Sticky dashboard on Ford Focus

norafarmer

Good morning.  The dashboard section closest to the windscreen on my 4 year old Focus has suddenly become very sticky, no doubt caused by the hot weather.  This is a real hazard as it reflects in the windscreen reducing visibility.  I contacted Ford HQ Customer Service who didn't want to know.  My feeling is that it's a design fault, nothing to do with anything I 've done as I've never treated the dash.  I took into the local dealership and they said the only thing they could do was change that section of the dash at a horrendous cost to me.  Apparently they've never come across this problem before.  Should I pursue this further with Ford?  

AdrianC

Did you buy the car new?

daveyjp

If its dangerous in the sun due to reflections, start with self help and buy some polarising sunglasses.

facade

Never heard of it on a dashboard, but the rubberised plastic that is used for the casing of  many electronic devices is well known to turn sticky over time.

I've got a few nasty sticky electronic devices, a dusting with talc helps, but makes them grey.  My DAB radio that cost a fortune did it, and I spent ages literally wiping off the rubber coating with paper towels and IPA. (propan-2-ol, not India Pale Ale )

You could try on an area that isn't too visible, but attempting to clean it will give Ford even more of a Get-out than simply "out of warranty, mate"

Try posting in a Ford Forum, you'd think there would be lots of cases if it were a manufacturing fault

EDIT: I found this, I'm not suggesting you buy it, but it appears you are not alone, (and the cleaner is likely IPA anyway) https://stickydashfix.com/

norafarmer

AdrianC said:

Did you buy the car new?

no, it was a year old

norafarmer

daveyjp said:

If its dangerous in the sun due to reflections, start with self help and buy some polarising sunglasses.

yes, done that

lemondrops69

facade said:

I've got a few nasty sticky electronic devices, 

I am sure you have............

AdrianC

norafarmer said:

AdrianC said:

Did you buy the car new?

no, it was a year old

Then it may be related to something used on the dash before you bought it. Yes, unlikely if it's more than 3yo... but if Ford are saying that they've never seen similar, then given how many Focii are out there... The car is well out of warranty, of course.

BOWFER

Dare say this is the sort of thing we may have to start worrying about in the UK.
Common enough for other countries to suffer dashboard damage due to heat/sun.

Manxman_in_exile

We had a problem with dangerous internal reflections some years ago after the car had been serviced and somebody had been over-enthusiastic on the valeting and had polished and buffed up the top of the dashboard.  We just bought some black matt material* to put on the dashboard and problem solved.  No need to do anything else.  (It was an old car not worth arguing about who's fault it was).


*IIRC correctly it was some of that black rubbery webbing material that is meant to give a non-slip surface on top of dashboards etc.  We got it at a service station as all this happened just as we were off on a driving tour of the Scottish Highlands.  It broke up reflections perfectly.

scrappy_returns

Id try some gtechniq g6