General rant about Ford and the brakes failing on my SMax

[Dr Cucumber]

Has anybody taken on a car manufacturer in terms of product liability?

Recently the brakes failed on our SMax soon after start up. Apparently this is a known fault - "A hard brake pedal is experienced soon after start up in cold weather conditions - probable cause is the non-return valve within the brake vacuum pump may fail to release ..." In our case hard brake pedal = no brakes. Luckily nobody was hurt and the only damage is a dented garage door.

The local Ford dealer rectified the brakes free of charge, however I am now faced with a 1200 bill for my garage door. Ford advised claim on your house insurance ... however it niggles me that the problem is a known fault and I now have to fork out for excesses and raised premiums.

Apparently I should have advised my garage that my brakes were possibly faulty before it happened? Surely something as serious as brakes should warrent a recall?

Rant over ...

[Crusoe]

file a complaint
http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.a...

Edited by Crusoe on Friday 16th March 12:31

[Wafflesmk2]

After my Mondeo, i've vowed to never buy another Ford, ever again.

[Chris71]

If it's a known design fault with safety implications I'm very surprised they haven't issued a recall.

I do sympathise with you, but I'm not surprised they've refused to pay for the garage door. I would imagine it's fairly standard practice for a manufacturer to cover the cost of fixing their defective car but not anything that gets damaged as a result.

[sday12]

1200 for a garage door? I'ld be furious!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Chris71 said:

If it's a known design fault with safety implications I'm very surprised they haven't issued a recall.

Absolutely right.

Go and see a solicitor.