Ford Ranger - rotted frame after 1 year. Ford won't cover under warranty

redcup342 · 11-03-2019 10:39pm

Obvious user abuse, someones been using the edge of the door to scrape muck off their boots/wellies when getting into the Jeep.

11-03-2019 10:41pm

Squatman wrote: »

could it also happen from high cycle fatigue, or snagging off something, or perishing?
im not sure this rubber seal is what the OP want Ford to stand over - you might also observe some rust on the sill, on the bend and flat panel of the sill - what could have caused that kojak?

It doesn't take Kojak to tell you the door seal's damaged because of the same foot-dragger that helped turn the sill into a mess. High cycle fatigue. Jesus wept.

mickdw · 11-03-2019 10:43pm

My best guess is that it was repeatedly stepped on causing a crack at the fold line. The crack caused paint to lift etc and it deteriorated from there. Rotting from outside by getting under the paint and rotting from inside via the crack.
The question is should it be able to withstand being stood on. I believe it should considering the height of the vehicle and the likely use of the vehicle.
That being the case, ford should be fixing the crack and it would never get this far.
It's not as if they were standing on the roof. It's a sill, it might get marked or stood on. It should be fit to withstand that for a reasonable number of years even if mucky boots are going in and out daily.
The bottom of the door is a mess too as is the base of the sill.

Nobbies · 11-03-2019 10:45pm

JayZeus wrote: »

Sometimes what a fella needs is a slap of the cop-on-stick. There's always someone who'll be happy to encourage a man to take on a fight for their entertainment. What's to be gained?

If all that was wrong was a crack, it would have been welded, primed and painted and the OP would have been sent on his way. He was told to march on because whoever's driving that 'jeep' isn't looking after it. And they're still not looking after it.

Spare the arsing around trying to argue it out with Ford. Take it to a body/paint man and get it repaired. Then tell whoever's driving it to stop walking on it. Spend 50 quid to fit sill guards to it, but don't go pissing around trying to beat 'the man'. He didn't ignore it, drive it for 2 years while it's getting worse and worse (and it sure as hell hasn't stayed like that from 12 months in until now, OP), then go looking to warn people off buying a Ford or a ranger or whatever.

Most fellas just have to look at that and they'll know that nobody gave a **** about how bad it was getting because they either just DGAF or foolishly think Ford will fix it for them. They won't. Fix it and get your drivers to mind what you pay for them to use. And keep the poxy thing clean, because that's half the battle with rusting jeeps in the first place.

it must have being you then so behind the ford sales desk the first day op went to report it.

The pigeon man · 11-03-2019 10:45pm

It looks like lads were getting in with fertilizer granules on the bottom of their boots. I've spilled the stuff before it'll rust any metal. That stuff accelerates any rusting process. There is no way rust could develop at that speed without some chemicals to accelerate the process.

It looks like the likely cause of it if it was a farm vehicle.

ShadowHearth · 11-03-2019 10:47pm

redcup342 wrote: »

Obvious user abuse, someones been using the edge of the door to scrape muck off their boots/wellies when getting into the Jeep.

That's actually very damn good explanation. Looking at the picture again and it fits perfectly!

dkd21 · 11-03-2019 10:53pm

That crack has been caused by the metal being rubbed through at the edge from boots etc being cleaned off the sill , then standing on top of it.... the lower portion has then held water and/or contaminants entering through the crack have sped up the perforation corrosion ..

User neglect , look after your stuff in future

EPAndlee · 11-03-2019 10:58pm

It's pretty obviously it was caused by the driver, the rubber seal wouldn't tear like that on its own. Using the sill and seal as a step wore the paint down to bare matal, it wasn't treated and it rusted. If the sill rusted like that on it's own, Ford would cover it.

gutteruu · 11-03-2019 11:10pm

Ok. For the guys who figured it all out as scraping boots, go and try this on a ranger. I'm over 6 foot and wouldn't reach. It's absolutely impossible.

Mickdw is bang on. It was stepped on, cracked a bit and progressively rotted from there. Rot got under paint and it came off in flakes. Nobody is denying this. If you make a jeep that's 4 foot high, you have to build a sill that's able to be stood on. A sill breaking at 50 weeks from standing on it is ridiculous. Especially one where the sill is needed for egress.

One easy weld by ford at the time would have fixed this but they delayed and ignored me over and over and now I'm a dog with a bone.

uncle-mofo · 11-03-2019 11:20pm

Welcome to boards, where everything is your fault.

