I dont have a crack in the panel on my 04, but it does have a great amount of expansion and contraction.
Here in FL the panel will pucker out on the top just below the wiper. You can almost look down behind it.
But on a colder day, it sits flat with no pucker.
Dont expect Ford to do anything. Dodge didnt fix any caved in Dashboards on all their trucks and PT loosers. Ford will certainly not fix a cosmetic issue on a body panel. Actually, they did fix it, its called the 4th gen hatch. I am having a local shop make me up a panel to go over the cracked panel. It will have a cutout for the emblem and be contoured the same as the hatch panel. It will be either brushed aluminum, stainless, or what I want if the wife lets me is diamond plate, maybe textured black painted. It will either be as wide as the handle opening which would cover my crack... or maybe as wide as the whole hatch, haven't decided. Simple double sided tape install and no more cracks, ever. They said they would consider a production run if it turns out to be something they can mass produce.
I was sitting in the drive thru today, and sure enough, the 4th gen (i think), sitting in front of me had it, right between the handle and the glass. Completely random, but I thought of this thread
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/FORD...DOW-PANEL_W0QQitemZ250378871359QQcmdZViewItem
Love me! ^.^...ill be getting mine here in a bit to see how it works.
yes post pics and let us know how it does ill have to order 2 of them