[Sebring]

Imagine if this were to happen in the US! We would have head of all sorts of action suits. It's India, so Ford can get away even with slapping repair charges to the tune of lakhs. I think this matter should defintely be moved to the courts.

[bluevolt]

I have seen axles breaking related accidents live on NH1 but those were quite old trucks.

In those cases, the entire wheel gets dislocated from the body and even hit the other cars behind the truck.

But for a brand new EcoSport, this is simply scary & unacceptable.

I am wondering if the owner really has to shell out 3+ lacs on the repairs or better to sell it off and go for some other new vehicle!

[Doge]

This is quite shocking to say the least. I had already noticed that Ford's QC is a little iffy but this is unbelievably bad. My car is also of a similar vintage and this is quite concerning. Waiting for ford India's response.

[mercedised]

Have seen this type of failure in Bolero, Safari, Scorpio and Tavera. If i remember correctly there is one Safari owned by a TBHP member which had similar failure. He also posted pics. on his thread. As for the Ecosport for such a new vehicle it is shocking.

[drsingh]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/49770531.cms


There seem to be quality issues with the suspension setup.
This case is definitely grounds for suing Ford /dealership for a manufacturing defect that may endanger multiple lives on the road.

[nitinbose]

There is a quite good possibility that this was a test drive vehicle and the dealership sold the vehicle to the owner. They may also have extended some discounts to make the whole deal look attractive.

The vehicle might have undergone some repairs (on or around the axle/tie-rod) in the Ford workshop and the technicians may not have fixed things properly.

This is also a possibility.

[harry10]

Wow. The first thought which came to my mind was what if this was hundred and twenty kilometres Plus on a busy Highway. This issue should be highlighted on every social media page including FB, Twitter till the time Ford India notices and take proper action.

[icyspikey]

This is absolutely horrific to even read !

Without knowing the complete history ,it's hard to predict the root cause.

Even my Figo had a recall for an A/C Hose & RTB issue.
What's with Ford and RTBs anyway?

Either way i think the owner should shoot mails and post the same on social networks.To the best of my knowledge , Ford is a pretty decent company to with.I'd positively expect a proper response if this reaches the right desks.Anyway ,Even if everything was repaired properly,I can only imagine the fear the owner would have every time he/she drives the car.

[dpkbehera]

This is a shocking incident. I can only imagine the pain the owners of the Ecosport must be going through.

Being a recent owner of a Ecosport, this is something to be wary about. It is quite common attitude of the MNC's in india to flaunt their international lineage/legendary customer service. But when it comes to actual delivery, they are just marginally better than the indian companies.

I have yet to come across any major quality issues w.r.t Ford India. I would like to follow/watch how Ford India deals with this issue. I just hope they do not disappoint us.

[Jeroen]

Glad everybody was unhurt.

I’m puzzled by the rim that is completely shattered. I have never seen or heard of a rim ending up looking like that without it having hit something very substantial.

I would say you hit something that broke the rim and sheared of all the underpinnings subsequently. All happens in a flash, you probably couldn’t even distinguish between hitting pothole or whatever obstruction and everything coming apart.

Jeroen

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by black_rider

I suspect the steering tie rod on passenger side. It must've broke at speed, causing this wheel to toe out, pull back on the axle, lower joint and suspension arm, which broke the lower ball joint and tore the axle CV joint.

Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi

. Would be interesting to know if they recently aligned the car and the Jam nut on the tie rod was not torqued properly. It takes a lot for the tie rod to break.

I would say this is the perfect explanation. One can just look at the tie rod end, and you can make out of its sheared off, or the nut just came loose. With the tie rod end gone, the CV joint will have to be at an angle more than its designed for, and hence gave way. I strongly suspect this is not a manufacturing defect. Its either an assembly line error, or error at a alignment shop.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Glad everybody was unheard.

Do you really mean it?

I’m puzzled by the rim that is completely shattered. I have never seen or heard of a rim ending up looking like that without it having hit something very substantial.

The vehicle was travelling at 100+ speeds. I believe that speed and the ripped off suspension components are enough to crack that wheel?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

The vehicle was travelling at 100+ speeds. I believe that speed and the ripped off suspension components are enough to crack that wheel?

I doubt that very much. If one of the tie rods or something else in the suspension gave, I would not expect the rim to look like this at all.

Sometimes even on a clear road, there might be an unexpected object. Humans are not very good at picking up that sort of things. (stationary on a big empty road). I managed to damage my car once, very badly. I could have sworn the road was empty. But the car behind me pulled up as well and he told me there was a brick in the fast lane and I must have hit it. Blew a tire, broke the rim and a very extensive re-allignement that time.

I have seen a number of cars that were involved in front suspension breakage. Notably due to counterfeit parts (e.g. counterfeit tie rods) that broke. All of those rims survived, save some scratches. They just get slammed violent into the chassis, but that typically just buckles a bit and gives. Not the same as hitting something solid, say a pothole or a brick.

The only way to determine the real cause, or at least exclude a problem with any of the parts is to do take the broken parts to a forensic/metallurgic type of laboratorium where they can determine (maybe) what caused the part to snap. Quality or to high a force.

Not sure where you could get that done in India though.

It might be there was a fault with the part as suggested, or maybe even something that wasn't installed or torqued correctly. However, it is remarkable to decide to snap while driving on a clear road. You would expect it to snap when it was put under additional and or a shock loading. E.g. Hitting something, but you just cant tell unfortunately. It could have just snapped. But based on the rim I would say, something was hit, broke the rim and put additional stresses on whatever was poorly manufactured and or installed and thats how it ended up looking like it does.

But then again, I could be totally wrong. I have been before!

Good luck with that, difficult case to prove one way or the other. But as usual, many opinions, including mine.

Jeroen

[i74js]

To me this seems to be a clear case of vehicle failure; Ford should investigate properly if this was material failure or assembly issue. Whatever it may be, though one cannot say that Ecosport is made to cost machine similar to Etios or Go. I am sure Ford India is compromising on QA QC.

- The road condition looks to be perfectly fine, rather this seems to be a newly metaled road and there is no likely possibility of any impact / frontal collision.

- There are no dividers either, so even that possibility is out.

- The car looks clean and absolutely new. Even the pictures of broken parts do not hint of any collision, no scratches anywhere.

Ford, please own up and attend to your customer.

[dextertuned]

This is extremely concerning. Hopefully everyone is ok. It would have been a different story if this had happened at a speed above 100.

Makes me wonder, isn't there any legal process in place that we can follow, in case of such incidents so that these companies are obliged to take take action?

[autospeaker]

Having booked the Ecosport and waiting for the delivery, this incident seems very scary. Usually the Bangalore-shringeri route will not be in the best of the conditions. But, in the picture, we can see that the road was not that bad at all- definitely not bad enough, where a sudden impact would have made the axle give away. Hopefully Ford comes in and helps the owner in every possible way. That should at least instill confidence in the existing owners and potential buyers mind!