[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by GTO

That is interesting - it is either mighty decent of Ford to offer this (if it is indeed driver error), or mighty cynical of them to wash their hands off it (if it were mechanical failure). Can't call it one way or the other with the limited information to hand, and with the limited investigation performed.

The report from Goodyear also states that:

... shoulder was damaged due to external impact which resulted in pinch cut damage between rim flange and kerb (gurder) ...

According to the photos on page 1, that road has no kerb! The only thing I can see in any picture is a culvert in the background of this photo. Given there's no damage to the front left fog lamp area, it'll mean the culvert would have had to be hit at an angle so as to directly hit the wheel, which is not easy even though the road there has a gentle left curve - it will have needed unluckily good aim. Also, the left side of the road (left side from the driver's perspective, right on the photo) doesn't seem to narrow appreciably around the culvert area, which otherwise happens when such roads are widened; so that rules out another cause of the driver hitting it. In the absence of any such obvious causes for impact, we'd have to give the benefit of the doubt to the driver until we have any other information proving otherwise.

Originally Posted by AstaAddict

What was the Customer's initial query to Ford to which they responded? I'm sure it was not just related to the burst tire.

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

The subject of the email says - "Ford Ecosport - Tyre Burst". There is no mention of Axle breaking any where.

Excellent point - it'll be good to understand what conversations and email exchanges happened previously, why the axle/suspension is ruled out and why the discussion has narrowly focused on the tire, with the email implying (but not stating) that this was the cause of the subsequent damage.

Originally Posted by Jomz

Surprisingly, All broken ball joints are on the passenger side, even in this car!

Speculating, but maybe the camber of the road puts a higher lateral force on that side?

[Jeroen]

In the absence of any such obvious causes for impact, we'd have to give the benefit of the doubt to the driver until we have any other information proving otherwise.

There isn’t much of the road to be seen in the pictures. See my earlier comments. Why should the driver get the benefit of doubt to the driver when there is such clear evidence, the shattered rim, that points to a very different cause?

Like I have been saying all long, looks more like the tyre/rim hit something first and Ford reply seems to be implying that too.
Sometimes the truth is inconvenient, but that doesn’t alter reality.

I do believe Ford’s answer could have been formulated in a much better way.

Jeroen

[a4anurag]

Have been silently following this thread waiting for Ford to respond.

Originally Posted by AstaAddict

This is hilarious from Ford India What was the Customer's initial query to Ford to which they responded?

The way things have been dealt is a question mark and also good reply from Ford is a clear case of washing their hands off rather than seriously inspecting it.

The Alloy on the car has broken/sheared off and NOT bent so there is no chance of an tyre burst as mentioned by Ford + Goodyear team. I can't find any relation so as to why Goodyear was called?

May be it is a collective effort to close the claim. Road conditions, pictures etc all seem good so something from Fords end is fishy.

A clear thumbs down to Ford for the that reply and it feels like they are doing a favor by giving that balance money to customer.

Originally Posted by Engine_Roars

The subject of the email says - "Ford Ecosport - Tyre Burst". There is no mention of Axle breaking any where.

To wash their hands off the case! They'll not accept the Axle damage issue at all.
_________________________________________

To,
Dear Ford India,

If you are reading, a word of caution, the whole community is reading and the thread is Labelled as a "Hot Thread" where every post is read by all, so any silly replies from your end will damage the trust and value you guys have built up with your cars till date.

Give the customer a loaner car, take the parts to a laboratory and get them checked for fatigue or defects. Be honest and share the reports with the dealer and the customer. Then decide the outcome and way forward.

Calling Goodyear and inspecting the tyre isn't of any use or relation (looking at the pictures). It will neither take you anywhere nor will it to the customer!

Regards,
An eagerly waiting customer.

[Bh.P]

To me, this seems the sequence of events
1. The incident happens
2. Customer reports to Ford Dealer/Ford
3. Ford says it is a tyre burst, breaking of axle is an after math due to impact
4. Customer then asks why the tyre burst
5. Ford ropes in GY, who points to external damage.

If the above is true, then Ford is in the right and their handling of situation is acceptable, or even good considering they are offering to bear the differential costs over insurance.

Some may still say the axle should not break in case of tyre burst and companies should have a factor of safety built in to the design of such critical parts to handle such situations. But that is a different discussion. What is possible to factor in during design for such extraneous circumstances.

[Doge]

I think all concerned Ecosport owners here should shoot an email to "custmail@ford.com". Posting on their FB page or tweeting them might also help.
This should pressurize Ford to give a honest explanation about what's what. But there's no denying that there is a lack of clarity from the OP as well.

[Engine_Roars]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

To wash their hands off the case! They'll not accept the Axle damage issue at all.


An eagerly waiting customer.

The email is from customer care, and is a reply to forwarded email at that (Subject of the email - FW) so I assume they were just replying to the OP's email, so technically it is OP who has missed the "Axle Breaking" issue at the first place.

