[asingh1977]

Shocking to see such a damage on a new vehicle. I doubt a pot hole could have been a catalyst for the failure.

[nanduchitnis]

The matter is serious enough for Ford Company to take possession of the vehicle to do a thorough analysis for this breakdown and damage to a factory new vehicle.

This will help Ford Motor company to rectify defects, recall cars if required and save other owners from suffering similar accidents due to faulty parts.

They need to give the owner a flawless brand new car also.

After all it will be honorable and ethical to do so.

[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

The matter is serious enough for Ford Company to take possession of the vehicle to do a thorough analysis for this breakdown and damage to a factory new vehicle.

This will help Ford Motor company to rectify defects, recall cars if required and save other owners from suffering similar accidents due to faulty parts.

They need to give the owner a flawless brand new car also.

After all it will be honorable and ethical to do so.

Firstly the failure is surprising. Insult to injury: is the return proforma provided by Ford, a world class manufacturer. They could have at least done some lab / engineering analysis and R&D before ascertaining a bill manifesto. Anyone can come up with the cost to be incurred. It is the RCA which is crucial in this scenario. Weird. They are rapidly washing their hands off equipment which left their factory a few months ago. Errm...probably one month ago.

[GTO]

I just realised we have an all FORD homepage today!

Karan's Figo Video Review (No. 1 on the main flash banner)
Rehaan's Figo Official Review (no. 2)
EcoSport Axle failure (No. 1 on 'Hot Threads')
EcoSport Recall (no. 2)
Figo Video Review (no. 3)

This will of course change as more new threads come in, but I can't think of any manufacturer that has occupied the top spots on our homepage like this.

Anyway, enough with the off-topic post. Lets get back to the axle.

[akhilesh]

This is scary and as an ecosport owner I'm worried. I've sent a mail to custmail@ford.com quoting this tread and expressed my concern.

Going through the components which attributed to 2.9L I noticed front speakers, entire dashboard etc.. in the list too which is kind of surprising. I seriously think that these guys extrapolate the figures by including all the unnecessary stuff and rip-off insurance companies

[pc73]

Scary! Good to know that the occupants were not hurt in the mishap.

Wondering why the airbags (LH) did not fire up. I believe this model (AT petrol) also has side & curtain airbags.

Also, shouldn't one escalate such issues directly to Ford rather than going by what the dealer/A.S.S says. If this has been escalated to to Ford India, wonder what is their stand on this matter. Dealer giving a routine 83 item repair estimate looks ridiculous.

[kaushik51094]

Originally Posted by pc73

Wondering why the airbags (LH) did not fire up. I believe this model (AT petrol) also has side & curtain airbags.

I'm no expert but just guessing that since the bonnet seems almost fine without caving in, the impact wouldn't have triggered the airbag sensors. Also, the impact taken by the doors seem low compared to thresholds which cause the curtain airbags to pop out.

This apart, such a thing from FORD? Good to know none of them were hurt!

[rusticnomad]

One word -- Shocking!. Glad that none of the occupants were hurt.

Unless Ford indulges in a honest failure analysis, no one would ever come to know the fact. Metallurgical failures (shearing/snapping etc) do not happen like this on a new car that hasn't even been put to real use in true sense.

Analysis of fracture would reveal few facts for sure if it is done with an intention of finding the real cause of failure rather than covering it up and slapping a huge repair estimate/bill.

If Ford doesn't do, then the owner can take possession of all the fractured components and send it over to any Material science lab (IIT/IISc etc) and I am sure they would list all probable cause for all shearing. Fatigue failures are not unheard of, but not in a new car that has barely clocked any mileage -- unless there was an obvious manufacturing defect in some parts/sub-parts that skipped through QC lines.

Wonder if this could just be the beginning of "Ecosport Lemon" in extreme case? Anything's possible unless Ford speaks the truth and is ratified by experts with metallurgical findings. I just hope it's not a case of Lemon.

OT: My nephew took a TD of new Figo and Aspire few days back and his first comment was -- Vehicles no longer feel like a Ford product, and Korean influence seems to have taken over Ford.

[sudhirnam]

This is a rare but shocking tale of an Ecosport´s axle giving up. Glad to know everyone on board is safe.
After selling 2 million of them, what could have gone wrong! Most vehicles are put to rigorous testing and checking before coming out of the factory.
This matter should be escalated to the top in Ford if the response of the dealer is to just to present a massive bill. Won´t this damage be covered under warranty (as it is a new vehicle)?

As a Figo Aspire owner,I now have worries stepping my foot on the accelerator.

[Satishtv]

This is very scary. I hope the owner gets a quick resolution from Ford. This news has gained a lot of attention since it first came up on this forum. Have seen this news on all major social networks. On Twitter people have actually forwarded the article to Ford's twitter handle.

[Anand3553]

This is very scary. Glad to hear that everyone is safe.

Off late, these incidents occur more and more and most of them as on the sub 4 meter SUV's. I remember a couple of such incidents related to Duster. We might never know the actual cause.

Our roads have improved a lot but these incidents remind us that even an empty stretch of superb tarmac is not safe. It is always best to maintain sane speed.




Thanks
Anand

[honeybee]

What we sorely lack is a forensic laboratory to investigate what must have happened. I had read in the papers a few weeks ago that the government is mulling about setting up such an agency, but that must wait.

Meanwhile is there any way one could prevent this? Will the axle just collapse like that, or will there be any symptoms the owner could check for?

Would driving within speed limits lessen the severity of such major accidents which do not involve another vehicle or person?

[prithm]

This is horrendous.

A company like Ford should own up, get it rectified with no cost involved to bring back trust of their customers. This will highlight their trust factor with potential customers and existing.

This is called Ethics.

There is nothing wrong in owning up, but finance is the thorn that these companies tend to fear.

Legal options for Poornima is through consumer court ( lengthy hearings ), but will give a fitting reply to the manufacturer and should be actively publicized in forums like ours.

Ford cannot wash its hands off this murky situation. They have to come out clean and take responsibility to regain trust.

[snan]

Extremely scary and at the same time confusing issue. I'd assume typical failures of this nature would be due to wear, corrosion, fatigue or overload. Given the newness of vehicle first three are ruled out and looks it it was also not overloaded. And most of these members I'd assume are designed with lot of buffer. It most likely had the crack initiation during production - and resultant stress concentration led to this incident. I can't think of anything else in this case. I'd assume a lab study can point to truth that it was indeed a manufacturing defect

[akshat15]

This simply qualifies as gross negligence on part of the assembly line people. This sheds a light on the quality of 'OK testing' done at the factory end and the P.D.I done at the dealer level. I'm sure Ford aren't subjecting their vehicles to rigorous testing after a car is manufactured. According to me this matter should be escalated to the consumer forum without thinking twice as this incident could have endangered the lives of passengers, moreover the mental trauma associated with it.