Stuck Frunk repair experience

[scoopman]

UPDATE, Feb 24: I made a video.




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.... or the third unscheduled major warranty repair for my car in 13,000 miles. Yay Ford quality product.

I noticed all of a sudden that my frunk latch would only unlatch the first portion, and then wouldn't unlock itself fully. This left the hood in a state where it was partially open, but it was not able to be opened or closed. I found that, after a while, it will catch and close or open normally. I think the malfuction was cold-temperature related but I wasn't sure.

I brought the car to my dealer, Sunnyvale Ford, on three separate times, before they were able to have who they considered the right tech take a look at the car without my leaving it for days beofre they would be able to look at it. The plan was going to be for them to take a look at it, then order the parts, and let me keep my car in the meanwhile while they were ordered.

That's not what happened.

The tech popped the hood, and yep, it was stuck as I described. The tech then proceeded (despite my describing to the service advisor that the frunk eventually closes) to use a hacksaw to cut the striker on the hood to open it. The dealer then ordered a new striker (to replace the one they destroyed), the latch, as well as the frunk actuator mechanism.

The genius tech then put the plastic frunk parts from my car sitting all over my back seats, leaving at least one scratch in my pleather. As if I was driving a white fleet Ford F-150 and didn't care about my car. Thanks guys!

They put a rush on the parts, but they probably won't see the parts until Monday, and my car is now undrivable until they replace it -- exactly what I didn't want and wasn't planning for this morning. Remember, Sunnyvale Ford is basically the best Ford dealer service I've found.

So I'm going to be rocking a crapbox Mazda from enterprise rental car for the whole President's Day weekend, and thinking all weekend about how I've never owned a car that I've liked so much while driving it, but which has had such poor quality in the product in the first 13,000 miles.

I can understand the whole battery pack electronics blah blah stuff maybe, as that's sorta new to Ford, but not being able to have a hood latch mechanism work properly? I've owned many cars from other manufacturers, and every time I have to deal with a Ford dealer -- which has been so many more times than any of my other cars -- it makes me just that much less enthused about this car.

Okay, I'm done venting. Hopefully someone from Ford browsing this forum will just think a little more what the hidden consequences are of putting out a crappy quality product -- PEOPLE LIKE ME WILL BE THINKING VERY HARD BEFORE BUYING ANOTHER ONE.

Anyhow, please enjoy this video -- streamed nearly live by me sitting at home -- of them cutting open my hood without checking with me first.

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[ARK]

Ouch that sucks, I hope the parts arrive quick.

How would you get it to get open when only one of the latches unlocked? Would you just keep pulling the release inside the car and eventually it would catch it and release the remaining latch?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Oh, sheesh Andy. That sux. Sorry, brother. ??

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

The tech popped the hood, and yep, it was stuck as I described. The tech then proceeded (despite my describing to the service advisor that the frunk eventually closes) to use a hacksaw to cut the striker on the hood to open it.

Time is money is probably why he cut it rather than finagling it until it opened/closed. But then again, a new (almost certainly) formerly serviceable striker, multi-day car rental, and repair of your scratched rear seat are also money, so there's that. ?

Damn that sucks. I'm really sorry, Andy. I'm not saying it would have gone better there, but as of now I've not had any issues with Putnam's service dept. But I know they're much further away for you...

 

[scoopman]

The malfunction appeared to be temperature related, and after a while, you can either push the hood closed and it would latch -- or you can hit the frunk release on the screen or via door combo, and it will release open normally.

I guess I have to look on the bright side that they're replacing virtually every part involved with the frunk mechanism, so as long as the parts show up soon, I guess it'll be fixed soon. Could have been worse, they could claim nothing was wrong with it.

 

[scoopman]

Update.

I called the Ford Customer Care team today to start a case with them. First person I reached had such a bad headset situation that I heard myself in echo clearly, and barely her. She didn't know how to fix this problem, so I soldiered on anyhow. She said she was putting me on hold to contact the dealer, and instead transferred me to the dealer with no way to get back to her. I mean, really.

Second call by me to the Customer Care team found at least a competent-sounding person who did call and leave a message with the dealer and give me my case number. Yay.

I communicated to her politely that I expect reimbursement for my gas costs (they agreed to up to $200/mo in reimbursement). I also explained that it will be 18 total days of warranty repair at the dealership as of Monday next week, and I will be starting the buy-back process or lemon law process if (when?) we hit the 30 day mark of lemon law eligibility in California.

I told them my hope is to get my car back before then, but that life was too short to continue to have drama with Ford and its largely incompetent dealer network.

I feel this is what it is like to own an Alfa. I love the car while it works. But it keeps not working, with crappy dealership experiences.

 

[scoopman]

By the way @Ford Motor Company, I assume this is not the experience you want me to have, right?

 

[scoopman]

Ouch that sucks, I hope the parts arrive quick.

How would you get it to get open when only one of the latches unlocked? Would you just keep pulling the release inside the car and eventually it would catch it and release the remaining latch?

Yes -- or pushing on the hood after a little bit will have the latch engage and the hood lock down. The software ways of activating the actuator would work after a while too. All of which leads me to believe this was temperature-related as it only happened in the winter and early in the day before the car was operated much in the daylight with sun on it.

Told all of this to the service advisor, and he apparently didn't tell the tech, so the tech decided to destroy my hood striker. Could have been worse -- another forum member had the dealer use some kind of air ram which broke all the inner hood plastic too.