11-03-2019 11:20pm

gutteruu wrote: »

Ok. For the guys who figured it all out as scraping boots, go and try this on a ranger. I'm over 6 foot and wouldn't reach. It's absolutely impossible.

Mickdw is bang on. It was stepped on, cracked a bit and progressively rotted from there. Rot got under paint and it came off in flakes. Nobody is denying this. If you make a jeep that's 4 foot high, you have to build a sill that's able to be stood on. A sill breaking at 50 weeks from standing on it is ridiculous. Especially one where the sill is needed for egress.

One easy weld by ford at the time would have fixed this but they delayed and ignored me over and over and now I'm a dog with a bone.

So you broke it then, is what you're saying. And they said no, you broke it, it's not a manufacturing defect so we're not fixing it for you. So you left it for the guts of another year..

One easy weld by your own welder would have fixed this, but you delayed and ignored it thinking if you acted like a dog with a bone, Ford would fix something you broke, under their warranty.

No sympathy for you.

Sills are not steps. It might be a bit awkward getting in an out without putting your foot on the sills, but that plastic 'step' plate inside the door seal is there for a reason. If you need actual side steps, buy them. There's plenty available and for 150 pounds from England, they're not expensive. But standing on the sills over and over again for a year and expecting Ford to fix what you've broken isn't going to happen.

11-03-2019 11:25pm

uncle-mofo wrote: »

Welcome to boards, where everything is your fault.

Welcome to boards, where if it's your fault you'll be told it is whether you like it or not.

dkd21 · 11-03-2019 11:49pm

gutteruu wrote: »

Ok. For the guys who figured it all out as scraping boots, go and try this on a ranger. I'm over 6 foot and wouldn't reach. It's absolutely impossible.

Mickdw is bang on. It was stepped on, cracked a bit and progressively rotted from there. Rot got under paint and it came off in flakes. Nobody is denying this. If you make a jeep that's 4 foot high, you have to build a sill that's able to be stood on. A sill breaking at 50 weeks from standing on it is ridiculous. Especially one where the sill is needed for egress.

One easy weld by ford at the time would have fixed this but they delayed and ignored me over and over and now I'm a dog with a bone.

Come down off it will ye :rolleyes: .. the sill is only about knee height , the vehicle itself is about 6 ft in standard trim , go get some sidesteps if your struggling getting in and out.

gutteruu · 11-03-2019 11:54pm

dkd21 wrote: »

gutteruu wrote: »

Ok. For the guys who figured it all out as scraping boots, go and try this on a ranger. I'm over 6 foot and wouldn't reach. It's absolutely impossible.

Mickdw is bang on. It was stepped on, cracked a bit and progressively rotted from there. Rot got under paint and it came off in flakes. Nobody is denying this. If you make a jeep that's 4 foot high, you have to build a sill that's able to be stood on. A sill breaking at 50 weeks from standing on it is ridiculous. Especially one where the sill is needed for egress.

One easy weld by ford at the time would have fixed this but they delayed and ignored me over and over and now I'm a dog with a bone.

Come down off it will ye :rolleyes: .. the sill is only about knee height , the vehicle itself is about 6 ft in standard trim , go get some sidesteps if your struggling getting in and out.

We're talking about scraping boots, not getting in or out

TrailerBob · 12-03-2019 12:10am

I'd wager that the ranger is no higher off the ground than my landcruiser. I'm 5'10 and have no issues with the height of it. I also don't bash the bejaysus out of the sills. Having said that, the build quality of the ranger has been called into question more than once..

Glen Immal · 12-03-2019 12:12am

The corrosion extends to the underside of the sill, it’s a ****ty product from Ford. I would not expect that level of deterioration on a 10 year old vehicle,

If it were mine I would be looking for similar damage on other fords rangers, and use that evidence to support your case, what’s the sill on the other side like?

dkd21 · 12-03-2019 12:16am

gutteruu wrote: »

We're talking about scraping boots, not getting in or out

Sure don't I know what your talking about

, although you could argue that

You won't get any solutions to your problem on the internet , go talk with an engineer and solicitor and show them what happened if you haven't already . How it gets to this point with it and then posting on here is beyond me ..

Wibbs · 12-03-2019 10:16am

Glen Immal wrote: »

The corrosion extends to the underside of the sill, it’s a ****ty product from Ford. I would not expect that level of deterioration on a 10 year old vehicle,

If it were mine I would be looking for similar damage on other fords rangers, and use that evidence to support your case, what’s the sill on the other side like?

