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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Focus / June 2005

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Ford Focus rust and warranty problems (UK) .

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SJT - 21 Jun 2005 20:07 GMT
Dear All,
I've own a late 2000 UK Focus 1.8 Collection which is rusting in places.

Last year the tailgate was replaced under warranty which I didn't expect in
a car of it's age (4 ½ years) but it had a happy ending. Now I've got rust
by the door mirrors and on one of the passenger doors and in each case it's
by the seals.

I took the car to Ford a few days ago and right away the inspector told me
that Ford will not correct it because it's the "wrong type of rust". He
explained that the 6 year warranty only covers rusting from the inside out
(which is why they changed the tail gate as the rust was inside).

The rust problems I have are caused by the seals rubbing the paint away and
according to the dealer are known problems with the Focus by Ford. As he
explained they issued fixes (for the door mirrors they told them to bevel
the bottom edge to stop it rubbing on the door)

That particular Ford dealer said it was a manufacture defect (I wonder if
Ford sees it like that) and as such would not sort it out (but he did try).
He said the only thing he could do is to give me the Ford customer care
number and take it up with them (but not to hold my breath).

Has anyone here had these issues? And managed to resolve them with Ford?

I'm open to suggestions on how to get Ford to honour the warranty (I
misplaced the service guide book that has the warranty details) as anything
to do with bodywork costs a bomb.

Thanks
per - 21 Jun 2005 20:56 GMT
Here in Sweden most Fords have 6 year rust guarantee, but the Focus has 12.
(Most Ford Focus here come from Germany plants.)
The seal putty on Fords apparently are hygroscopic (holds water). I have
gotten a couple of new doors and a new tailgate so far, and the company has
gotten new doors on the company Mondeo. The local car painter has been full
up fixing up Fords. Mine is a year 2000, but I know they also have fixed
2002 and maybe even as new as 2003 models.
Not long ago I found new rust bubbles on top of the door sills, but now they
will not fix it anymore.
I suspect that Ford could not accept rust appearing on the "new" Focus, but
now this has become the "old" model, after the release of Focus II there is
no more good-will fixing anymore.
The rust through guarantee will take care of just that. But the car will
look ugly many years before the rust has worked its way through the doors
and body panels, but I suspect that many 10-12 year old Focus will
eventually have to be fixed for free by Ford anyway, when that time comes.
/per

> Dear All,
> I've own a late 2000 UK Focus 1.8 Collection which is rusting in places.
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>
> Thanks
Stephen F. - 22 Jun 2005 07:36 GMT
> Here in Sweden most Fords have 6 year rust guarantee, but the Focus has
> 12.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Not long ago I found new rust bubbles on top of the door sills, but now
> they will not fix it anymore.

Disappointing.  I had paint on the lower door sill abrade away (someone
careless stepping in?) and I was surprised (1) how fragile the paint was in
this area (2) that the outer sill is not galvanized and (3) it started to
corrode immediately.  Turns out Ford only used galvanised metal for the
inner chassis.  This is a joke if they want to compete against the Golf.  I
know from experience that a deep scratch even on the external door panel
(down to the metal) of a VW/Audi product will not rust.  We left one for
months in the winter without problems.  They use galvanized metal for all
body panels (except maybe the roof).

Stephen
Josef Erbs - 22 Jun 2005 08:22 GMT
Stephen F. schrieb:

> Disappointing.  I had paint on the lower door sill abrade away (someone
> careless stepping in?) and I was surprised (1) how fragile the paint was in
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> months in the winter without problems.  They use galvanized metal for all
> body panels (except maybe the roof).

Hi
For Focus 1, the whole car is galvanized without the roof.
For Focus 2, I don´t know, but it might be the same.
That´s for German build Foci.
bye
Jupp
Nick the Greek - 22 Jun 2005 09:38 GMT
>Stephen F. schrieb:
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>bye
>Jupp

The New Focus is fully galvanized.

-Nick
Alt Beer - 22 Jun 2005 13:30 GMT
> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:22:22 +0200, Josef Erbs

> The New Focus is fully galvanized.
>
> -Nick

In which country?
Nick the Greek - 22 Jun 2005 13:40 GMT
>> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 09:22:22 +0200, Josef Erbs
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>In which country?

I'm talking about the European ones that were manufactured in Germany.
I don't know if the Russian or Spanish plants have new Foci out yet,
but they should have the same specs.

-Nick
per - 23 Jun 2005 15:09 GMT
> Stephen F. schrieb:
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> bye
> Jupp

Mine is German built, and door sills seem to rust easily, galvanized or not.
/per
j* - 27 Jun 2005 19:14 GMT
the ford galvanise treatment is a joke, its a galvanised paint layer
treatment & not electro galvanised, confirmed to me by Ford UK. As you will
see a stone chip happily rusts, seems to me like a pure selling ploy, looks
good in the brochure but is totally useless! picture of my 2000 uk ghia tail
gate when it was 18 months old http://www.aont93.dsl.pipex.com/index.htm

>> Stephen F. schrieb:
>>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> not.
> /per
Stephen F. - 28 Jun 2005 06:44 GMT
> the ford galvanise treatment is a joke, its a galvanised paint layer
> treatment & not electro galvanised, confirmed to me by Ford UK. As you
> will see a stone chip happily rusts, seems to me like a pure selling ploy,
> looks good in the brochure but is totally useless! picture of my 2000 uk
> ghia tail gate when it was 18 months old
> http://www.aont93.dsl.pipex.com/index.htm

My engineering intuition thought so.  Seems Ford has been stocking up on
those nice spray cans of "zinc primer".  Great effort Ford.

Stephen

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