Ford New All Electric Explorer - A Tale of Woe

thecloudxpert

I ordered a new All-Electric Ford Explorer Premium AWD in March 2024. It was originally meant to arrive in September, it arrived in November 2024.

I went to collect the car and trade in my old vehicle. Once all the paper work was done, the salesman took me over to the car and started talking me through all the bits and pieces. As the salesman was going through everything we started the engine and immediately an engine fault appeared on the massive LED screen...1.5-2 hours later we left the Ford dealership in a loan vehicle with no real ETA for a fix..

Apparently, as it was such a new car, the local ford dealership could not diagnose the issue so a Ford Master Technician was called on site and ~4 weeks (mid-December) later they worked out what the issue was and ordered the part that had to come from Germany. The part hadn't arrived by the beginning of February. Maybe its just a new car and all the parts are being used to build them rather than repair them.

It has now been 3 months since i was meant to collect the car after raising a compliant with the Ford Customer Relationship Center (CRC), I have finally asked the local dealership to reject the car in favour of getting a new one. However, once that process was in motion, the Ford CRC basically closed the case because it didn't matter about how long the repair was taking if i was rejecting it. Now Ford now seem to be dragging their heals over accepting the rejection and replacing the car. 

The local dealership have been great (and have even paid my monthly payments for me) so I can't really complain about the service i have received.

However, I am still not in my new car and I'm wondering if there is anything else I should be doing to expedite a resolution to this.

BTW apparently (according to ford.com) I could get a new one within 2 weeks...

Grumpy_chap

thecloudxpert said:

All-Electric Ford Explorer Premium AWD

we started the engine and immediately an engine fault appeared on the massive LED screen...1.5-2 hours later we left the Ford dealership in a loan vehicle with no real ETA for a fix..

Was the car you attempted to collect the same version as the car you ordered?

thecloudxpert

Grumpy_chap said:

thecloudxpert said:

All-Electric Ford Explorer Premium AWD

we started the engine and immediately an engine fault appeared on the massive LED screen...1.5-2 hours later we left the Ford dealership in a loan vehicle with no real ETA for a fix..

Was the car you attempted to collect the same version as the car you ordered?

Yes - it was exactly as ordered (apart from the fault obviously )

FIREDreamer

An electric car doesn’t have an engine.

thecloudxpert

FIREDreamer said:

An electric car doesn’t have an engine.

You're right it doesn't, I meant to write battery but couldn't work out how to edit the post afterwards.

FIREDreamer

thecloudxpert said:

FIREDreamer said:

An electric car doesn’t have an engine.

You're right it doesn't, I meant to write battery but couldn't work out how to edit the post afterwards.

Is it the 12v battery that is faulty or the big drive battery?

thecloudxpert

Well its not actually the battery that is faulty, it was just displaying as a the big battery fault. It was something to do with the heat pump.

Albeit i'm not 100% sure what the relevance of the actual fault is to whether or not there is anything else i could do to expedite a resolution.

Mildly_Miffed

It's relevant, because there's a very good chance that the traction battery heat pump isn't actually a "new" bit. The EV Explorer is just the latest roll of the VW MEB platform dice, 2019 VW id3 onwards, with VW supplied battery etc.

So there's a fighting chance that parts availability might not be THAT terrible, and it certainly shouldn't be due to teething issues. There may be some logistics hiccups between VW and Ford, but they should be resolvable with a bit of effort.

However, as you say, if you're rejecting then it's not your problem any more - the problem now is getting the rejection processed and the money refunded. And that's purely a paperwork question within the dealership.

Arunmor

Cancel the sale and buy a 2025 Jaguar for £40k!  That save you a good bit.

thecloudxpert

Mildly_Miffed said:

It's relevant, because there's a very good chance that the traction battery heat pump isn't actually a "new" bit. The EV Explorer is just the latest roll of the VW MEB platform dice, 2019 VW id3 onwards, with VW supplied battery etc.

So there's a fighting chance that parts availability might not be THAT terrible, and it certainly shouldn't be due to teething issues. There may be some logistics hiccups between VW and Ford, but they should be resolvable with a bit of effort.

However, as you say, if you're rejecting then it's not your problem any more - the problem now is getting the rejection processed and the money refunded. And that's purely a paperwork question within the dealership.

 At the moment i've rejected the original car and they are looking to replace with a new like for like vehicle which i'm fine with.  I guess its just a question of sitting and waiting.

thecloudxpert

I've just spoken to the dealership and it seems Ford are refusing to accept the fact I have rejected the car and want to swap it because it's taken so long to fix. They are insisting on repairing it albeit they still don't have all the parts required to do this. The original part they ordered in December has turned up! Yay! but they have now needed to order additional parts to fix the issue and those parts have no ETA.

I've been very calm and patient with the dealership and Ford up until now, but now I'm starting to get a little annoyed.