Maybe Ford has the best customer service, or not? Got faulty tyres changed by Ford.

foadbear

Pirates Skulls and Bones
So , can you guys believe it?

Again got a bulge in a tyre and one of the tyres burst while the car was being driven on the road.

Well, I guess it was divine intervention, the tyres are covered warranty for 40,000 Kms. The first time, the tyres got changed, they were already 17,000 Kms down the road.

This time, the odometer read, 39,975 Kms.

I called up the service centre again.

The service people were trying to blame it on me , telling me that its my driving style (or my wife's) that's causing the tyres to burst and get bulge on the walls. They were even blaming the dent that I had on the side of the car , telling me that it's the dent that caused the bulge and hence the tyre got burst.

I said, I won't aruge with you people over this. Change all the tyres and give me a receipt. I told them, money is not an issue here. Issue is, you guys fail to acknowledge what I am telling you and instead you guys are trying to put the blame on me. They even went to the extent of telling me that I drive on roads where people throw beer bottles and hence the tyre got a buldge.

I told them, I want nothing from you guys now. Just change the tyres. They told me that since since the tyres have been changed once, at 17,000 kms, they will use some sort of formula to calculate the cost of the tyres, the new ones, that I will be getting.

I said, all this sounds good to me. I will need the receipts, the documentation for the formula that you guys are discussing. I told them that I don't want to argue more now, and that I will be filing a case in consumer court , once I am out of here.

I told them that and I came back and had some water and sat down in the lounge area. Some 5 minutes later, a guy came and asked me to come in the conference room. I went there and there were like 4-5 people sititng over there. I was told that they have contacted FORD and that FORD has denied my request to change the tyres. I said, no issues. You change the tyres and give me all the documentation.

However, the service centre people told me, since I am a valuable customer of the service center, they are going to change the tyres, free of cost, all of them. In return, they wanted me to give in writing that I don't have any isues with the service center.

I said, this is good. Once you give me in writing that the new tyres will last for at least 20 k Kms, I will also give in writing what you are asking for. The service center people told me, they can't give that in written and I said, I also wont be able to give anything in written.

However, after some time, we agreed that I will write, " The tyre bulge issue has been addressed by the service center, for now. "

I gave them this, and they changed all the tyres.

I am now thinking that once the tyres hit 20k Kms, I will get the tyres changed to 16 inch alloys, in pairs. ( of course on my own expense)

Any inputs are welcome.
 

Theloststory

Well-Known Member
This is crazy. I wonder why it’s happening. Does it have anything to do with the allow wheel design? Who knows...

I know how you feel. It’s frustrating when we put lakhs of rupees in a product and it’s service or performance is poor and the company just shrugs it off. It seems we don’t have enough consumer, protection.

I have had so many issues with my wife’s VW Vento, we have finally given up and accepted it as life, and of course never to buy VW product again and also recommending same to everyone considering one.
 

deepam

Super User
I suggest, that the issue is with aspect ratio of the tyre.
This is faulty selection of Tyre by manufacturer.
Yes I agree 16" tyre will help.
Raise a case now with Ford that if the issue repeats again in future, Ford will provide you the 16" alloys and tyres as Free replacement at that time.

Tyre bulge happens when Tyre gets impact more than it's designed for.

Car manufacturers act as if Tyre wears or fail early it's not their problems.
Cars whole purpose is lost without the Tyres. We need a strong regulations in India to tie up the manufacturers. They forget that car ownership experience depends on low cost maintenance.
Innova Crysta 2.4Z had tyre burst issue with their 17" Tyres, Toyota had to increase the aspect ratio to resolve the issue.
People blame Tata do experiment with their products, if it's from Toyota and Maruti they don't fret about it.
Hexa with 19" Tyres have no issues. I heard that Tata has reverted back to 17" on new Hexa.

Just to let you know that Ford India Plant, Sales network is now managed by Mahindra.
Hence you might have seen that both are developing joint models.
 

foadbear

Pirates Skulls and Bones
This is crazy. I wonder why it’s happening. Does it have anything to do with the allow wheel design? Who knows...

