CP0861
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This is a looong rant, please bear with me. Hopefully, this might be helpful to someone in the future as some other threads here have been to me!!
I posted months ago about a constant "Driver Door Ajar" alarm. It started I think the day after I brought the truck home (end of June). It beeps constantly and constantly alerts on the dash "Driver Door Ajar" and "Transmission Not in Park" and the interior lights come on randomly as I'm driving when this occurs. Also, the interior lights don't come on when you open the door, I've noticed the radio will occasionally skip, and the interior and exterior lights come on at random (I believe it does this when the truck thinks the door is open). Also, I can't lock the truck because if I do, at some point, the truck thinks the door is open and the alarm will go off......it will do this constantly. Some days, it may only trigger "Driver Door Ajar" once or twice all day....other days it's constant....very, very random and infrequent but still a daily occurence. I'm not a tech, but that's an obvious electrical issue.
So yeah, it's been an absolute nightmare.
Before I took it back to the dealer, I searched online and on here, I did find a few (not many, just a couple) of other instances where this happened....in one instance, it was actually the door sensor...in another instance or two, it was a bad ground.
The first time I took it in, I told them I had countless videos of the issue that I had taken with my cell phone.....I had numerous videos showing the issue, and could even back up the alarm going off constantly with the Ford Pass alerts. I also told them from some research online, it might be a bad sensor, bad connection or bad ground. They didn't care. Didn't look at the videos.....shrugged me off. Then of course they looked at it, and since it wasn't doing it when they looked at it, and there was no code, there was nothing they could do. Told me to bring it back when it was doing it......which is almost impossible because it's so random and infrequent.
So after another week or two or three of it happening daily, I took it back a 2nd time.....it was doing it AS I PULLED INTO THE FORD SERVICE CENTER. I pulled an advisor out and said, "look, it's doing it....please look at this so I have a witness!!" It was doing it when I pulled in....a service advisor saw it...but then after it sat there for 20 or 30 minutes, it wasn't doing it when the tech looked at it. So once again, I got the "if there's no code we can't fix it" story.
After this visit, I had received a couple of different surveys from Ford on my recent service experience. I slammed them in the surveys, and I was contacted by a Ford Customer Service rep. She was helpful and basically started calling and bugging the service department on my behalf.
I took it back a third time....this time it was doing it as the tech looked at it....I don't believe there ever was a code btw, but the tech dug in and supposedly found visible damage to the wiring connection where the harness connects to the BCM. Again, I do not believe there was a code.....they didn't mention a code, there was no code referenced on the service receipt...and there was also no mention of the visible damage to the BCM.
They ordered the parts (new BCM plus a new wiring harness)...parts came in....I talked to the service advisor earlier this week and she set me up for the repair yesterday. I brought the truck in yesterday about 8am. I asked how long it would take and she said she thought it should be done that day. I specifically asked her to call me at the end of the day one way or the other, to update me and let me know what the status was (so I could arrange my ride). Her response was "sure, of course, no problem, I understand." Then at about 11 am yesterday, the same service advisor called and asked me where the 2nd key was. I told her, I didn't know I needed to bring the 2nd key....I'm not positive where it is, but I think it's actually in the truck somewhere. She asked if she could look around for it, I told her of course.....never heard anything back from her, and so I figured she must've found it. The rest of the day came and went, and she never called me back.
This morning...as I'm sitting at my desk at work....I get a call from the Ford customer rep at 915am....she said she had just spoken to my service advisor and that the truck should be done today. Ok, sounds good. I wish they had called me yesterday afternoon like I asked, but whatever, good news. Then, literally as I'm talking to her, my phone rings from the dealership. I answer and it's the service manager. She said the 2nd key wasn't in the vehicle and they would need both keys to finish the repair (so basically, they lied to the Ford rep and then hurried up and called me). Obviously, I was immediately frustrated. I told her, first off, no one told me to bring BOTH keys when we scheduled the repair and it wasn't mentioned when I dropped the truck off. Also, the service advisor had called me at 11am asking about the key, and then I never heard back from her.....even though I very specifically and very politely asked for a call at the end of the day yesterday for an update.....had the advisor bothered to call me back and told me that they HAD to have BOTH keys...I would've turned my house upside down last night and found it, and they would be repairing it right now or it would already be done! I told the service manager I was at work right now, and to leave work and go home (where I wasn't even certain exactly where the key was) and then drive to the dealer would be MORE time taken off of work and more driving on top of the FOUR trips I've already made there!! She said she could possibly get another key....but I would have to pay for it. I told her to please find out how much and get back to me. I called the Ford rep again.....told her the service advisor basically lied or at the very least misled her...and that they wanted to charge me for a key I didn't know they even needed me to bring. The Ford Rep told me not to worry about it, she could reimburse me the cost of a key. Then the service manager called me back, said they had located a key at another dealer that is just over an hour away, and they were going to send someone to go get it....once they had it, it should be done an hour or two after they had the 2nd key. I asked the service manager how much the key would be, and she said, "well, we can cover it for you, IF YOU'RE NICE TO US ON THE SURVEY!!!!!" I told her, no, no promises there.....I'm going to answer honestly, and that I thought the only reason we were at this point was from previously complaining through surveys.....so no, you're not bribing me. She said, well the survey isn't a Ford survey, it's a survey for our department and how you've been treated. Then I repeated the point that had anyone gotten back to me yesterday, I would've found the key and we wouldn't be having this conversation and all of this back and forth would've been avoided!!! I was told I'd get a follow up call yesterday afternoon, not 9am the next morning when I'm 2 hours away. Her reply was, "we'll just call you when we have the key". Good, gotcha, bye Felicia.