 

[Johnny572]

.... or the third unscheduled major warranty repair for my car in 13,000 miles. Yay Ford quality product.

I noticed all of a sudden that my frunk latch would only unlatch the first portion, and then wouldn't unlock itself fully. This left the hood in a state where it was partially open, but it was not able to be opened or closed. I found that, after a while, it will catch and close or open normally. I think the malfuction was cold-temperature related but I wasn't sure.

I brought the car to my dealer, Sunnyvale Ford, on three separate times, before they were able to have who they considered the right tech take a look at the car without my leaving it for days beofre they would be able to look at it. The plan was going to be for them to take a look at it, then order the parts, and let me keep my car in the meanwhile while they were ordered.

That's not what happened.

The tech popped the hood, and yep, it was stuck as I described. The tech then proceeded (despite my describing to the service advisor that the frunk eventually closes) to use a hacksaw to cut the striker on the hood to open it. The dealer then ordered a new striker (to replace the one they destroyed), the latch, as well as the frunk actuator mechanism.

The genius tech then put the plastic frunk parts from my car sitting all over my back seats, leaving at least one scratch in my pleather. As if I was driving a white fleet Ford F-150 and didn't care about my car. Thanks guys!

They put a rush on the parts, but they probably won't see the parts until Monday, and my car is now undrivable until they replace it -- exactly what I didn't want and wasn't planning for this morning. Remember, Sunnyvale Ford is basically the best Ford dealer service I've found.

So I'm going to be rocking a crapbox Mazda from enterprise rental car for the whole President's Day weekend, and thinking all weekend about how I've never owned a car that I've liked so much while driving it, but which has had such poor quality in the product in the first 13,000 miles.

I can understand the whole battery pack electronics blah blah stuff maybe, as that's sorta new to Ford, but not being able to have a hood latch mechanism work properly? I've owned many cars from other manufacturers, and every time I have to deal with a Ford dealer -- which has been so many more times than any of my other cars -- it makes me just that much less enthused about this car.

Okay, I'm done venting. Hopefully someone from Ford browsing this forum will just think a little more what the hidden consequences are of putting out a crappy quality product -- PEOPLE LIKE ME WILL BE THINKING VERY HARD BEFORE BUYING ANOTHER ONE.

Anyhow, please enjoy this video -- streamed nearly live by me sitting at home -- of them cutting open my hood without checking with me first.

Your “major” descriptions for a latch is funny! 2 years ownership not one problem for me!!!! …….as for the car rental that’s the dealer…..not Ford.

 

[Dustus]

I haven't had this issue with my car but it does seem like several people have. I'm curious, how much do you guys that have experienced this use your frunk? I have to say I rarely use mine and wonder if its partly caused by heavier use.

 

[scoopman]

Your “major” descriptions for a latch is funny! 2 years ownership not one problem for me!!!! …….as for the car rental that’s the dealer…..not Ford.

Hey I'm really glad your car has had no problems!

This is a major repair because it's a safety issue to drive with the hood not properly secured. If you have your hood partially unlatched, the car yells at you constantly.

And the dealer cut the latch rendering the car completely undrivable, before scratching my interior by storing all the frunk trim pieces in it. I'm not sure how else you describe having the car be in an undrivable state for at least 5 days and counting as a minor repair.

I don't care how Ford and its dealers assess the rental car costs -- the customer experience sucks, and I attribute it to my assessment of Ford's brand and if I want to continue to be on a first-name basis with my local Enterprise rental car office manager (I am, he remembered me from the last time Ford sent me over to them).

 

[scoopman]

I haven't had this issue with my car but it does seem like several people have. I'm curious, how much do you guys that have experienced this use your frunk? I have to say I rarely use mine and wonder if its partly caused by heavier use.

Yeah I was thinking this. I do use my trunk sometimes, but I also like slamming it shut because otherwise, it is frustrating that it sometimes didn't shut completely easily. I'm also wondering if I could have caused the latch mechanism to misalign by not being gentle to it.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I haven't had this issue with my car but it does seem like several people have. I'm curious, how much do you guys that have experienced this use your frunk? I have to say I rarely use mine and wonder if its partly caused by heavier use.

I have not had this problem yet, but I use my frunk at least 3 times weekly (6 open/close events). I have been keeping an eye on it and keeping my paws crossed since the first post I saw a few month back. ?‍?

This is a serious bummer for anyone who has experienced it. ??

 

[scoopman]

I have not had this problem yet, but I use my frunk at least 3 times weekly (6 open/close events). I have been keeping an eye on it and keeping my paws crossed since the first post I saw a few month back. ?‍?

This is a serious bummer for anyone who has experienced it. ??

How do you close your frunk? Front paws only? slam with force or push down after it's latched but not fully closed?

 

[AhardFSU]

- the customer experience sucks.

This seems to be a somewhat common experience of people who have to deal with certain Ford dealerships and sometimes Ford's customer service team. Coming from a Lexus, I didn't expect Ford's service to be at or near the level of Lexus'. In a way I kind of expected it to be as bad as you and some others here have described. I haven't had to deal with my Ford dealer or customer service in the 11 months and 14k miles that I've owned the car.......so I can only go by what some of you post here.

Your experience kind of jives with quotes from Ford's CEO over the past year about becoming better at quality control so that the costs associated with those issues don't hit the company's books as hard as they do know. I guess they still have a ways to go in that area.

Look on the bright side, at your steering wheel didn't fall off while you were driving a car that is only two weeks old in heavy freeway traffic.....

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