Tuesday, 13-May-08 11:07:38 PDT

My story begins in Mid November 2002. The first sign of trouble was my Windstar running hot, leading to rough idle at start up and white smoke billowing from the tail pipe. I knew there was a problem, but imagine my surprise when my local Ford dealer recommended a new engine!

I phoned the Customer Relationship Centre to complain about the situation with my Windstar, and to see if Ford would agree to re-imburse me for my engine replacement bill, and was told that since my Windstar was out of warranty, that Ford was unable to help. My local dealer who did the work also requested that Ford cover some of the costs, but that was declined as well.

It was during this time that I started nosing around the Internet to see what type of information was available. I was more than a little surprised to find so many other 1996 3.8L v6 Windstar owners whose vehicles had been through the same problems as mine, not to mention all the 1995 owners. The most interesting thing to me was the stories of how Ford handled the situation. Some 1996 owners claimed that Ford immediately covered 50% of the engine replacement costs, yet others claimed they couldn't get a dime from Ford. This is when I decided that I was going to pursue this matter as far as I had to.

I have written Ford Canada three letters of complaint. The first two letters were responded to via a telephone call from someone in Mr. Noltie's office. In response to the first letter, I was offered a $3000 Customer Appreciation Certificate to be used towards the purchase of a new Ford vehicle, which I quickly declined. In response to the second letter, I was offered $2500 cash. I mulled this one over for a few days, called around a few dealerships to ask about the value of my van with a new engine in it, and upon realizing that the new engine added no value to the van, I turned down that offer too. In reply to the third letter, I received a letter from Ford's legal department.

I have also filed a complaint with the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General - Consumer Services Division through the Canadian Consumer Information Gateway Complaint Courier, and recieved this email back from them. As suggested in the email, I will be contacting the Transport Canada's Defect Investigation and Recall section to see if they can help.

I have also contacted the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan, but because of the age of my van they are unable to help. She told me they are currently only working with vehicles that are 1999 or newer.

Document Last Modified on Friday, 23-May-03 10:53:26 PDT