I know how you feel. It’s frustrating when we put lakhs of rupees in a product and it’s service or performance is poor and the company just shrugs it off. It seems we don’t have enough consumer, protection.

I have had so many issues with my wife’s VW Vento, we have finally given up and accepted it as life, and of course never to buy VW product again and also recommending same to everyone considering one.
I once had a problem with a new Honda Activa. The engine made strange sounds just in a week of purchasing it. When I asked the dealership, I think he gave me lessons in angular momentum, torque and friction and what not.
However, I got the vehicle replaced after complaining to competent authorities and emailing the people in Honda about the issue along with complaints. Some big shot from Honda, came from Varanasi and I was called to a hotel where they offered to replace the vehicle. Of course, they asked me to write that I don't have any issues with Honda. I was happy since they listened to me.

We spend our hard earned money and this is what we get in the name of service. I have realised one thing though, in any such case, it best to let the service center/dealer know about the issue and ask them first. If they refuse, then complain online and send emails to their management. I have to go to consumer court for a credit card fraud case, and what ever it takes, i will see that I pursue it to the end. The security flaw that I raised in the emails to the bank, has been corrected now. But the bank didn't emailed me any thing when I asked them questions. They just gave me a computer generated reply.

The thing is, the system that we live in, always resists when ever we raise concerns.


I suggest, that the issue is with aspect ratio of the tyre.
This is faulty selection of Tyre by manufacturer.
Yes I agree 16" tyre will help.
Raise a case now with Ford that if the issue repeats again in future, Ford will provide you the 16" alloys and tyres as Free replacement at that time.

Tyre bulge happens when Tyre gets impact more than it's designed for.

Car manufacturers act as if Tyre wears or fail early it's not their problems.
Cars whole purpose is lost without the Tyres. We need a strong regulations in India to tie up the manufacturers. They forget that car ownership experience depends on low cost maintenance.
Innova Crysta 2.4Z had tyre burst issue with their 17" Tyres, Toyota had to increase the aspect ratio to resolve the issue.
People blame Tata do experiment with their products, if it's from Toyota and Maruti they don't fret about it.
Hexa with 19" Tyres have no issues. I heard that Tata has reverted back to 17" on new Hexa.

Just to let you know that Ford India Plant, Sales network is now managed by Mahindra.
Hence you might have seen that both are developing joint models.

Yes, Bridgestone has it in their warranty card, that tyre bulges are not covered under warranty.

I will raise the issue with Ford and once I get to know workings of consumer court, I will get Ford in court too, if need be.

Mahindra managing sales network of Ford India plant, seems we can reach out to Mr. Anand Mahindra too now.

Thanks for the information, it is quite helpful.
 

HarryGnome

New Member
Indeed, this is a very serious issue. Good luck with the Ford case. In the meantime, you may check out these wheel and tire packages for your car. If tire bulges are caused by mismatched diameters, take matters into your own hand and choose these correctly-matched wheels and tire sizes. Feel free to explore the drop-down menu.
 

Prasham

Armchair Traveller :(
Well in that case I feel I was lucky to have similar tussle with Tata ASS.

About 7 years back I had a Fiat Punto that came with JK Tyres. Around that time Fiat did JV with TATA and sales and service was later looked by TATA. In just 18k kms, 3 tires of my car got badly damaged on the treads itself.

When I complained about it to TATA ASS, they said they can't help, I'd need to get it checked with JK Tire Service center. I went there and they denied any help and asked me to bug TATA ASS as it was because of wrong alignment.

I again went to TATA ASS but they didn't budge. Same day I shot a letter to Tata Motors customer care and in couple of days I got positive reply. They agreed to change 3 tires to bridgestone. I paid for 4th tire and changed all the tires to remove any doubt from my mind. Seems TATAs are better at customer satisfaction than Ford.


