Recurring problem with management light, Ford have not resolved it.

[Dac driver]

I got my car in February 2021 at 14 months old it's Dec 2019, with 11k miles. I am a driving instructor and a high mileage user. After we were allowed to go back to work and I started to put miles on the car I had the management light come on about June 2021. A friend who is a mechanic plugged his computer in and it showed a p2000 nitrous oxide trap 1 below efficiency error, I contacted my local Ford dealer and they said they would change the sensor. The light comes on again after a few thousand miles and has done at least 12 times since about June 2021. Ford have reset the management light, reset the software and changed the sensor twice, 4 times in total with them. My friend has reset it 5+ times and another friend has reset it 3 times. ford is about 20 miles away and if the light comes on when I have a driving test going out the test will be cancelled and I would be responsible for the cost of a new test, this is why I have got friends to reset it. I also informed Ford this was being done and why. As I said it stays out for 3k miles roughly, I have done 35k miles since getting the car. after the last time it came on just before a test I had to get it reset and after went to Ford. The service manager said they would take it in for a few days and fix it or possibly get a ford technician to come over, I cant afford to have the car off the road. As it turned out I was going on holiday at the end of March so left the car with ford on the 28th of March late afternoon, a friend spoke to ford on the 4th of April they said the were still doing tests, they contacted him on the 7th and he picked it up on the 8th. from what my friend could gather they tested it did a regen and re loaded the software, no mention of any Ford technician. that's the 5th time they have had the car plus services and a few other visits to discus the issue. So they had it 12 days including drop off and pick up, or 10 full days. I collected the car on the 13th of April and started work on the 14th. 15 days later on the 29th the light is back on, we plugged it in and it is the same error. If we could not reset the light I would have had a fair few tests cancelled, plus a lot of lost work if I had to get ford to do it. Where can I go from here. the only other Ford garages locally are part of the same dealership. I did approach 1 a couple of months back but their service manager failed to call me as promised.

[unofix]

very difficult for most here to offer advice since you are in Ireland and most probably do not have the same consumer laws as the UK.

Here it would be a case of rejecting the car and the dealer having to take it back. We could also involve trading standards, and finally the small claims courts.

@StephenFord may be able to offer some words of wisdom.

[Dac driver]

Thanks for the reply. County Antrim is Northern Ireland so part of the UK.  A couple of questions I purchased the car from a dealer outside of Newcastle on Tyne, it was a general car dealer not a ford franchise. As this fault has been going on for a year or so and as a high mileage user 46k at the moment how would that work. I like the car it's great to drive and teach in. It's just this never ending Fault, well every 3k miles give or take and the risk of missing a test or having to miss out on work if they want the car for any length of time again.

 

[StephenFord]

8 hours ago, unofix said:

very difficult for most here to offer advice since you are in Ireland and most probably do not have the same consumer laws as the UK.

 

As OP said, he is in the UK. Now I use to be pretty well up on consumer legislation spending my whole life in retail, but have no experience of a 'nearly new' car and what implications that has. I get the feeling this issue needs a two pronged approach, one, to get Ford to admit there is an inherent fault with the vehicle, and two, the actual issue of curing the fault once and for all. 

I would be very interested on the advice you can offer this poor fellow countryman on how to maintain his livelihood, and get a resolution for a reliable car...

[Eric Bloodaxe]

There are several general guides to consumer rights online, such as:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights-aAnMC5b0ZzJb

https://www.whatcar.com/news/your-legal-rights-if-something-goes-wrong-with-your-car/n3307

I would normally also suggest having a word with your local Trading Standards but given the distance from the dealer in this case they would probably be unable to assist directly but may be able to offer advice.

The car is still under Ford warranty, though, so it would seem that's the way to go, unless the warranty terms have not been met? Perhaps contact Ford CRC if this has not been done already?

You can contact Ford Motor Company by phone on 020 3564 4444 or email our Customer Relationship Centre at UKCRC1@ford.com.

Opening hours for the Customer Relationship Centre are as follows:

Monday to Friday  08:00 - 18:30

Postal Address for the CRC:

Ford Customer Relationship Centre
Royal Oak Way South
Daventry
Northamptonshire
NN11 8NT

[RL123]

I nearly bought a new 1.5 diesel Kuga last year but read in the handbook it needed 20 min runs over 2000 rpm every few hundred miles to avoid dpf clogging issues. I bought the 1.5 petrol instead as it was better aligned to my drive cycle. I does use more fuel but no addblue.

[unofix]

14 hours ago, Dac driver said:

County Antrim is Northern Ireland so part of the UK.

Yes I was aware of your NI location, but just as most 'England & Wales' laws seem not to apply to Scotland, I assumed that NI, probably also have different laws. Since Stephen is in the same location I thought of all that are on the forum he was probably best qualified to offer some advice.

I hope you do find a solution to the problem and it would be good to know the outcome. let us all know how things go. 👍

 

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, unofix said:

Since Stephen is in the same location I thought of all that are on the forum he was probably best qualified to offer some advice.

