About a year ago I took my 2017 XLT in to my local Ford dealership for an alignment fix, as the car was pulling to the right and the steering wheel had to be held slightly off-centre in order to drive straight down the road.
When I picked up the car and saw the invoice, I learned that the dealer wasn't able to do alignments on-site (they didn't have the scanners, etc.), and used the Chrysler-Jeep dealership service across the street.
Here's what the Ford invoice says, verbatim:
STEERING WONDERS OR PULLS
CHECK/REPAIR VEHICLE PULLING TO RIGHT CONCERN
steering wheel off center, would require alignment to
CORRECT; CHECKED ALL STEERING & SUSPENSION COMPONENTS
PERFORMED ALIGNMENT & ADJUSTMENT AS PER
CHRYSLER-JEEP TO CORRECT CONCERN
ROAD TESTED ON COMPLETION TO VERIFY REPAIR
AS NOTED ON CHR-JP INVOICE "REQUIRED TO NOTCH AND ADJUST THE
DRIVERS FRONT STRUT TO RAISE CAMBER INTO PROPER SPEC
AND LEAD"
And now, a year later, the alignment is off again.
My concerns:
1. That the repair was done by a Chrysler/Jeep service centre, not official Ford service. When I asked the service desk receptionist what exactly "REQUIRED TO NOTCH" meant, they couldn't tell me, because they were just reading off the invoice they got from Chrysler/Jeep. This indicates that they don't even know or control what Chrysler/Jeep did to my Ford. Is this common, or acceptable?
2. That the repair required the drivers front strut to be "notched", since this seems to mean that they had to cut into the strut in some way, making a notch. This seems a bit extreme. Shouldn't it be possible to adjust the camber within the usual adjustment range of the components? Does the fact that the repair required notching indicate that the alignment was really off, or caused by damage, or that Chrysler/Jeep didn't know how to do it properly and instead had to permanently modify a Ford component?
3. The alignment is off again...
So what should I do?
Should/Can I lodge a complaint about the repairs being done by non-Ford service (not certified to work on Fords)?
What should I do about the reoccurring misalignment?
When I picked up the car and saw the invoice, I learned that the dealer wasn't able to do alignments on-site (they didn't have the scanners, etc.), and used the Chrysler-Jeep dealership service across the street.
Here's what the Ford invoice says, verbatim:
STEERING WONDERS OR PULLS
CHECK/REPAIR VEHICLE PULLING TO RIGHT CONCERN
steering wheel off center, would require alignment to
CORRECT; CHECKED ALL STEERING & SUSPENSION COMPONENTS
PERFORMED ALIGNMENT & ADJUSTMENT AS PER
CHRYSLER-JEEP TO CORRECT CONCERN
ROAD TESTED ON COMPLETION TO VERIFY REPAIR
AS NOTED ON CHR-JP INVOICE "REQUIRED TO NOTCH AND ADJUST THE
DRIVERS FRONT STRUT TO RAISE CAMBER INTO PROPER SPEC
AND LEAD"
And now, a year later, the alignment is off again.
My concerns:
1. That the repair was done by a Chrysler/Jeep service centre, not official Ford service. When I asked the service desk receptionist what exactly "REQUIRED TO NOTCH" meant, they couldn't tell me, because they were just reading off the invoice they got from Chrysler/Jeep. This indicates that they don't even know or control what Chrysler/Jeep did to my Ford. Is this common, or acceptable?
2. That the repair required the drivers front strut to be "notched", since this seems to mean that they had to cut into the strut in some way, making a notch. This seems a bit extreme. Shouldn't it be possible to adjust the camber within the usual adjustment range of the components? Does the fact that the repair required notching indicate that the alignment was really off, or caused by damage, or that Chrysler/Jeep didn't know how to do it properly and instead had to permanently modify a Ford component?
3. The alignment is off again...
So what should I do?
Should/Can I lodge a complaint about the repairs being done by non-Ford service (not certified to work on Fords)?
What should I do about the reoccurring misalignment?
