Broke my Ranger yesterday

[Indy650]

Updated 2/7/2020..... Completed the buyback yesterday. Could not locate a 2019 supercab FX4 & even the 2020's are very rare. Finally located one at a dealer about 50 miles away. Couldn't find silver, so settled for magnetic. I'm the type that washes my truck every 10 years, whether it need it or not. That is why I wanted the silver. Dark colors show to much. I'll have to do it annually now.
Al

I love the magnetic color. I like the 2020 red too but it's a bit too flashy

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[acsnowrider]

Indeed, there is a particular ant here in Hawaii which has an affinity for certain circuit board and control relay sealing compounds which is wreaking havoc in some Ford's and certain brands of split AC systems.

Indeed!! Was a common issue on The Big Island, when I worked for the dealer. Little buggers, would store food inside the relays, generally setting up shop!

 

[Mokume]

I've been told that this was more of an issue on the Big Island than on Oahu, but it did happen here in Honolulu also.
What dealership did you work for?
PM me please.

 

[Zaph]

Updated 2/7/2020..... Completed the buyback yesterday. Could not locate a 2019 supercab FX4 & even the 2020's are very rare. Finally located one at a dealer about 50 miles away. Couldn't find silver, so settled for magnetic. I'm the type that washes my truck every 10 years, whether it need it or not. That is why I wanted the silver. Dark colors show to much. I'll have to do it annually now.
Al

Glad to hear. What was the discussion and process that leaded to you getting a buyback and a new truck? I would have thought there would be serious resistance to that.

 

[lobsta11]

Ford had no choice. Under Ma. lemon law 3 repair attempts or 15 days in the shop meant I could initiate the buyback. My truck went in the shop on 12/5/19 & I didn't get it back until 1/24/20. I was uneasy that Ford would not authorize any investigation into WHY the front differential blew. They drained the fluid, saw the metal in the oil & that was it. I didn't feel I could trust the vehicle going forward.
Al

 

[DavidR]

Ford had no choice. Under Ma. lemon law 3 repair attempts or 15 days in the shop meant I could initiate the buyback. My truck went in the shop on 12/5/19 & I didn't get it back until 1/24/20. I was uneasy that Ford would not authorize any investigation into WHY the front differential blew. They drained the fluid, saw the metal in the oil & that was it. I didn't feel I could trust the vehicle going forward.
Al

That's good to hear. It's too bad this is so inconsistent across the US as a whole. Here in CA it's a little more nebulous, being specified as a "reasonable" number of attempts, but it's generally held to be something like 4 repair attempts and 30 days in the shop.

I was curious where that stood, and ended up finding this ranking (TLDR - MA and CA rate pretty high, but not at the top):

https://www.autosafety.org/final-ranking-state-lemon-laws/

 

[acsnowrider]

Ford had no choice. Under Ma. lemon law 3 repair attempts or 15 days in the shop meant I could initiate the buyback. My truck went in the shop on 12/5/19 & I didn't get it back until 1/24/20.
Al

I only see that the Front Diff assy, was on back order--did they get one/replace it?????

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Updated 2/7/2020..... Completed the buyback yesterday. Could not locate a 2019 supercab FX4 & even the 2020's are very rare. Finally located one at a dealer about 50 miles away. Couldn't find silver, so settled for magnetic. I'm the type that washes my truck every 10 years, whether it need it or not. That is why I wanted the silver. Dark colors show to much. I'll have to do it annually now.
Al

Quick question regarding the buyback:

Did you get a similar deal on the replacement as you did on the original truck?

IOW, if the original truck had a significant rebate or special discount, was that applied to the replacement or did you have to work with whatever was currently being offered for incentives?

 

[Mokume]

Well, that's the kind of bs you need to focus on when you don't want to talk about the drivetrain, the head room, the standard safety features, etc. Whether that works depends on the buyer.

Indeed, my decision to buy a Ranger is based on previous experiences with Ford pickups along with the vehicle's content.
I did test drive a 2019 Taco and found it severely lacking in engine output as well as a motor and transmission that don't play nicely with each other.
Coupled with the abhorrent seating position,it obvious that there was no Tacoma in my future.
Did not bother with driving the GM twins, as in typical GM fashion, their reliability and build quality leave much to be desired.
Curious to see Dodge's (Ram) new mid size offering when it hits the market, no, you could not GIVE me a Dodge (for the garage)...