[i74js]

Now that Mr. Madhu has documents at hand including the cold response offered by Ford. Is it not the time to give this news to print media both to the news papers as well as to several auto magazines; I am sure not everyone will be cold to such a case and there is a likelihood that this will gain importance.

Ford should come across the table and carry out complete analysis of this failure. If this has established links to part failure or assembly failure, it should be addressed before repetition.

What say Ford?

[Turbanator]

I believe dealership has cooked up this story of tyre burst to get Insurance claim passed as they would have otherwise faced Questions from Insurance - now its a simple claim - while travelling car hit something and tyre got bust resulting all this - most likely Ford / Dealership would have convinced customer to carry with this explanation and assured to bear difference on body parts like tyre. I have not seen a manufacturer footing billing of a broken part unless they were at fault specially for something like tyre.. this case will close now unless customer decides otherwise and refuses to get vehicle repaired and demands replacement

[autospeaker]

Dear BHPians. I am waiting for my Ecosport to be delivered in January. I was very happy on my decision till this happened ! I am bit circumspect about the Ford's quality now. On top of it, Ford's cold response to the whole issue is not encouraging at all. Do I really need to worry about this incident? Do I need to rethink on my decision? Really confused. I would like to have your suggestions. This could help a lot a people who are about to buy the Ecosport or thinking of buying one in near future.

Also, if the owner of the car could share the Dealer details, that would be great!

[Doge]

Originally Posted by autospeaker

Dear BHPians. I am waiting for my Ecosport to be delivered in January. I was very happy on my decision till this happened ! I am bit circumspect about the Ford's quality now. On top of it, Ford's cold response to the whole issue is not encouraging at all. Do I really need to worry about this incident? Do I need to rethink on my decision? Really confused. I would like to have your suggestions. This could help a lot a people who are about to buy the Ecosport or thinking of buying one in near future.

Also, if the owner of the car could share the Dealer details, that would be great!

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't be worried as such. It is quite difficult to gauge what has actually happened and how from here. I don't think we will ever know if this was a manufacturing defect until and unless the OP decides to consult third party professionals. Ford's response may not seem encouraging,no doubt but the OP hasn't posted what has she actually emailed them and there is an overall lack of clarity from OP'ies side. Ford's QC isn't perfect but that is limited to panel gaps and such, nothing of this magnitude. I know a few people who have crossed 50K on their cars and Ford has sold over a lac of these so I'm guessing that its a one off issue.
If this case isn't cleared until January, go for the Ecosport.

[::CMS::]

Cannot blindly blame anyone. Really its an unfortunate incident and should not have happened. To me the damage is not the scary part, the reluctance of the Ford to do a thorough investigation on this to find the root cause, issues can happen. The attitude is going to affect their credibility. It would be disastrous if it happens in other cars also (if it is a manufacturing defect) and can cause some serious accident. They should have done atleast an initial investigation other than preparing the estimate. I hope the insurance will not wash their hands considering it as a manufacturing defect. If so, it will be a legal battle and will take a lot of time to settle, probably the owner may have to look for another car. Sad state of affairs.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

One can just look at the tie rod end, and you can make out of its sheared off, or the nut just came loose ... Its either an assembly line error, or error at a alignment shop.

Originally Posted by GTO

I want an analysis on the suspension component failure, not a warranty rejection from Good Year!

GTO, Can we not ask the owner to click some more pictures of tie rod end and steering knuckle?

[anachronix]

I think some important pieces of the puzzle are missing, in case of a axle/CV joint failure why did the tire burst with so much impact on the outside of the wheel. The air would have leaked from inside of the wheels when the alloys sheared off rather than bursting on the outside wall at the marked specific point. Its either a tire burst or impact on the culvert thats seen in the backdrop of one of the image (there is visible bruise marks on the front bumper as well).

I am equally puzzled at the owner's email stating only the tire burst situation in the subject. Its fishy indeed!

Either ways, I dont think we have the entire story to make any conclusions.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by black_rider

GTO, Can we not ask the owner to click some more pictures of tie rod end and steering knuckle?

Originally Posted by anachronix

I am equally puzzled at the owner's email stating only the tire burst situation in the subject. Its fishy indeed!

Why is the onus on the owner? It should be on FORD. Who do you think is more capable of a full expert analysis on what actually happened here?

The vehicle is in Ford's possession (its dealers)
Ford has ample technical talent at its disposal (unlike the owner)
Ford has thousands of engineers on its payroll (unlike the owner)
Ford has the necessary workshop equipment & tools (unlike a layman car owner)
Ford has the required industry contacts with labs and the like (unlike a regular car owner).

Why the heck can't Ford do a proper analysis on what exactly caused this failure and tell the owner? What have they got to hide?

End of the day, it's the customer who pays 10 lakhs to Ford. This is the least that Ford can do. Ford NEEDS to provide answers to the owner. Ford is ANSWERABLE to the owner.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by GTO

Why is the onus on the owner?

The onus is definitely on the manufacturer, no doubts about that. He who has great power, also has great responsibility.

Just wanted to know if we can have more pictures to support one of the theories/continue our discussion.