If the sill is corroded from the underside on the drivers side it's as likely that moisture penetrated from the crack in the top and lodged in the bottom of the sill and rotted it from the inside. If it is a design flaw and not wear and tear then have an engineer run a camera inside the passenger sill, which I presume has no wear or rust and if they find the beginnings of internal rust on that side that would strengthen the case for bad corrosion protection.

As for the wear and tear. Looking at the photo it's mostly dirt on the other surfaces and I would suspect a decent clean and the car would look more its age. That said it's a lot of dirt and suggests heavy use. The wear on the sill caused by using it as a step looks to be the main factor in the rust appearing in my humble. Steel of the sort usually used in cars if exposed(and not zinc coated) will flash off with rust in a matter of days, if not hours in particularly damp environments. Car paint is not designed for the wear and tear of mucky shoes stepping on it. That layer will fail very quickly, first on the edge of a panel and when that layer fails the corrosion has started. If getting into the car requires stepping on the sill that is a flaw in the design.

Looking at the rust and going by the near given that the rust you can see extends well beyond what you can't that looks a little more extensive a repair than welding in a plate. It sounds like it's gone through the bottom side and a proper repair in a structural area like that would be a new sill, or the guts of a new sill.

Old diesel · 12-03-2019 10:45am

mickdw wrote: »

It's clearly failed due to the usage it's got however that doesn't mean that it's the drivers issues.
To me it looks like poor design. There is quite a flat panel of steel bodywork there on that sill that only invites stepping on.
It should have been covered or reinforced to withstand such use being an off-road truck.

This.....

Rangers are supposed to be big beefy pick up vehicles - with proper off road and towing capacity.

Holding the typical agri or construction user of a Ranger to the same standard of care as a Fiesta isn't very realistic.

Yes Ford probably are "legally" sound enough here - ie they have wiggle room.

But this still isn't acceptable imo.

The fact that's it's dirty because it's (clearly) used in dirty environments - makes the "abuse" look worse then it is.

What you have to ask yourself is whether if Ford were asked (pre purchase) by OP - can this do the work I need it to do - would they say yes or no.

I'm guessing they would say yes.

This isn't a tiny 1 litre ecoboost - someone actually needing the full ability of a pick up truck should be able to trust that it can take some abuse beyond a normal car.

FDave · 12-03-2019 11:11am

Could be as simple as someone wearing a brand of boots that like to pick up loose stones and steps on the sill getting in. Small stones are visible on the floor and there are scratch marks all over the sill, on the paint and in the metal. So someone is being very heavy footed with the vehicle.
Scraping their boots also looks very likely.

Toyotafanboi · 12-03-2019 11:24am

gutteruu wrote: »

It was stepped on, cracked a bit and progressively rotted from there. Nobody is denying this. If you make a jeep that's 4 foot high, you have to build a sill that's able to be stood on. A sill breaking at 50 weeks from standing on it is ridiculous. Especially one where the sill is needed for egress.

The sill isn't designed for that usage, it was never claimed to be, unfortunately. If it was intended for that usage, Ford would have applied a tactile surface or scuff protector of of some sort, but there isn't, it's painted no different to the roof or bonnet. This is literally the scenario side steps are made for.

Should we be able to stand on any part of the vehicle because it's a work horse? The panel work isn't designed for that. The only places you could step on a Ranger or the likes aside from the inner foot wells is the load bed i'd say.

I'm not saying it to be difficult or to have a go at you but this is not a manufacturing defect, which is what your warranty is there to protect you against. It's a defect relating to misuse.

Sure, you didn't view it as misuse and sure Ford didn't issue you with a list of places where you shouldn't stand on the vehicle, but common sense must apply, if you are abrasing the paint protection off of a metal panel on the lower leading edge of a cars sill with dirt on the sole of your shoe, it is going to rust, pretty quickly and i don't see how Ford could be to blame for that.

If you want to go at Ford for this, which you clearly do, you need to come up with a better argument than "I should be able to abuse the hell out of it for more than 50 weeks before it breaks". Hire an independent motor engineer, get him to put in writing that it is his belief that you should be able to walk on that sill with soiled footwear and that by doing so on a regular basis shouldn't create this issue, but the issue is a defect of the manufacturing process. Take that to Ford Ireland and then they may entertain you, if you can't get to that point with an independent engineer, I assure you, honestly, that you are at nothing.

Again, this is not a dig at you but genuine advice, but you and your opinions aren't worth a toss in this in Fords eyes. Get a motor engineer to back you, pay him for his time and then you may get somewhere, if what you want is to rally Ford over this. The only other option you have is to pester the dealer over this so much that they will repair it to get you to go away, that is high risk and unlikely to happen though for a whole other set of reasons.

Keep us posted.

