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Passenger footwell getting very hot


Petey1978
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Took delivery of my Fiesta Titanium just three days ago and already I have it booked into my local service center.

Went on a 15 mile drive at the weekend and towards the end of the journey my mate complained that his feet were getting very hot and could I turn the blower off. Turns out the climate control was on but set to 16 degrees, discovered the source of the heat was the side wall (closest to the center of the car) of the passenger footwell. The plastic panel was very hot to touch, I managed to find a gap and promptly burnt my hand on the scolding pipe that was behind the panel.

I just wanted to flag this issue incase anyone else has experienced it and has advice or a solution. Also to prevent anyone else getting a burnt leg or hand.

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Took delivery of my Fiesta Titanium just three days ago and already I have it booked into my local service center.

Went on a 15 mile drive at the weekend and towards the end of the journey my mate complained that his feet were getting very hot and could I turn the blower off. Turns out the climate control was on but set to 16 degrees, discovered the source of the heat was the side wall (closest to the center of the car) of the passenger footwell. The plastic panel was very hot to touch, I managed to find a gap and promptly burnt my hand on the scolding pipe that was behind the panel.

I just wanted to flag this issue incase anyone else has experienced it and has advice or a solution. Also to prevent anyone else getting a burnt leg or hand.

have had the same thing, it seems to stop doing it after a while, my dealer said its just where its settling in, 3 months later its fine :)

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It'll be great in the winter time! :lol:

Welcome to the forum. Show us your car :)

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have had the same thing, it seems to stop doing it after a while, my dealer said its just where its settling in, 3 months later its fine :)

i know what you mean

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Welcome to the forum. Show us your car

Thanks, I'll get some photos up asap.

have had the same thing, it seems to stop doing it after a while, my dealer said its just where its settling in, 3 months later its fine

So I'll have to advise any passengers not to wear shorts for the first three months! I'm not sure I'd be prepared to accept settling in as a reason, I don't think any part of the interior should potentially be dangerous.

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Just received a call from the Ford service Center, they have identified the problem causing the hot footwell. It seems the heating pipes that run behind the center console press against the side wall of the passenger footwell and get very hot which in turn makes the footwell hot. The technician explained this is the way the new fiesta is designed so there is no fix or solution and ford have no plans to look into it.

Maybe it's just me but I consider this to be a major design flaw as all new fiesta's have the potential to burn the legs of the passenger.

This is a fault I'm not prepared to accept so I will be taking it further.

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Just received a call from the Ford Service Center, they have identified the problem causing the hot footwell. It seems the heating pipes that run behind the center console press against the side wall of the passenger footwell and get very hot which in turn makes the footwell hot. The technician explained this is the way the new fiesta is designed so there is no fix or solution and ford have no plans to look into it.

Maybe it's just me but I consider this to be a major design flaw as all new fiesta's have the potential to burn the legs of the passenger.

This is a fault I'm not prepared to accept so I will be taking it further.

Good for you! If you except crap than crap is what we all get!

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Thanks, I'll get some photos up asap.

So I'll have to advise any passengers not to wear shorts for the first three months! I'm not sure I'd be prepared to accept settling in as a reason, I don't think any part of the interior should potentially be dangerous.

I think this is very dangerous actually.

What if a small child was sitting in the front seat and wanted to investigate where the heat was coming from (you know what children are like!)

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I think this is very dangerous actually.

What if a small child was sitting in the front seat and wanted to investigate where the heat was coming from (you know what children are like!)

I'm very surprised this kind of flaw has been allowed on a car that is being sold to the public. There must have been various safety tests conducted so I don't know how they missed this one.

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Just received a call from the Ford Service Center, they have identified the problem causing the hot footwell. It seems the heating pipes that run behind the center console press against the side wall of the passenger footwell and get very hot which in turn makes the footwell hot. The technician explained this is the way the new fiesta is designed so there is no fix or solution and ford have no plans to look into it.

Maybe it's just me but I consider this to be a major design flaw as all new fiesta's have the potential to burn the legs of the passenger.

This is a fault I'm not prepared to accept so I will be taking it further.