So right now, it's still at the dealer....and as I type, someone is hopefully on their way to get the key.
If you've made it this far, lol, thanks for staying with me!! Here are my concerns/questions:
I don't know diddly squat about vehicle electronics.....but could there be any other issues or complications from driving 10k miles with a bad BCM?? Any other issues to check for? Any potential engine issues?
Also, it didn't make any sense to me that they didn't mention "visible damage to BCM wiring harness" on any of the service repair sheets. Since the issue started on literaly the 2nd day I had it, I'm guessing this all boils down to an issue at assembly. If I was to sell this truck in 1, 2, 3 or 6 years, wouldn't it be a good idea to have everything accurately documented within the Ford service history? Why would they not list the visible damage?
After having this random nightmarish electrical issue, now I can't help but worry about what else could unfold down the road.....and if I was buying a used truck and saw a vehicle with a back and forth (4x now in the last 3 months) history of electrical issues in the first 10k miles, I'd pass. I'd find another truck that didn't have an usual history of electrical gremlins. Right? What else can or should I do?
And call me crazy, but at the end of the day, this has all been so miserable of an experience.....I can't help but think what if the BCM isn't the problem (maybe they damaged it during one of the first 2 visits) and it's been a bad ground all this time, just like I said the 1st visit!!! I'll worry about that if that's the case.....but I can't help but think this issue isn't over.
This has been, without a doubt, the worst consumer experience of my life. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I've taken time off of work, probably close to $100 bucks in gas plus hours of driving back and forth and waiting at the dealer, all for a brand new truck that had an issue from day 2.
If you've never seen the movie Idiocracy, check it out. That's where our society is headed! Technology has evolved to a point where a Ford technician can't fix an obvious problem on a brand new Ford vehicle without being told by a computer what the problem is (needing a code). Codes have apparently eliminated the need or ability to diagnose.
I posted months ago about a constant "Driver Door Ajar" alarm. It started I think the day after I brought the truck home (end of June). It beeps constantly and constantly alerts on the dash "Driver Door Ajar" and "Transmission Not in Park" and the interior lights come on randomly as I'm driving when this occurs. Also, the interior lights don't come on when you open the door, I've noticed the radio will occasionally skip, and the interior and exterior lights come on at random (I believe it does this when the truck thinks the door is open). Also, I can't lock the truck because if I do, at some point, the truck thinks the door is open and the alarm will go off......it will do this constantly. Some days, it may only trigger "Driver Door Ajar" once or twice all day....other days it's constant....very, very random and infrequent but still a daily occurence. I'm not a tech, but that's an obvious electrical issue.
So yeah, it's been an absolute nightmare.
Before I took it back to the dealer, I searched online and on here, I did find a few (not many, just a couple) of other instances where this happened....in one instance, it was actually the door sensor...in another instance or two, it was a bad ground.
The first time I took it in, I told them I had countless videos of the issue that I had taken with my cell phone.....I had numerous videos showing the issue, and could even back up the alarm going off constantly with the Ford Pass alerts. I also told them from some research online, it might be a bad sensor, bad connection or bad ground. They didn't care. Didn't look at the videos.....shrugged me off. Then of course they looked at it, and since it wasn't doing it when they looked at it, and there was no code, there was nothing they could do. Told me to bring it back when it was doing it......which is almost impossible because it's so random and infrequent.
So after another week or two or three of it happening daily, I took it back a 2nd time.....it was doing it AS I PULLED INTO THE FORD SERVICE CENTER. I pulled an advisor out and said, "look, it's doing it....please look at this so I have a witness!!" It was doing it when I pulled in....a service advisor saw it...but then after it sat there for 20 or 30 minutes, it wasn't doing it when the tech looked at it. So once again, I got the "if there's no code we can't fix it" story.
After this visit, I had received a couple of different surveys from Ford on my recent service experience. I slammed them in the surveys, and I was contacted by a Ford Customer Service rep. She was helpful and basically started calling and bugging the service department on my behalf.
I took it back a third time....this time it was doing it as the tech looked at it....I don't believe there ever was a code btw, but the tech dug in and supposedly found visible damage to the wiring connection where the harness connects to the BCM. Again, I do not believe there was a code.....they didn't mention a code, there was no code referenced on the service receipt...and there was also no mention of the visible damage to the BCM.