Isambard · 12-03-2019 11:26am

yup, you wouldn't put a metal toolbox on the roof every time you get in and out and then expect Ford to repair the damaged roof under warranty.

12-03-2019 2:16pm

It’s a bit disengineous talking about walking on bonnets etc. This is the entry and exit point from a high vehicle it should be designed a built to handle being stepped on. A lot of people giving a free pass to ford on this when they shouldn’t imo. It’s poor design and/or build quality.

D3V!L · 12-03-2019 2:19pm

Channing Incalculable Tearful wrote: »

It’s a bit disengineous talking about walking on bonnets etc. This is the entry and exit point from a high vehicle it should be designed a built to handle being stepped on. A lot of people giving a free pass to ford on this when they shouldn’t imo. It’s poor design and/or build quality.

People drop phones, a lot !! Should the phone manufacturer replace the screen of each broken phone under warranty ?

Voodoomelon · 12-03-2019 2:24pm

I keep changing my mind on this, not sure where I stand. And for that reason, i'll let you all sort it out.

gutteruu · 12-03-2019 2:37pm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I keep changing my mind on this, not sure where I stand. And for that reason, i'll let you all sort it out.

We're at the point in a thread where people start arguing hypotheticals so I guess it's done

mickdw · 12-03-2019 3:04pm

D3V!L wrote: »

Channing Incalculable Tearful wrote: »

It’s a bit disengineous talking about walking on bonnets etc. This is the entry and exit point from a high vehicle it should be designed a built to handle being stepped on. A lot of people giving a free pass to ford on this when they shouldn’t imo. It’s poor design and/or build quality.

People drop phones, a lot !! Should the phone manufacturer replace the screen of each broken phone under warranty ?

To be honest, phones are getting dangerously close to a point where it could be argued that they are not fit for purpose as they can now take zero accidental drops.
Also interesting to see that Vodafone were offering 1 free screen replacement with alot of models the last time I was buying so it would at least appear that companies are recognising a weakness that is there.
I would therefore argue that your intended argument is proving the opposite case.

Squatman · 12-03-2019 3:15pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

The sill isn't designed for that usage, it was never claimed to be, unfortunately. If it was intended for that usage, Ford would have applied a tactile surface or scuff protector of of some sort, but there isn't, it's painted no different to the roof or bonnet. This is literally the scenario side steps are made for.

Should we be able to stand on any part of the vehicle because it's a work horse? The panel work isn't designed for that. The only places you could step on a Ranger or the likes aside from the inner foot wells is the load bed i'd say.

I'm not saying it to be difficult or to have a go at you but this is not a manufacturing defect, which is what your warranty is there to protect you against. It's a defect relating to misuse.

Sure, you didn't view it as misuse and sure Ford didn't issue you with a list of places where you shouldn't stand on the vehicle, but common sense must apply, if you are abrasing the paint protection off of a metal panel on the lower leading edge of a cars sill with dirt on the sole of your shoe, it is going to rust, pretty quickly and i don't see how Ford could be to blame for that.

If you want to go at Ford for this, which you clearly do, you need to come up with a better argument than "I should be able to abuse the hell out of it for more than 50 weeks before it breaks". Hire an independent motor engineer, get him to put in writing that it is his belief that you should be able to walk on that sill with soiled footwear and that by doing so on a regular basis shouldn't create this issue, but the issue is a defect of the manufacturing process. Take that to Ford Ireland and then they may entertain you, if you can't get to that point with an independent engineer, I assure you, honestly, that you are at nothing.

Again, this is not a dig at you but genuine advice, but you and your opinions aren't worth a toss in this in Fords eyes. Get a motor engineer to back you, pay him for his time and then you may get somewhere, if what you want is to rally Ford over this. The only other option you have is to pester the dealer over this so much that they will repair it to get you to go away, that is high risk and unlikely to happen though for a whole other set of reasons.

Keep us posted.

if thats rust in the two areas highlighted, then IMO its a manufacturers issue

Hurrache · 12-03-2019 3:27pm

Ryath wrote: »

Are they standing on it to get to roof rack? It's surely a not good to stand on painted body work. If it was a regular thing that was needed for roof access it would have been a good idea to fit running boards and sill protectors.

I've a 9 year old Renault that I do this with. There's a small few scratches on one side from where I slid on it in the rain one time, apart from that all other sills are perfect.

fancy pigeon · 12-03-2019 3:54pm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

not sure where I stand

Not on the sill anyway

Worthwhile investing in kick plates for future vehicles?

Ford Ranger - rotted frame after 1 year. Ford won't cover under warranty

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