Piston Slap: Takata's In-Fusion of Customer Involvement?
by
Sajeev Mehta
Published: May 25th, 2018
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Mike writes:Hi Sajeev,I have a 2008 Ford Fusion V6 AWD with about 101,000 miles. Like many cars, it is one of the vehicles recalled under the massive Takata airbag recall/fiasco. The first recall letter I got from Ford said the car was subject to the recall and that they were still sourcing parts with no timetable for repair. The second letter advised that no one ride in the front passenger seat until repairs were made, but they still didn’t have a timetable for parts and/or repair.After a few months I got sick of waiting for Ford to contact me, so I contacted them – through chat – and asked what Ford was doing to help/compensate owners of recalled cars. Initially they had nothing to offer. After a few tries Ford agreed to give me a free loaner until my car was fixed. After about a month of back and forth with the dealer, they finally arranged a loaner. I dropped my car off and picked up the loaner – super easy.My concern is that now my car is just sitting at the dealership, they have no estimate when the airbag parts will come in. Should I be concerned that my car is just sitting there?
- Should I ask the dealership to periodically start it/drive it?
- Is it their responsibility to do this? Even if they say they will run it – I can’t verify it.
- Should I go up to the dealership and do it myself?
- Inflate tires to the maximum pressure (on the sidewalls) to minimize the chance of flat spotting, obviously deflating to the correct pressure before leaving the lot.
- But this isn’t a big deal: if they flat spot, I reckon they’ll right themselves after a few minutes on the highway. But whatever…
- Disconnect the battery yourself.
- If the battery is several years old/weakened, don’t bother and instead snag a discount on a new one from the dealer.
- Put up a thick, reflective windshield visor so the interior doesn’t get baked.
- Avoid car covers: that’s asking for someone to hop the fence, grab a stone and well… you know.
- You can start (driving isn’t needed) the vehicle yourself and add fuel stabilizer, but neither is necessary during a six month window.
- Depending on the service center’s capacity (lot size, staffing, workload, morale, etc.), don’t expect them to periodically start/run your Fusion, the person tasked with that duty will not be thrilled to partake, as they won’t be incentivized to do so. I wouldn’t even open that door, literally.
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Original poster here. I thought I would give a quick update - and thank Sajeev and everyone for their comments. I went to the dealer yesterday to check on my car. It had been moved from its previous spot. I unlocked it and tried to start it - dead battery. I talked to my service manager and she said they now have about 12 cars sitting on their lot - all waiting for the airbag to be fixed and all the owners are in rental cars. I mentioned the dead battery and she said they do drive them around the dealership. She told me they can't legally take them out on the highway (true/false?) so they just drive them around the lot. She said they would give the battery a jump. At this point they have no idea when the parts are coming in to replace the airbag - she said "maybe" September. So - I will continue to drive the free loaner - a 2016 Escape with about 38000 miles on it.
One more bit of info/follow-up. Service Manager at Ford dealership now says parts "might" be in fourth quarter of this year. And: If I want to take my car back I need to sign a waiver that I won't let anyone sit in the front passenger seat.