 

[lobsta11]

Quick question regarding the buyback:

Did you get a similar deal on the replacement as you did on the original truck?

IOW, if the original truck had a significant rebate or special discount, was that applied to the replacement or did you have to work with whatever was currently being offered for incentives?

On the 2020 there was only $500 off from Ford, the dealer discounted another $2700 & I had them also throw in a Rhino spray for the bed. I then negotiated an additional $700 off. I negotiated with Ford & they eventually gave me $1000 for the A.R.E. cap. They actually did not have to as the cap was not a dealer supplied item. I also received a $1500 voucher for the purchase of any new Ford.
Al

 

[DavidR]

Indeed, my decision to buy a Ranger is based on previous experiences with Ford pickups along with the vehicle's content.
I did test drive a 2019 Taco and found it severely lacking in engine output as well as a motor and transmission that don't play nicely with each other.
Coupled with the abhorrent seating position,it obvious that there was no Tacoma in my future.
Did not bother with driving the GM twins, as in typical GM fashion, their reliability and build quality leave much to be desired.
Curious to see Dodge's (Ram) new mid size offering when it hits the market, no, you could not GIVE me a Dodge (for the garage)...

We went through this exact same process. Our existing Ranger had 260,000 mostly trouble-free miles. This is 26 years later and there's not much reason to expect that the reliability of a 26-year-old model bears much correlation to the reliability of a current one, but reputation still counts for something in people's minds. We would have accepted a Tacoma, except for all the things you mention.

If you got a "good" one but still read this forum a lot, it's easy to focus on everything you see here and think, wow I was lucky, but almost for sure the reality is that the vast majority of them likely have only minor issues or no issues. While there are some bad ones for sure, the internet has the tendency to amplify bad stuff.

 

[RedlandRanger]

We went through this exact same process. Our existing Ranger had 260,000 mostly trouble-free miles. This is 26 years later and there's not much reason to expect that the reliability of a 26-year-old model bears much correlation to the reliability of a current one, but reputation still counts for something in people's minds. We would have accepted a Tacoma, except for all the things you mention.

If you got a "good" one but still read this forum a lot, it's easy to focus on everything you see here and think, wow I was lucky, but almost for sure the reality is that the vast majority of them likely have only minor issues or no issues. While there are some bad ones for sure, the internet has the tendency to amplify bad stuff.

To put in perspective, they built somewhere around 100,000 Rangers in 2019 (don't know the exact figure) and we've heard of what, maybe a dozen lemon buybacks here? If those were the numbers, that is a 0.012 percent lemon rate. Even if it were 50 lemons, that would be a 0.05 lemon rate - that seems pretty good to me, especially considering most of the "lemons" were probably due to failure to get parts to fix the issue in time.

 

[Mokume]

We went through this exact same process. Our existing Ranger had 260,000 mostly trouble-free miles. This is 26 years later and there's not much reason to expect that the reliability of a 26-year-old model bears much correlation to the reliability of a current one, but reputation still counts for something in people's minds. We would have accepted a Tacoma, except for all the things you mention.

If you got a "good" one but still read this forum a lot, it's easy to focus on everything you see here and think, wow I was lucky, but almost for sure the reality is that the vast majority of them likely have only minor issues or no issues. While there are some bad ones for sure, the internet has the tendency to amplify bad stuff.

"the internet has the tendency to amplify bad stuff"
Very well put!
With the exception of those who's Rangers were indeed "lemons", I find 99% of the complaints both here and elsewhere on the internet to be very minor concerns, some of them utterly ridiculous.
I am completely satisfied with my 2020, with both the actual ordering/purchasing and vehicle satisfaction experiences.
True, there were some hiccups in the process, but they were so inconsequential to even bother to mention.
I waited almost 3 years to own a new Ranger, it was well worth the wait.

 

[lobsta11]

Obviously I don't think the Ranger is a bad truck as I purchased another one. I owned a couple of tacomas in the 1980s & 90s & was satisfied with them except the 1984 completely rusted through the rocker panels in 4 years. I had the exact same thoughts about current truck market as Mokume mentioned.
Al

 

[DeadSkiHead]

I've been driving 4 wheel drive trucks since 1984 & this is the 1st time I ever got stuckl

35 years and you've never gotten stuck?

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