We are definitely under standard UK consumer legislation, as there is no specific Northern Ireland one. However, it may be complicated by the fact that technically, NI is still in the EU (due to a minor oversight by the PM!). So I am absolutely unclear what advise to give. I would recommend a 1st stop to sort out the legality would be to contact the Consumer Council which is a specific NI organisation publicly funded.

[alanfp]

I'm not an expert on this, but applying logic to this problem, this all suggests that the sensor is not faulty? (I mean all 3 sensors to be faulty - unlikely).

The sensor is there to tell you there's a problem with the nitrous oxide trap, so isn't that the thing to address?

[unofix]

11 minutes ago, alanfp said:

The sensor is there to tell you there's a problem with the nitrous oxide trap, so isn't that the thing to address?

Too much logic applied !!!

Go to the back of the class and sit down.

Are trying to say the Ford garage doesn't know what they are doing 🤣

[Focus_]

If there's a recurring sensor fault code, and no matter how many sensors you throw at it the fault keeps coming back, logic dictates the fault is with what's being sensed rather than the sensor .... 😏

And yes, the Ford garage probably don't have a clue of what they're doing because it's not a service or discs + pads!

[RMurphy195]

At the very least contact Ford customer services with a brief description of the recurring fault (Fault code, local dealer unable to resolve) and ask them if there is a known problem.

Also write to the dealership's head office again with a brief description, and ask why the problm cannot be resolved.

With Ford breathing down the delership's neck, and the dealership head office applying pressure, something should happen.

Only mention what the dealership has done, on no account mention what your friend has done, they don't need to know that, neither do they need an excuse to claim the problem is caused by work done  outside the terms of the warranty.

I've taken the above approach recently with mine - to Ford it was along the lines of "I have these problems which the dealership hasn't been able to resolve, is there a service bulletin associated with them that the delership might not have", and to the dealership head office it was "I have these problems which your dealer has not been able to resolve, can you look into it please". Brief, firm and polite in both cases, and both by email. CORRECTION - Ford customer services via email, the dealership head office via letter sent recorded delivery with advice of receipt - doing it this way adds weight to a complaint IMHO and you get proff they received it.!

Apart from anything else, making sure you have dated emails and acknowledgments to prove the fault existed during the warranty period is in my view important.

[Dac driver]

Thanks for all the advice. the light went out early on Tuesday without any intervention or reset, then came on again today (about 150 miles later). I was going to take the car back to the ford dealer tomorrow and ask them to at least reset it. I am not sure if that is worth doing even if just to make them aware that the 12 days they had the car they not fixed it, is it worth doing. as well as the the customer service route and the Trust Ford head office. As for not mentioning my friend doing a reset goes, He is a fully qualified mechanic who is VAT registered but I get the point about clouding the issue. thanks and do you think I should let the local dealer know it is not fixed.

 

[StephenFord]

8 hours ago, Dac driver said:

...and do you think I should let the local dealer know it is not fixed.

 

Absolutely, yes!!

[Dac driver]

Thanks, I'm off to Antrim for breakfast, so at least the day will start well. I will call in at B-Mena on the way back. wish me luck😉

 

[StephenFord]

1 hour ago, Dac driver said:

Thanks, I'm off to Antrim for breakfast, so at least the day will start well.

 

Hope you're popping into Alfie's Cafe, he does a mean fried egg!

[RMurphy195]

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Hope you're popping into Alfie's Cafe, he does a mean fried egg!

Is that on the way from Larne to Derry? (Sorry to go off-topic)

[StephenFord]

4 minutes ago, RMurphy195 said:

Is that on the way from Larne to Derry? (Sorry to go off-topic)

LOL, yes, Antrim is on the way to Derry from Larne, and Alfie's Cafe is situated on the CastleMall (shopping center) entrance in Antrim! 😅

[Dac driver]

Alfie's it was, Well I learned something new today, apparently not all Ford Mechanics/Technicians are created equal. The service manager who regardless of whats happened I quiet like, asked how it was going. When I told him 15 days later the light is back on and off  and back on again he gets his notepad, writes a name and number down and said he is referring me to another branch (it was like a doctor writing a prescription). The reason being they have 2 master techs who are more qualified than his guy and they can talk directly to the ford technical team and are better placed to sort it out, as his guy can only take it so far. He apologised again for not being able to help resolve the issue. This all started about the end of June last year with a reset and software update in July I think. The first sensor was replaced in August although I thought they said it was being changed in July during a service. I wish I had known then their mechanic was not as well qualified, it could have hopefully been resolved before now. It is going in to be looked at by one of the master techs next week so we will see what they come up with. 

[Mojo B]

Did you ever have any success in sorting the problem with the engine fault light that kept coming on?  I think I have the same problem with a Ford Ecosport - the sensor has been changed but the fault light has come on and off again since and is showing up as the same fault.

[unofix]

1 hour ago, Mojo B said:

I have the same problem with a Ford Ecosport

Hi Kathy, start a new thread with your problem in the Ecosport forum and you will probably get a better response. This thread has been dead for a year now.

[StephenFord]

10 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hi Kathy, start a new thread with your problem in the Ecosport forum and you will probably get a better response. This thread has been dead for a year now.

A rare omission from the great UnoFix LOL

Ecosport forum...