It all started with my visit to Ford Service centre in Lucknow. While I was waiting for my turn to talk to the service manager, a guy came up to me and asked, is this the top model of ecosport? I said yes. Well, I was happy, and honestly, I have always been on bikes so car talks do not excite me much. However, that guy told me that there is some problem in the tyres of Ecosport top model , 17 inch alloys. The problem was that the tyres burst.

At that time, i just thought that he is delivering gyaan and I should just go about my business and went back to my home. Got the car delivered in the evening, all good. However, I could not let go of the words spoken to me by that guy at the service centre. He came with his Ecosport too, not the top model. He told me that he did not purchased top model because of the 17 inch alloy wheels since the 17 inch alloy wheels have problems.

I started researching online that night and came up with number of news articles and rants by people who have claimed that the tyres have problems with them.

Ford EcoSport Facelift: Tyre bulging issue (R17 size) - Team-BHP

Problem of using 17 Inch Alloys in Ford Ecosport Titanium Plus Model

Ford Ecosport 17-inch Ecopia tyre bulge issue resolved

Ford India replacing all problematic tyres on new EcoSport for free


And there are many other links online which have reported this issue.

However, since I had not faced any problems, I thought, what the heck, reading all this will just put more doubts in my mind. So I stopped my research. The car is used by my wife for her daily office commute so I chose not to tell her about this problem since I did not wanted her to panic or have doubts.

Some days later, I started the car and saw 0 tyre pressure in rear left tyre in the TPMS indicator. First thing that came to my mind was, maybe all those links online were true. I got the tyre changed with spare, and came back and researched more. I decided not to tell wife again.

Can you believe it, one week later, front left tyre bulged and cracked open , just like the previous tyre, exactly as described in the online links that I have read.

Fortunately, both the times, it happened when the car was parked and I discovered it while I was getting the car out of house in morning.

I asked my wife to go to her office by cab and told her about the problem. I then called FORD as well the service centre where I go in Lucknow. Got the tyre mended by 11 strips, drove quite slow and got the service centre manager to look at it. They inspected it and changed the tyres, telling me that since the tyres are under warranty, they will change it.

I asked, what about the remaining three tyres which have not burst yet, but they can in future since the problem lies in the tyres themselves. The service centre manager told me that they will call Ford and that I have nothing to worry about. That's what I wanted to hear. Nothing to worry about. I came back to my home.


But then, I could not let go of the thought what if the tyre burst happens while my wife is en-route her office, plenty of what ifs started coming to my mind. I waited for two days and called Ford Service again and asked them what is the status of my request to change the remaining three tyres. I was told that Ford has denied it and said that they can only change the tyres if there is any damage.

The first thought that came to my mind was to take a knife and rip open all the three tyres. I went for Ecosport because of all the cars that are in that price range, I felt it to be most sturdy and safe. I took the top model to have airbags for everyone. I decided I will talk to Ford myself and sort this thing out.

I emailed Ford, with all the links and even the link of a family who died because of the tyre burst issue.

here is the link

Ford EcoSport Tyre Burst On Nizamabad Highway — Proves Fatal For All Passengers!

I drive so safe that even when I give indicator to change lanes, I make sure that the car's high beam is not on. It makes it difficult for someone coming from front to see the indicator. Yes, I drive with high beams on because no matter how many times I have tried to drive with low beam, I always get blinded by someone coming from opposite direction with low beam. Point is, I try to cover every possible base that can get me into an accident.

Well, I received reply from Ford, here is the screenshot of it.
View attachment 760838




So, Ford told me to drive with confidence.

I then emailed again, telling them that "is this the best you could do? Advise us to drive with confidence?"

I then searched for emails of every ford executive that I could find and emailed them, but got no reply. I mean, I went to Linked in and even put in CC , Ford people from US. Well, seems once I was allowed to drive with confidence, their responsibility was over.

I was feeling helpless, trust me, it felt like I should have been a lawyer and I should pursue cases against Ford. Lots of random thoughts come in mind, how to make Ford acknowledge and change the tyres. I mean they have changed the two tyres before, they can do it for the other three too.


