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There is a safety aspect: brighter colours are easiest to see, especially in the dangerous evening hours. They ought to go down well with the bully boys too: you couldn't miss that thing in your rear-view mirror!

Had taken my Ecosport for its 20k service today to Harpreet Ford, New Delhi. Additional items to do were the airbag wiring recall, rear left power window switch was not working and the brakes were juddering when applied at 80-90 kmph.


Reached there at 9 AM and the guy first took a road test to see the judder issue, then the wiring recall work continued till 1 PM. Rest of the service finished by 3 and then they started measuring rotor thickness, runnouts etc to ascertain warranty claim. The driver side rotor was found defective and i was told that brakes have a warranty only till 1 year 20,000 kms and i would have to pay for this job. The discs cost 3000 for a pair and the the brake pads cost a whopping 3700 ( vento brake pads cost 1800 to compare), total cost around 7500 and would be entirely borne by me.

I raised my voice to this and they finally relented to change only rotors and not pads, telling me that i would have to get the pads changed on my cost. Told them not to even replace the rotors and i would contact Ford India about it. The pads have gone bad due to the defective rotors and they should change it under warranty. The washing/ billing finished up by 6, total cost for 20k service was 4300 and i had to spend 9 hours for a routine service, very disappointed with the service this time. Even the aircon in customer lounge was not working and i gave them a negative feedback for this and not even asking customers for tea/coffee for which the CRM duly apologised.

The rear top mounted stop lamp was not working, the boys caught it out as i had no clue about it and they changed it under warranty ( cost 3700), the power window switch was also replaced under warranty and it costed around 600-700 so the spares are costly, good thing is they changed both these things withhout any drama.

Sending a mail to Ford and would request them to explain as to why should i pay for new pads when their faulty rotors have ruined them. The old pads have atleast 30k life in them. Also giving them feedback about the poor customer management at this dealership.

As expected from Ford India, they have not disappointed and have given full support for this brake disc and brake pad job. They have always been helpful and this is the reason i bought a 2014 Fiesta after enjoying Ecosport for a year. The company support has been top notch so far.

I had send a mail to Ford yesterday night and got a call today that brake pads can not be covered under warranty. I told them i was not happy with this and not willing to even get the rotors changed, also asked them to explain me why i should as a customer pay for some thing which is a fault of Ford.

Just now got a call and they have approved both discs+ pads as a goodwill gesture and the lady from Ford thanked me for owning 2 Ford cars. Will be taking the car for this job in a few days and extremely happy with the help provided by ford india.

If yours points are valid, stick with your stand and no company will object/reject to your demands unless off course it is a VW/Skoda.

Agreed, my experience with Ford India, has also been quite positive, although on a different issue. My money for Front Bull bars was refunded, and the bars taken off, when I pointed out that the bars would do more harm, than good, on an Air Bag equipped vehicle. The dealer was hesitant, but Ford India supported my point of view, after which the Dealer had to comply.

I am looking for Bumper Appliques and roof cross bar and rack for my Ecosport TDCi Titanium. Please suggest if these are available as aftermarket accessories anywhere in Bangalore or should I get them installed at the dealer ?
I am also looking for a good pair of DRLs, any suggestion on where I can get them installed in Bangalore who can do a neat job ?

Take a look at how ASCs treat customer vehicles. This was taken on Saturday, 6th June at Caculo Ford, Verna Goa. Notice how the Figo is being serviced right under the scaffolding, with the ASC oblivious to the fact that the car may end up getting damaged from falling objects & paint droplets.

This issue occurred again last week (in less than 2 months time.) Took the car in to the ASC but the diagnostics showed no error. A battery removal fixed the issue again, but this time I escalated to Ford India, and they have offered to replace the entire audio system under warranty. Considering that it involves removing & refitting the entire dashboard including the airbag unit, should I take up their offer? I'm worried that the dashboard's 'factory fit' finish may not be achievable again by the service center. As also introducing any further niggles/problems with the wiring & airbag mechanism.
please:

On a related note, hasn't any owner here ever experienced bluetooth audio streaming problems with sync? I'm more inclined to believe that it could be a software issue/glitch that leads to the bluetooth receiver getting into a 'stuck' mode until the power is recycled by disconnecting the battery. The service advisor has admitted that the audio unit always remains powered (even after the ignition is switched off.)

I think you should go for the swap. I myself have been victim of such errors in the past, mine was an engine malfunction warning light coming up again and again. Ford had no idea what was causing it so as a last resort they took out the whole dashboard and changed the whole wiring assembly inside it. Now its working fine since last 1 year.
But yes you are right the fitting is not the same as factory fitting, in the process of taking out the dashboard and stuffing it back in they have scratched the surface in 2-3 areas. Also i experience rattling now form 2-3 places. But now i have learned to live with it.

Just came across a news - Ford planning to ship india made Ecosport to US Market

http://m.economictimes.com/industry/...campaign=cppst

With this the waiting periods will be doubled and Ford will definitely hike prices again :Frustrati

Wasn't this happening since long? I always thought they were partial towards the US market selling the EcoSport at a premium price tag where they'd earn a healthy main when compared to selling in India.

I dare Ford to increase waiting periods or prices. Until now, their only competition was the Duster which looked old and was under-equipped. With the Hyundai Creta just around the corner, Ford loses that USP. Yes, the Creta is larger and will be pricier, but it can still hurt Ford badly, since Ford doesn't have the brand equity that Hyundai enjoys in the mass market. And the Creta is a looker.

They were exporting EcoSports to the UK, not the US. But the rest of your statement is true.

90,000 Ecosports per year to the USA from Oct 2015, in addition to the current exports. This will strain the domestic assembly line further. We could be facing 12 month waiting periods again, like in 2014.

I read somewhere that Ford sells the India built Ecoboost for around 16.5L (equivalent dollar value) in other countries. Therefore exports will always be more lucrative compared to domestic sales. I don't think Ford will care if domestic sales plummet as long as the export pipeline holds up.

I have seen some chrome aftermarket appliques for Ecosport. The Ford one is nice and cost around 8k. The roof rack needs cross bars to be fitted and both will come around at 13-15k. You can check this thread for more details:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...red-india.html

Its true that European versions are more expensive, but dont think its a flat 4L more profit for Ford. Firstly the international variants have more safety features as default which push up the cost further. Then they get many goodies like electrically folding orvm, auto head lamps, cruise control etc to name a few. Then there is freight cost, taxes etc. Just see how much the CBU/CKD cars and bikes cost in India. Ecosport may be a huge success in developing countries like India and Brazil, but its a big flop in developed countries like UK, Australia where much better options exist.

From a known source in the production planning of Chennai Ford plant, this is still in cards and that too to balance the Plant's turnover once when they stop the production of current generation Figo. The new Aspire and Figo would be rolled out from their Sanad plant and hence Ford is considering to utilise the existing production lines of Figo and Classic for Ecosports that can be exported to US markets. But again they are still not happy with the sourcing costs and rounds of negotiations are ON with the suppliers.