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2013 Escape Leaking Roof


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Hello Everyone,

I just posted this to escape - city as well. My wife and I picked up our new Titanium edition on Thursday. Friday we noticed that the liftgate isn't alligned properly. Today we noticed that there is a water stain on the A-piller indicating that there is a roof leak. We decided to take it to the dealership immediately. On the way to the dealership MFT went crazy and started rebooting over and over. MFT is glitchy, but it had worked fine until today. Im curious if is related to the roof leak as it rained last night. Its funny, I've had a soft top Jeep Rubicon for 8 years. Its never leaked, but my new cars metal roof leaks. This is after waiting almost 2 months to get the vehicle. It sat in Kentucky for 3 weeks before Ford got around to ship it. I told the dealership that they can either refund our money or Ford can get us a new car. Monday i'm told the Ford rep is getting involved. I'm starting to wonder about the quality control at Fords Kentucky plant. Maybe this will be recall number 3?

Btw. Other then the fact that the car is lemony fresh, we love it. We actually got 33mpg yesterday, admittedly driving it really conservatively. Its really nice inside, comfortable, fast and quiet. We really hope we can get this situation resolved.

post-48371-0-43808800-1342919741_thumb.jpg

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Hello Everyone,

I just posted this to escape - city as well. My wife and I picked up our new Titanium edition on Thursday. Friday we noticed that the liftgate isn't alligned properly. Today we noticed that there is a water stain on the A-piller indicating that there is a roof leak. We decided to take it to the dealership immediately. On the way to the dealership MFT went crazy and started rebooting over and over. MFT is glitchy, but it had worked fine until today. Im curious if is related to the roof leak as it rained last night. Its funny, I've had a soft top Jeep Rubicon for 8 years. Its never leaked, but my new cars metal roof leaks. This is after waiting almost 2 months to get the vehicle. It sat in Kentucky for 3 weeks before Ford got around to ship it. I told the dealership that they can either refund our money or Ford can get us a new car. Monday i'm told the Ford rep is getting involved. I'm starting to wonder about the quality control at Fords Kentucky plant. Maybe this will be recall number 3?

Btw. Other then the fact that the car is lemony fresh, we love it. We actually got 33mpg yesterday, admittedly driving it really conservatively. Its really nice inside, comfortable, fast and quiet. We really hope we can get this situation resolved.

 

When was your Escape built & delivered?

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I might have caused some confusion in comparing the Escapes "steel" roof to my Jeeps soft top. I DO have the panoramic sunroof on the escape. That being said, its not an 8 year old sheet of canvas, but unlike the canvas, it leaks. Im not sure if the leak is coming from panoramic roof. There are stains on both a-pillars. That seems to point to the sunroof, but there are no signs of water intrusion near the actual opening in the roof. If the panoramic roof has drains going down the a-pillars, that could be it. It could also be the roof rack. One thing is for sure, its not new. We saw a light mark when we got it on the drivers side a-pillar. It was really faint, shorter, and lower down then the one in the picture. We though it was a scuff from people moving in and out of the car during assembly.

rk2112 - To answer your question, we ordered the car on the 5th of June. It was built on the 29th of June, and we finally recieved it on Thursday July 19. That is part of the reason this is so infuriating. We were told it would be 4 weeks, it took 6. We had the car for less than 3 days and now this. The dealership and Ford won't do anything until Monday. We're having to borrow someone's car.

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Resolution of this will be interesting as the entire headliner will have to be replaced. My experience is that most dealers eff up interior trim when they have to remove/replace anything. Good luck with this. I think I would be wanting a different vehicle...one without the "rain roof" option.