So, I then collected snail mail addresses of every regional Ford Office and made a list. I then lodged a complaint on pgportal.gov.in , jaago graahak jaago and took printouts of everything. Made a thick packet of very email correspondence that I had with Ford, all the news links printed, and the copies of the complaints that I have lodged against Ford.

They were 8 packets in total and I speed posted them using our India Post.

Well, 6 days later, I received a call from Ford Service Centre in Lucknow and was told that they will change all the tyres. I told them that the car is with my wife and she is in her office. I can bring the car on Sunday, but the service people insisted that they are sending someone to pick up the car right away and they will return it at my home. Well, they even offered to pay for the cab fare for my wife since she will have to a take a cab from office to home.


So, yes, got all the tyres changed. received so many calls from Ford Service centre asking for feedback. I received no further communications from FORD, neither calls nor emails.

So, if someone here faces any problems with any car manufacturer, maybe this will help.

Took me around 12 days to get this fixed.
 

foadbear

Pirates Skulls and Bones
Indeed, this is a very serious issue. Good luck with the Ford case. In the meantime, you may check out these wheel and tire packages for your car. If tire bulges are caused by mismatched diameters, take matters into your own hand and choose these correctly-matched wheels and tire sizes. Feel free to explore the drop-down menu.
I have decided to get the tyres changed , to 16 inches, after these tyres are worn upto 20,000 kms. Everytime , we have to take matters in our own hands.

Very true. Be ready to fight for your rights or they will shove down their mistakes in our throats.
Yes, can you belive, the service center guys were telling me that because of a dent that I had in my car, the tyre bulge happened. They even blamed the roads, the ones we used for daily commute.

I will go to consumer court, we have 2 years to file a case, from the date of incident.

I have problems with people who bully or intimidate. If we won't fight for ourselves, no one will.
 
Last edited:

Shaheen Haque

New Member
It all started with my visit to Ford Service centre in Lucknow. While I was waiting for my turn to talk to the service manager, a guy came up to me and asked, is this the top model of ecosport? I said yes. Well, I was happy, and honestly, I have always been on bikes so car talks do not excite me much. However, that guy told me that there is some problem in the tyres of Ecosport top model , 17 inch alloys. The problem was that the tyres burst.

At that time, i just thought that he is delivering gyaan and I should just go about my business and went back to my home. Got the car delivered in the evening, all good. However, I could not let go of the words spoken to me by that guy at the service centre. He came with his Ecosport too, not the top model. He told me that he did not purchased top model because of the 17 inch alloy wheels since the 17 inch alloy wheels have problems.

I started researching online that night and came up with number of news articles and rants by people who have claimed that the tyres have problems with them.

Ford EcoSport Facelift: Tyre bulging issue (R17 size) - Team-BHP

Problem of using 17 Inch Alloys in Ford Ecosport Titanium Plus Model

Ford Ecosport 17-inch Ecopia tyre bulge issue resolved

Ford India replacing all problematic tyres on new EcoSport for free


And there are many other links online which have reported this issue.

However, since I had not faced any problems, I thought, what the heck, reading all this will just put more doubts in my mind. So I stopped my research. The car is used by my wife for her daily office commute so I chose not to tell her about this problem since I did not wanted her to panic or have doubts.

Some days later, I started the car and saw 0 tyre pressure in rear left tyre in the TPMS indicator. First thing that came to my mind was, maybe all those links online were true. I got the tyre changed with spare, and came back and researched more. I decided not to tell wife again.

Can you believe it, one week later, front left tyre bulged and cracked open , just like the previous tyre, exactly as described in the online links that I have read.

Fortunately, both the times, it happened when the car was parked and I discovered it while I was getting the car out of house in morning.

I asked my wife to go to her office by cab and told her about the problem. I then called FORD as well the service centre where I go in Lucknow. Got the tyre mended by 11 strips, drove quite slow and got the service centre manager to look at it. They inspected it and changed the tyres, telling me that since the tyres are under warranty, they will change it.

