Dealer showed up at my door (2 hours away) said they need to take my MachE for recall, or they will "Deactivate It" - WTF

[pbgear]

dealership said they are getting fined $40,000 a day from Ford for not getting my car recall remedied. NHTSA shows no open recalls, Ford Pass shows no open recalls - but supposedly my car is unsafe to drive. I have asked for the recall be put in writing which they (Preston Ford, DE) said they will have tomorrow and bring me a loaner so that they can take my car. Has anyone had a similar experience? BTW, I had the OTA successful update for the high voltage connector done weeks ago.

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[Dustus]

That does seem odd for a 21. Did you buy it used or anything recently?

 

[JonathanEzor]

Did you take delivery during the stop-delivery period between the announcement of the HVBJB recall and the release of the software fix? If the dealer improperly (or mistakenly) let you have the Mach-E during those few weeks, that might explain the dealership's actions now. {Jonathan}

 

[SWO]

When did you pick up your car? Did they accidentally sell it to you during the stopsale?

 

[ctenidae]

Smells awfully fishy to me. If they were going to get fined $40K (A DAY!) for an unperformed recall, they would surely have let you know quite some time ago. In any case, I don't' see any mechanism by which a car manufacturer can fine a dealer for an action a customer hasn't taken.

Do not hand over your keys, don't give them any info, and call your sales guy right away.

 

[chuckles]

Go to https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls to check your VIN for active recalls, and know it can take days and days for Ford to tell NHTSA about recall work.

TBH this sounds like a scam.

Individual dealerships aren't on the hook for recalls, AFAIK. They get reimbursed by Ford Corporate to perform recall procedures.

edit: turns out the dealer failed to apply a stop-sale repair and seems to have lied about overstated their financial burden, and handled communications with the user clumsily.

 

[Neil4Real]

This sounds like all kinds of bs. Even if they sold a car that has an active recall, the fine is like $25k one time. It could be true, the recall part, which would then be awesome to get home pick up and drop off service, but you need to drill down and make sure.

Call and talk to the service manager/director and ask for the specific recall info. Don't just give random dudes showing up to your door the keys to your car.

Also, do your own search on the recall info they give you. Don't just trust a piece of paper that can be easily doctored. You NEED to call the dealership and make sure these are actual reps from the dealer.

 

[SnBGC]

dealership said they are getting fined $40,000 a day from Ford for not getting my car recall remedied. NHTSA shows no open recalls, Ford Pass shows no open recalls - but supposedly my car is unsafe to drive. I have asked for the recall be put in writing which they (Preston Ford, DE) said they will have tomorrow and bring me a loaner so that they can take my car. Has anyone had a similar experience? BTW, I had the OTA successful update for the high voltage connector done weeks ago.

Never heard of anything like that before.
Something sounds fishy.....
2021 GT.....so you have had your car for a while now. I would be suspicious.

 

[MarkP213]

dealership said they are getting fined $40,000 a day from Ford for not getting my car recall remedied. NHTSA shows no open recalls, Ford Pass shows no open recalls - but supposedly my car is unsafe to drive. I have asked for the recall be put in writing which they (Preston Ford, DE) said they will have tomorrow and bring me a loaner so that they can take my car. Has anyone had a similar experience? BTW, I had the OTA successful update for the high voltage connector done weeks ago.

I would call their bluff on this one. What right do they have coming to your house and demanding your car come in for a recall, and actually take it from you? I would also ask them how they plan on “disabling“ it remotely? But that’s just me - I don’t fall for that kind of nonsense. Oh, and $40k a day? I’m guessing that’s a lie as well.

 

[pbgear]

I bought the car on 2/4/22. they have nothing in writing from Ford as to this "potentially deadly" situation - and I am not giving them my keys without info in writing. is Ford hiding something - I don't know but this is crazy. their driver had me call the dealership as he waited out front, which I did and they confirmed the immediacy of this situation.

they said they will be back tomorrow with the recall details in writing. Will let you know what they say.

btw if anyone can run a vin I will send it to you for a lookup.

 

[MarkP213]

I bought the car on 2/4/22. they have nothing in writing from Ford as to this "potentially deadly" situation - and I am not giving them my keys without info in writing. is Ford hiding something - I don't know but this is crazy. their driver had me call the dealership as he waited out front, which I did and they confirmed the immediacy of this situation.

they said they will be back tomorrow with the recall details in writing. Will let you know what they say.

I still don’t buy it. Wait for the official recall paperwork from Ford, NOT the dealership. These guys are obviously up to something fishy. That’s not how you handle a recall.

 

[alexgorod]

Do not hand over your keys, don't give them any info, and call your sales guy right away.

This.

 

[Jimrpa]

Ford gets fined for recalls, not dealers. Tell the clowns to go away, then call the dealership yourself and ask “WTFO?” Try sending a DM to @Ford Motor Company with your dealer name and VIN and ask them to research your vehicle to see if anything is up.

 

[pbgear]

my salesperson is who I spoke to at the dealership this afternoon. they are in a panic over this ridiculous situation.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Anybody else dying to look up this persons VIN? Me too.

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