Team-BHP - Fiesta Trouble!

My uncle bought a Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi 19months back in Kolkata. He has been extremely happy with the car. The car has not given him any problems so far and was giving a mileage of 14kmpl in city. The car has always been chauffeur and is well maintained. The car has done 19,500kms.

Recently it rained in Kolkata and he was coming back home from work. There was a patch of road which was slightly waterlogged. All car's were going through with out any problems. He says the water was just till his calf. The driver did the half clutch and took it in first gear revving the car throughout. In between the car got stuck. They tried to start the car but it din't start. they pushed it out of the water and the ford guys were called. They towed the car back and said water has gone in the engine. My uncle tried telling them that the water wasn't deep. There was a WagonR in front and my uncle says the exhaust of that car wasn't under water. They have just done the estimate and have given the estimate attached below.

My uncle has told the service chaps that how can a car which Ford claim is designed for indian roads which are known to be waterlogged much worse get stuck. He saw NHC's and WagonR's clear it without any problem.

Now the problem is as per them they say the car cannot be repaired under warranty. The warranty is for 24months and the car is still under warranty for another 6 months.

From the estimate it looks like a complete engine failure. They want the piston and con rods replaced!!!

I plan to write to Ford India but wanted to know if what they say is true and how I should go about this. Anyone have any contacts in Ford India?

Thanks guys in advance.

This is the problem about Kolkata - they have only ONE Ford dealer, hence easier taking the customers for a ride. 1100D has had many a run-in with them.

I'm not sure about that bit about water in the engine however, you mentioned the water was calf deep - that's a fair bit of water I'd say. Have they checked out the electricals, ECM etc, are they OK? Looks like your uncle will really have to fight it out with them for claiming this under warranty.

We have a member by the name of KashD (haven't seen him very active lately) who's Fiesta was submerged in the Gujrat floods, maybe you can PM him for his experiences. I remember he was very dissatisfied about the time taken to attend to his complaint but it was covered under insurance IIRC

How can one claim insurance for this? Whats the pretext of the claim. If it was a flood it would be under natural calamity.

I guess water till the calf is like a foot deep or maybe more.

The showroom is called Ganges Ford.

Mclaren the Turbo isnt mentioned in the parts list which I have attached.

Are you guys able to see the attachement?

Looks like this can happen to any Fiesta then? With monsoon starting/started, there would be worst cases. If a car has been designed for Indian conditions, then they should have looked at this aspect too. I am not convinced that when a NHC can pass through, a Fiesta designed for Indian conditions cannot. Can you please ask your uncle to confirm the version given my Service center.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 474951)

Are you guys able to see the attachement?

Yeah, saw it, looks bad! If the dealer diagnosis is suspect, I would suggest your Uncle try & contact the Ford Regional Office (do they have one in Kolkata?) so that they send a techie to the workshop to corroborate what the dealer is saying (Ford do this in Delhi at least when they replace any major item under warranty - they send their technical expert to verify the source of the problem).

If there is a regional Office, that itself should give a contact point for taking this up further with the company.

Well, I'm not sure how the insurance is going to work in this case but there were cars stranded in Mumbai as well while wading through flooded areas - I would think there would be some kind of coverage. By the way, electricals, ECM OK?

I'm a tall guy so I guess my calves are a little higher off the ground - 15 to 18 inches I'd say:)

Sad incident.

But what i can recollect is that when FORD launched the Fiesta they claimed that Fiesta was being built for our conditions and specifically they claimed that Fiesta could go in certain water level without any problems ....they claimed and boasted this feature

check out the FORD website for features or check with another ford dealer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by namit (Post 474963)

But what i can recollect is that when FORD launched the Fiesta they claimed that Fiesta was being built for our conditions and specifically they claimed that Fiesta could go in certain water level without any problems ....they claimed and boasted this feature

Really? My memory fails me, could you give a specific link or site where they mentioned this "certain" level?

Anyway, this is the second monsoon after the Fiesta's launch and there are enough cars which are on the roads that have gone through the effects of a full monsoon without something like this happening (I've myself been through a lot of water last year, have never faced this).

Lets try & help Vidyut out with this one instead of starting a debate on whether the Fiesta has failed under Indian conditions or not - we can start a separate thread on that :D .

Cheers

I guess water can go in the engine through air intake only and that is placed up high. Can water enter through tail pipe? I dont think so.
Kolkata might have some garages who repair imported cars. Why not consult them too? Just to get an idea. Maybe its some lesser cause like problem with ECU.
He shouldnt have told Ford guys that the car was moving through water log. He should have told that it was raining and car suddenly stopped. Thats all.
~120,000/- for repair? :Shockked:
I might as well warn my brother who has a TDCi in Mumbai.

your uncle was able to open the door and get out without the water flooding the cabin??????
i must say thats hardly any amount of water!!!!!!! can't believe the fiesta can't even take such small amounts of water logging. either that or the ford guys are trying to pull a fast one on you.
anyway i think your uncle can claim insurance under flooding. not sure though. but really shocking to see the "made of india" fiesta unable to take a foot or a lil more of water!

Quote:

He says the water was just till his calf. The driver did the half clutch and took it in first gear revving the car throughout. In between the car got stuck. They tried to start the car but it din't start.

Before we start aiming the brickbats against the car, lets review whats been mentioned above.

** Driver rode on half clutch : Isnt is possible he may have released the clutch in between which resulted in water being sucked up?

** Car got stuck, and tried to start it : Isnt that a big NO-NO? If it gets stuck, you shouldnt try starting it, instead you should push it out of there. Atleast thats what my manual for the ikon tells me, in the case of waterlogging.

Opinions, guys?

Quote:

Originally Posted by vid6639 (Post 474966)

The ECM and electricals are fine. The water had not entered the cabin at all. He could open the doors to get out and push and water was still below the door height.

I need to find about the regional office. Haven't got in touch with ford yet as wanted to assess the situation with you guys.

Dude that is not even called water.the water was more like 1/3rd of the tyre height since u said that when u opened the door it did not enter the cabin.yeah it can enter the exhaust all right but not like the entire exhaust would have been submered anway because the water wasnt that high and your driver was revving it so its almost next to impossibe.