They ordered the parts (new BCM plus a new wiring harness)...parts came in....I talked to the service advisor earlier this week and she set me up for the repair yesterday. I brought the truck in yesterday about 8am. I asked how long it would take and she said she thought it should be done that day. I specifically asked her to call me at the end of the day one way or the other, to update me and let me know what the status was (so I could arrange my ride). Her response was "sure, of course, no problem, I understand." Then at about 11 am yesterday, the same service advisor called and asked me where the 2nd key was. I told her, I didn't know I needed to bring the 2nd key....I'm not positive where it is, but I think it's actually in the truck somewhere. She asked if she could look around for it, I told her of course.....never heard anything back from her, and so I figured she must've found it. The rest of the day came and went, and she never called me back.
This morning...as I'm sitting at my desk at work....I get a call from the Ford customer rep at 915am....she said she had just spoken to my service advisor and that the truck should be done today. Ok, sounds good. I wish they had called me yesterday afternoon like I asked, but whatever, good news. Then, literally as I'm talking to her, my phone rings from the dealership. I answer and it's the service manager. She said the 2nd key wasn't in the vehicle and they would need both keys to finish the repair (so basically, they lied to the Ford rep and then hurried up and called me). Obviously, I was immediately frustrated. I told her, first off, no one told me to bring BOTH keys when we scheduled the repair and it wasn't mentioned when I dropped the truck off. Also, the service advisor had called me at 11am asking about the key, and then I never heard back from her.....even though I very specifically and very politely asked for a call at the end of the day yesterday for an update.....had the advisor bothered to call me back and told me that they HAD to have BOTH keys...I would've turned my house upside down last night and found it, and they would be repairing it right now or it would already be done! I told the service manager I was at work right now, and to leave work and go home (where I wasn't even certain exactly where the key was) and then drive to the dealer would be MORE time taken off of work and more driving on top of the FOUR trips I've already made there!! She said she could possibly get another key....but I would have to pay for it. I told her to please find out how much and get back to me. I called the Ford rep again.....told her the service advisor basically lied or at the very least misled her...and that they wanted to charge me for a key I didn't know they even needed me to bring. The Ford Rep told me not to worry about it, she could reimburse me the cost of a key. Then the service manager called me back, said they had located a key at another dealer that is just over an hour away, and they were going to send someone to go get it....once they had it, it should be done an hour or two after they had the 2nd key. I asked the service manager how much the key would be, and she said, "well, we can cover it for you, IF YOU'RE NICE TO US ON THE SURVEY!!!!!" I told her, no, no promises there.....I'm going to answer honestly, and that I thought the only reason we were at this point was from previously complaining through surveys.....so no, you're not bribing me. She said, well the survey isn't a Ford survey, it's a survey for our department and how you've been treated. Then I repeated the point that had anyone gotten back to me yesterday, I would've found the key and we wouldn't be having this conversation and all of this back and forth would've been avoided!!! I was told I'd get a follow up call yesterday afternoon, not 9am the next morning when I'm 2 hours away. Her reply was, "we'll just call you when we have the key". Good, gotcha, bye Felicia.
So right now, it's still at the dealer....and as I type, someone is hopefully on their way to get the key.
If you've made it this far, lol, thanks for staying with me!! Here are my concerns/questions:
I don't know diddly squat about vehicle electronics.....but could there be any other issues or complications from driving 10k miles with a bad BCM?? Any other issues to check for? Any potential engine issues?
Also, it didn't make any sense to me that they didn't mention "visible damage to BCM wiring harness" on any of the service repair sheets. Since the issue started on literaly the 2nd day I had it, I'm guessing this all boils down to an issue at assembly. If I was to sell this truck in 1, 2, 3 or 6 years, wouldn't it be a good idea to have everything accurately documented within the Ford service history? Why would they not list the visible damage?
After having this random nightmarish electrical issue, now I can't help but worry about what else could unfold down the road.....and if I was buying a used truck and saw a vehicle with a back and forth (4x now in the last 3 months) history of electrical issues in the first 10k miles, I'd pass. I'd find another truck that didn't have an usual history of electrical gremlins. Right? What else can or should I do?
And call me crazy, but at the end of the day, this has all been so miserable of an experience.....I can't help but think what if the BCM isn't the problem (maybe they damaged it during one of the first 2 visits) and it's been a bad ground all this time, just like I said the 1st visit!!! I'll worry about that if that's the case.....but I can't help but think this issue isn't over.
This has been, without a doubt, the worst consumer experience of my life. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I've taken time off of work, probably close to $100 bucks in gas plus hours of driving back and forth and waiting at the dealer, all for a brand new truck that had an issue from day 2.
If you've never seen the movie Idiocracy, check it out. That's where our society is headed! Technology has evolved to a point where a Ford technician can't fix an obvious problem on a brand new Ford vehicle without being told by a computer what the problem is (needing a code). Codes have apparently eliminated the need or ability to diagnose.
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