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Repair is out of the question. I took it to the dealership Saturday and told them we don't want it back. The dealership has already put a hold on the processing of our check. Depending on what Ford says tomorrow, we're either getting a replacement vehicle or a refund. I'll still get the panoramic roof if I get a new one. The panoramic roof is not new to this platform. Its been on the Kuga for a few years. Ford should know how to engineer one of these. I really think the are problems at the Kentucky plant. In order to meet production they had to hire a lot of new people. There is also a rush to meet demand. They've undoubtebly got a green labor problem, and obviously a QA problem. I could see the misalignment of my lift gate from a mile away. How was that missed by an inspector? At the same time the two recall items were discovered by the factory, and thats a good thing. Its really a mixed bag a far as releases go, but probably not untypical for any manufacturer. The important thing to me is that they own this particular problem, make it right, and take the steps to make sure that these things don't continue to happen.

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If repair is out of the question, because this could be repaired, and the dealership is willing to refund your money, you should look at a different model or brand. You will never have confidence in your Escape and every time you drive it or think about it you'll will be waiting for the first thing or the next thing to go wrong. It also sounds like you'll never have confidence in the people who built it.

I don't think you can pin this on the workers at LAP. I train new hires in my department and generally, if properly trained, new hires are more committed and dedicated to do good work. Like you said, I think it's a numbers problem. plant management is possibly saying, push them out the door and we'll let the dealerships fix the problems. If that's the case it's sad. One good thing I'm hoping for since mine was built after all this recall and QC crap came up is that the inspection process has improved because a few careers were threatened.

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If repair is out of the question, because this could be repaired, and the dealership is willing to refund your money, you should look at a different model or brand. You will never have confidence in your Escape and every time you drive it or think about it you'll will be waiting for the first thing or the next thing to go wrong. It also sounds like you'll never have confidence in the people who built it.

I don't think you can pin this on the workers at LAP. I train new hires in my department and generally, if properly trained, new hires are more committed and dedicated to do good work. Like you said, I think it's a numbers problem. plant management is possibly saying, push them out the door and we'll let the dealerships fix the problems. If that's the case it's sad. One good thing I'm hoping for since mine was built after all this recall and QC crap came up is that the inspection process has improved because a few careers were threatened.

 

Repair is out of the question because we have no idea when the water intrusion began. The vehicle sat in a holding lot at the factory for a month. We have no idea what internally has been affected by the water. Also we noticed the problem on the second day, with 30 miles on the odometer. How far is the dealership going to have to tear the vehicle apart to replace effected components and make sure they have caught everything? The obvious area of the headliner that has the stain is a massive piece. They will basically have to strip the interior to get it out. It will probably not go back together like it was new and will possibly introduce new problems. As for my confidence in the vehicle, that really is not an issue. Stuff happens. My main concern is that Ford corrects the problem with my vehicle. I have no doubt that they will investigate this vehicle to determine the root cause of the issue.

With regards to the workers at the plant, I'm not pinning this on them. This could be a component problem, an engineering problem, or an assembly problem. Both of the recalls had nothing to do with the assembly workers. In fact, they were the ones that discovered the issues. I also work in manufacturing (Nuclear aircraft carriers, and submarines). I've worked "On the boat" as a skilled tradesperson, in production management, and now as a systems and industrial engineer. Specifically, I study, model and develop processes including manufacturing processes, nuclear refueling processes, and aircraft carrier flight deck conops. Green labor is a major problem for any organization. It is completely independent of the motivation of the employees. I also disagree that new workers are automatically more motivated. I’ve seen it both ways. We have to deal with two major generational problems where I work. One is that we can’t keep the young people from texting while supposed to be working. The other, is that the vast majority of young people come in with no basic mechanical skills. The age of the shade tree mechanic and gear head is coming to an end. People don’t work on their “stuff” like they used to. We just throw it away or take it in for service. I’m sure that there are plenty of people who will disagree with that because they still work on their own stuff, but on an aggregate population level they are wrong. Skilled manufacturing trades are in a major decline, and will keep declining. Although quality training can go a long way to elevating these problems, it does not completely make up for experience. You are absolutely right that it’s a management problem. They need to recognize that the defect rate will increase with new workers. It will also increase when experienced workers are introduced to a new product or process. This is not an indictment of the assembly line workers. It’s human nature. When a new process, product or workforce is introduced, the per-unit build time has to be increased and QA process has to be bolstered. I don't work for Ford, but I can easily assume that they have done much of this. American auto manufacturers absolutely know how to do industrial engineering and manufacturing. Ford basically invented modern manufacturing. It’s often business decisions that lead to problems. All of this being said, the vehicle arrived with a glaring obvious problem in the misaligned lift gate. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked up to it. There were undoubtedly several opportunities to catch and correct this problem, but it wasn't. It very well may be what you said, that management decided to kick the can down the road and make it the dealerships problem. However, my experience tells me that a new workforce building a new product on a new line is going to experience some problems. I am confident that Ford will work through them, and I believe that the engineering and assembly is generally sound. Honda, who according to Consumer Reports can do no wrong, just recalled the CR-V because the doors can come open while you’re driving down the road; isn’t that quaint. Problems happen. My concern is that they own the problem and take care of it.

