Well here it goes. I've used these forums many times in my life, but never added to them-or even created an account as far as that goes, but I just created an account solely for this post.
My wife and I have been considering a SUV for a few years now and last September we finally bit the bullet and bought a '23 explorer timberline. Love the looks, performance, and am a Ford fan in general.
-However- ever since new, it's had a chatter/clunking/rattle in the front left corner. Very annoying in a brand new ride. We took it back and they said they ordered parts. Parts came in and they replaced the left front knuckle assembly and lower ball joint/control arm assembly(quite a bit of $). Not fixed. Took it back and was told the part was ordered and on backorder. I planned to make a trip to AL and didn't feel safe to make the journey with this issue. Not looking for something to come apart going down the highway with my family on board. Called my local ford dealer(Hagerstown Ford) and my wife had to fight and fight for a loaner. Finally they placed us into a 2023 XLT with 70few miles on it. 21 or so days later we get a call that the vehicle is on its way back to us fixed(they replaced the front drivers side strut mount). We had a coupon for car wash and asked them to do that before we got it back and they said they would. However when they dropped it off, it looked like it'd been through the war! Water trails all over the windows and looked like a child had put finger marks all over the wheels and body in the dust, passenger headlight($1900) had condensation in it, and worst of all the noise was still there. I immediately drove it to the dealer and of course no noise this random time all the way there and the condensation evaporated out of the light by the time I arrived. When I got there, I showed the sales manager how my vehicle was returned to me and explained the whole story up to this point. I told him I wasn't going to return the vehicle at this point for the noise because for whatever reason it didn't make it coming this trip. He saw the wash job and was disgusted with it himself and, even though that wasn't the main reason I drove it back, he wanted to make that right and gave it a full detail while I waited. I shook his hand for that and left.
The next day it was back to the normal chatter so we called in and they said it'd be a couple days before the loaner was back so we waited and they swapped them out once again. I went ahead and called Ford Customer Service and asked them what to do and they suggested for me to start and money-back claim, so I did. The ford dealer called us and said it was done. When we questioned the repairs made, they said they "tightened some stuff up". Wow--Okay. My wife told them she wasn't giving up the loaner that was so hard for them to give us until she'd verified the repairs herself and headed to the dealer.
-Still clunking.-
She took the tech for a ride and he agreed with her that yes it most certainly had a chatter in that area and he wished he could fix it but just couldn't find it. Unacceptable. 3 hours she spent arguing with the techs, manager, and general manager(all the while I'm at home caring for our daughter instead of making my income from my repair shop that I own behind my house). At one point she went out into the loaner to call me to ask me a question and they removed the plates while she was sitting in it lol. The tech asked her also "Well what does your husband think it is?" Why would they ask that? Im not a certified ford tech! Yes I'm a mechanic but why should I be diagnosing my brand new vehicle?????
She was told that, although they heard the issue, they deemed it safe and needed their rental back. I told her to get that in writing and have them sign it. She did and headed back home.
Complexly and utterly annoyed, I googled "2023 Explorer Chatter" and what came up? This forum.
I went out to my shop, put it on my lift, checked the rack and found a pronounced clunking on the drivers side of my steering rack and none at all one the passenger side. Wow, found the issue in the first minute of looking.
Also I found they had
#1 damaged my drivers side body by lifting it at the wrong spot,
#2 damaged my drivers side front brake backing plate by bending part of it out of the way like it was some piece of junk beater car to make it easier for them to access a nut when they has change out the knuckle/control arm,
#3 bent my body trim on the passenger side while lifting it with their jack.
Now I'm just simply mortified and confused as to what to do. I want the issue fixed and I want what they damaged fixed, but, quite frankly, I don't trust their techs any further than I could throw them.... Honestly at this point, I just want to be placed in another identical timberline(I still like this SUV) and never use my local dealer(again, Hagerstown Ford) and just use another more trusted dealer that I hear wonderful things about only 30 min away.
Has anyone gotten the buy back program carried out yet?
Has anyone gotten this issue resolved yet?
Suggestions?
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