Ford Fusion - Somersault on front wheels on braking..

Chennai : Let me narrate my experience with Ford that has compells me to write this mail. I currently happen to own 2 Ford vehicles - an Ikon and a Fusion.

I was driving the Fusion from Chennai to Banagalore late in the eveining on 22nd December 2006. On the way, on one of the flyovers I spotted a small LCV without light some 50 metres away on a curve. I slammed my brakes hard. Naturally the car spun a bit on its wheels and then I was about to regain control when the car behaved in the most astonishing fashion. It went up on the front wheels and took a 180 degree (somersault) turn landing upside down on the top before rotating another 90 degrees on the side. Yes it did a turtle! When it finally landed back on its wheel it was facing the opposite direction (with reference to the direction I was headed) and was totally shattered. What shocked me that the hand brake was jammed, when I clearly remember that my entire focus was on the steering wheels and the foot brakes. While I had never touched the hand brakes they were jammed. I realised this only when the NHAI personnel came to tow the vehicle from the flyover to clear the jam and could not move it because the hand brakes were locked.

Then began the second part of my horror story when I contacted virtually every single ford helpline and dealer from Chennai to Bangalore to Salem and Vellore for 3 hours. All of them flatly refused help saying that it was Saturday night and I would have to wait till next morning or Monday to get help. The stupor of owning a Ford began to dawn on me, but then it was only the beginning...

With help from my office administration I finally managed help from TVS Sundaram help line who towed my vehicle to safety and provided me an alternate car. I left it to them for getting the vehicle repaired. But Ford refused to provide them a spare part that was required for the repair for more than a month and therefore they could not undertake the repair work. With reluctance I had to hand the vehicle to MPL Ford (whose reputation for bad service precedes them).

I handed them the vehicle on 22nd January and am waiting for the vehicle to be returned to me after 10 unkept delivery date promises and numerous excuses, including non availability of spares from Ford. Also I am told that the repair bill is upward of Rs 3.5 lakhs with Rs 1.1 lakh to my personal account. This is against the TVS Sundaram estimate of 1.5-1.8 lakhs!!

I want to submit that I do not wish to own the current car anymore and I must be compensated the entire vehicle cost as replacement cost for the following reasons:

* the accident was a result of a manufacturing defect or a design flaw (as aresult of which the front is disproportionately heavy for it to behave like a axis)

* Ford could not provide any help when I needed and I was forced to go to other service providers

* the spare parts were not made available to non-preferred dealers (this tantamounts to monopolistic behaviour)

* the repair cost beng quoted is atrocious and smacks of bad business practise. Ford seems be following the model of milking existing customers with very high service charges to sustain its business model. The profits in your books clearly indicate the same

* I have suffered financial loss and incurred significant sums for using alternate vehicles

* I have suffered mental agony and been on the receiving end of extremely bad & unresponsive behviour by the MPL Ford service center in Saligramam Chennai. The location heads behaviour has been particularly nasty

Thanks,

Yajnesh

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