glass shop was putting it back on they put some primer over top of it for me. So hopefully that won't build up rust, or at least keep the water out of there. -If it hadn't been for the the fact that the Body Colored/Coloured trim piece needed to come off to be re-attatched you would never have noticed the poor weld /sealing/ paint job on the "male" metal tab. Someone at the Ford Plant in Chicago missed that one.

Now knowing what i know this isn't that big of an issue to have fixed. But when i first started out. I first off didn't even understand what the Trim piece was covering, how it was attached, if it was safe to drive further down the road without the trim piece flying off. So between my trips at the Body Shop and Local Ford Dealer Parts Department i got it figured out as to what was the best way to get it fixed. But it did cause me some stress and worry. And i didn't know if rain would or would not leak down into places it shouldn't be with the trim off until i could get it fixed.

If ford had just used metal "female" tabs instead of plastic or at least put a cheap glue even on with the plastic tabs it would have held down. But no...they chose not to. Actually now that i think of it...the guy at the glass shop said they see a fair amount of the new fords with that issue...in relation to the plastic tabs breaking up there.

Overall the car seems ok mechanically. But has had trim or weather rubber seals, fitment, body issues.

But for a car that was $32 Thousand Dollars new in 2008 you would more expect this sort of stuff on a Focus or a lower line of car in the Ford Totem poll.