 

As for my Escape the dealer called today and said that Ford is going to replace the vehicle and provide us with a rental until it arrives. After work, we are going over to Norfolk to pick up our rental and work out the details.

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Thank you for the lecture, I stand corrected. End of discussion for me.

 

No problem. Always glad to help.

 

BTW. Ford engineers have taken the car. The leak issue is new to them, and they are going over the car to determine the root cause. The dealership has ordered us a new escape. They are going to send it through the auto show car build process. Apparently this involves removing it from the production line for additional inspections throughout the build process. It should be perfect. They provided us with '12 Explorer until the new Escape comes in 4 weeks. All in all the dealership has been great and Ford has stepped up and taken care of us.

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BTW. Ford engineers have taken the car. The leak issue is new to them, and they are going over the car to determine the root cause. The dealership has ordered us a new escape. They are going to send it through the auto show car build process. Apparently this involves removing it from the production line for additional inspections throughout the build process. It should be perfect. They provided us with '12 Explorer until the new Escape comes in 4 weeks. All in all the dealership has been great and Ford has stepped up and taken care of us.

 

Great news! A good dealer that is willing to go the extra mile and go to bat for you with the mother ship can make a world of difference, maybe even the difference between a customer owning another Ford or not.

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Good to hear Ford is doing "the right thing". It appears the "bad old days" may be a thing of the past as far as manufacturer and dealer service. I have to believe that your insight and the manner in which you approached this issue may have had something to do with the way in which it is being resolved. And your staying with your vehicle choice should be an omen for the rest of us who have made the decision to buy a vehicle in its first year of production in our market.

 

What engine is in the Explorer? If curious as to its performance with a 2.0 EcoBoost in that size of vehicle.

 

Here's hoping the next Escape is indeed perfect.

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  • 1 month later...

My new 2013 Escape (SEL 1.6 with Roof Rack and Panoramic Roof) is at the dealership for the 2nd time for a leak somewhere causing water stain on the passenger side headliner. The first time around they thought maybe it was a leak by the roof rack, but I also was told it was the windshield seal. They repaired both I was told. The next time it rained, the same stain and wetness appeared inside my vehicle.

They just informed me they think it is the 'sealant' that is used by Ford - that it may be "bad sealant". They said they are re-sealing everything with different sealant to fix the problem and are in contact with Ford. It sounds like they believe this could be an issue for many Escapes that used this 'sealant' (maybe it was a bad batch, etc...).

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I got my replacement vehicle on 9/6. It seems to be fine. The tailgate is also better alligned. The sales guy had no idea what was wrong with the original vehicle. I hope the new one was sealed with the "good" glue. Heres the info on the two vehicles:

 

This is the first one we had (the leaky lemon):

1FMCU9J91DUA38365

Ordered 6/5/12

Manufactured on 6/29/12

Delivered on 7/19/12

 

The replacement vehicle (Hopefully not a leaker):

1FMCU9J91DUA84164

Ordered on 7/23/12

Manufactured on 8/13/12

Delivered on 9/5/12

 

Both were 2.0 AWD Titaniums with the panoramic roof.

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