What the chutney!!!! Your dealership told you that Ford designed the car so that it burns your passengers leg!!!

What will they design next i wonder? Headlights on the back of the car? or maybe wipers that kill you when it rains? or maybe even indicators that dont flick off? oh hang about they have that already...

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Hope you get this sorted, sounds quite dangerous :o

I hope so too, but I really don't know what Ford can do with changing the design of the car.

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sorry but i think your over reacting it goes through vigerous tests, i have the same car and theres no problem in my opinion, you could not burn yoursel from it, it just gets warm.

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I think this is very dangerous actually.

What if a small child was sitting in the front seat and wanted to investigate where the heat was coming from (you know what children are like!)

whats stopping a child touching the exhaust? the child should be strapped in,

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sorry but i think your over reacting it goes through vigerous tests, i have the same car and theres no problem in my opinion, you could not burn yoursel from it, it just gets warm.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I know you can potentially burn yourself because I did when I was investigating where the heat was coming from. Now I know under normal driving conditions you wouldn't be checking out the passenger footwell but the fact is there is a very hot pipe that can reached from inside the cabin and I personally consider that a risk and a design flaw. I believe some heat shielding on the pipe would possibly be a solution, but I think this is something the Ford engineers should have resolved.

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I personally wouldnt let a child wander round the back of a car unsupervised.

However, children do sit in cars for periods of time not strapped into a car seat. For example when getting in the car and getting out the car.

I dont really want to get into a debate. I think its dangerous.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Took delivery of my Fiesta Titanium just three days ago and already I have it booked into my local service center.

Went on a 15 mile drive at the weekend and towards the end of the journey my mate complained that his feet were getting very hot and could I turn the blower off. Turns out the climate control was on but set to 16 degrees, discovered the source of the heat was the side wall (closest to the center of the car) of the passenger footwell. The plastic panel was very hot to touch, I managed to find a gap and promptly burnt my hand on the scolding pipe that was behind the panel.

I just wanted to flag this issue incase anyone else has experienced it and has advice or a solution. Also to prevent anyone else getting a burnt leg or hand.

I just discovered this tonight as my wife complained that her legs were getting hot! I also burnt my hand whilst investigating :angry:.

Once I had discovered the extremely hot pipes running down the inside of the footwell I asumed it was the interior heating system but I don;t get why it is so hot and why it is exposed. I did a bit of testing with the heating settings and after about 1 min the heat coming out was immence!!

I do normally drive the car with the heat set to cold so I am going to try it set in the medium position and see if I still get the heat problem in the footwell

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I just discovered this tonight as my wife complained that her legs were getting hot! I also burnt my hand whilst investigating :angry:.

Once I had discovered the extremely hot pipes running down the inside of the footwell I asumed it was the interior heating system but I don;t get why it is so hot and why it is exposed. I did a bit of testing with the heating settings and after about 1 min the heat coming out was immence!!

I do normally drive the car with the heat set to cold so I am going to try it set in the medium position and see if I still get the heat problem in the footwell

After a few phone calls with my local service center and the customer service department I got ford to attempt a fix. They have wrapped lagging round the pipes and put some reflective heat shield on the inside panel of the footwell. The pipes are no longer exposed so it's not possible to burn yourself but it's only reduced the heat radiated into the footwell by a very tiny amount. The fact that ford hasn't developed a proper fix for this is amazing as I think it really is quite a serious health and safety issue, it's very easy to burn your hand while investigating. Ford are aware of this issue as I was told that it's been reported a few times in europe, I guess it's more noticable due to left hand drive.

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  • 14 years later...

I totally agree with petey1978 just noticed on my titanium that it is so hot on the plastic that you can barely touch it , bad design flaw Nd should never have been signed off its like having a radiator on in a small room in July. Shame on ford

  • Haha 1
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YOU WIN 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I said earlier today that I thought we had a winner when an 11 year old pointless thread was restarted, and I even said it would take some beating. Well you've managed to prove me wrong !!!!

The thread is 14 years 🤣

 

 

 

Maybe it might be an idea for FOC admin to lock this thread ?

 

  • Haha 3
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