I asked, what about the remaining three tyres which have not burst yet, but they can in future since the problem lies in the tyres themselves. The service centre manager told me that they will call Ford and that I have nothing to worry about. That's what I wanted to hear. Nothing to worry about. I came back to my home.


But then, I could not let go of the thought what if the tyre burst happens while my wife is en-route her office, plenty of what ifs started coming to my mind. I waited for two days and called Ford Service again and asked them what is the status of my request to change the remaining three tyres. I was told that Ford has denied it and said that they can only change the tyres if there is any damage.

The first thought that came to my mind was to take a knife and rip open all the three tyres. I went for Ecosport because of all the cars that are in that price range, I felt it to be most sturdy and safe. I took the top model to have airbags for everyone. I decided I will talk to Ford myself and sort this thing out.

I emailed Ford, with all the links and even the link of a family who died because of the tyre burst issue.

here is the link

Ford EcoSport Tyre Burst On Nizamabad Highway — Proves Fatal For All Passengers!

I drive so safe that even when I give indicator to change lanes, I make sure that the car's high beam is not on. It makes it difficult for someone coming from front to see the indicator. Yes, I drive with high beams on because no matter how many times I have tried to drive with low beam, I always get blinded by someone coming from opposite direction with low beam. Point is, I try to cover every possible base that can get me into an accident.

Well, I received reply from Ford, here is the screenshot of it.
View attachment 760838




So, Ford told me to drive with confidence.

I then emailed again, telling them that "is this the best you could do? Advise us to drive with confidence?"

I then searched for emails of every ford executive that I could find and emailed them, but got no reply. I mean, I went to Linked in and even put in CC , Ford people from US. Well, seems once I was allowed to drive with confidence, their responsibility was over.

I was feeling helpless, trust me, it felt like I should have been a lawyer and I should pursue cases against Ford. Lots of random thoughts come in mind, how to make Ford acknowledge and change the tyres. I mean they have changed the two tyres before, they can do it for the other three too.


So, I then collected snail mail addresses of every regional Ford Office and made a list. I then lodged a complaint on pgportal.gov.in , jaago graahak jaago and took printouts of everything. Made a thick packet of very email correspondence that I had with Ford, all the news links printed, and the copies of the complaints that I have lodged against Ford.

They were 8 packets in total and I speed posted them using our India Post.

Well, 6 days later, I received a call from Ford Service Centre in Lucknow and was told that they will change all the tyres. I told them that the car is with my wife and she is in her office. I can bring the car on Sunday, but the service people insisted that they are sending someone to pick up the car right away and they will return it at my home. Well, they even offered to pay for the cab fare for my wife since she will have to a take a cab from office to home.


So, yes, got all the tyres changed. received so many calls from Ford Service centre asking for feedback. I received no further communications from FORD, neither calls nor emails.

So, if someone here faces any problems with any car manufacturer, maybe this will help.

Took me around 12 days to get this fixed.







Hi,

I too am facing the same issue. My front tyre got bursted and when I reached out to service center they said that it will not be covered in warranty. My vehicle is just 76 months old and I have driven only 5000km. Can someone please suggest what next steps should I do, whom should I contact to raise this issue at higher level. many thanks in advance.
 

Shaheen Haque

New Member
I have decided to get the tyres changed , to 16 inches, after these tyres are worn upto 20,000 kms. Everytime , we have to take matters in our own hands.



Yes, can you belive, the service center guys were telling me that because of a dent that I had in my car, the tyre bulge happened. They even blamed the roads, the ones we used for daily commute.

I will go to consumer court, we have 2 years to file a case, from the date of incident.

I have problems with people who bully or intimidate. If we won't fight for ourselves, no one will.

My god, when I raised the issue this is the exact same statement the service center guy said. Because of the dent in the back the car might have been in accident and truthfully it was not even a dent, the street dog chewed that black thing support (not sure what it is called). Me being women went there alone and those guys gave me all kind of bullshit reason. Please suggest where can I raise this issue ahead.
 
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