Ford refusing to honor Bumper to Bumper Warranty

[Jmckinley]

This should be interesting. A few years ago, GM sold the Chevy Cruz with clear instructions in the owner's manual for flat towing. People bought the cars because they wanted to tow them behind their motorhomes.

Then, GM changed their mind and sent out letters notifying owners that the car could not, in fact, be flat towed and they would not honor warranty on cars that had been flat towed.
A mass uprising ensued and GM ending buying cars back at original retail price..

Looks to me like Ford is doing the same thing, only they aren't notifying owners. Therefore they avoid the mass uprising that GM experienced.

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[VAMike]

This should be interesting. A few years ago, GM sold the Chevy Cruz with clear instructions in the owner's manual for flat towing. People bought the cars because they wanted to tow them behind their motorhomes.

Then, GM changed their mind and sent out letters notifying owners that the car could not, in fact, be flat towed and they would not honor warranty on cars that had been flat towed.
A mass uprising ensued and GM ending buying cars back at original retail price..

Looks to me like Ford is doing the same thing, only they aren't notifying owners. Therefore they avoid the mass uprising that GM experienced.

yes, if they really cared about this there would be an idiot-proof "flat tow" knob that would do whatever needs to be done--no ridiculous "procedure", and clear visual indication that everything is correctly set up.

 

[t4thfavor]

Any auto vehicle “designed” to flat tow that requires key on and in neutral is designed incorrectly. It should be key off in park t-case in neutral physically disconnected from output shaft. Nothing else is correct.

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

This is what I have come to too. I would have to monitor the dash and an external voltmeter with a small dash cam and video, uninterrupted (with time stamp), while towing. I am assunming that a blow trans woiuld provide error codes that would also have time stamp on them so I could be assured of having video coverage. Unfortuantely, very few cars anymore have a manual trans with grease in it. Most of them now have some kind of fluid that is splashed around by the gears. I have researched this quite a bit nad though there are some, thge closest I would want for my own car, is this truck. This is also my daily driver, so I have to have a vehicle befittting my self respect (and ego). If I find a setup that works as a video logger for flat tow I will be back with details.

And the next problem is getting constant power in the Ranger. You'll have to have something running from the RV directly to the camera or a battery/booster pack in the cab of the Ranger. The Ranger control module will cut anything running through the Ranger after ~15 minutes.

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

And the next problem is getting constant power in the Ranger. You'll have to have something running from the RV directly to the camera or a battery/booster pack in the cab of the Ranger. The Ranger control module will cut anything running through the Ranger after ~15 minutes.

Edit: It may work through the Ranger power, if the key is on which I didn't realize is part of flat towing. I completely agree with @t4thfavor, requiring the key to be on is asking for trouble.

 

[Trigganometry]

As our trucks age and batteries too so that the amount of charge is reduced my bet is we will see a lot more of these. It’s not necessarily having a hot wire feed that can help with this. It’s the whole BMS system that has to be overridden. There was a thread on here last year of someone grenading their tranny with a hot wire feed from tow vehicle. The flat tow checklist was done properly. Think he got warranty replacement on his.

 

[Jmckinley]

This from the F150 manual. F150 uses same 10 speed transmission.
LE - 4X4
WARNING: Do not disconnect the
battery when recreationally towing your
vehicle. This prevents the transfer case
from shifting properly and could cause
the vehicle to roll, even if the
transmission is in park (P).

So, if the battery runs down, you should expect bad things to happen to your transmission.

 

[deleriumtremor]

This from the F150 manual. F150 uses same 10 speed transmission.
LE - 4X4
WARNING: Do not disconnect the
battery when recreationally towing your
vehicle. This prevents the transfer case
from shifting properly and could cause
the vehicle to roll, even if the
transmission is in park (P).

So, if the battery runs down, you should expect bad things to happen to your transmission.

Not sure I understand your conclusion. What it is saying is the transfer case will not be able to be moved out of Neutral if the battery runs down (the transfer case servo motor won't run without power), thus keeping it in free wheeling "Neutral Tow" mode.

What bad things are going to happen to the tranny?

 

[Caseyjay]

My flat tow set up is a battery feed from rv through tow cable to foreward biased diode (and fuse) to Ranger battery. It should only supply current from the rv to the Ranger when the Ranger supply voltage is greater than 0.6 v under the rv battery voltage. As for why the trans. might implode without power, the only thing I can think of is, once shifted to flat tow, the transfer case is held in neutral by an energized solenoid. So it would un-shift with power loss.

 

[deleriumtremor]

Any auto vehicle “designed” to flat tow that requires key on and in neutral is designed incorrectly. It should be key off in park t-case in neutral physically disconnected from output shaft. Nothing else is correct.

My manual tells me to turn my vehicle off, once I have the "Neutral Tow Enabled leave transmission in Neutral" message displayed.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

My manual tells me to turn my vehicle off, once I have the "Neutral Tow Enabled leave transmission in Neutral" message displayed.

Yep... so does my Ranger.

 

[t4thfavor]

My manual tells me to turn my vehicle off, once I have the "Neutral Tow Enabled leave transmission in Neutral" message displayed.

well either case, you cannot remove the key from the ignition on anything with a physical key. Still a bad design if the trans remains in neutral and not park.

 

[deleriumtremor]

well either case, you cannot remove the key from the ignition on anything with a physical key. Still a bad design if the trans remains in neutral and not park.

I think I am getting why they want you to leave the transmission in neutral (versus Park). It must be related to leaving the key in the cylinder to prevent the steering lock from engaging while towing.

There clearly is no difference in how the transmission sees Park versus Neutral when the Neutral Tow setting is engaged (the transfer case is in Neutral), so the "leave it in Neutral" is about the steering lock function, versus anything related to Neutral Tow status.

I think the whole "power ran down so my transfer case shifted out of neutral and trashed my transmission", is completely wrong.

 

[t4thfavor]

I think I am getting why they want you to leave the transmission in neutral (versus Park). It must be related to leaving the key in the cylinder to prevent the steering lock from engaging while towing.

There clearly is no difference in how the transmission sees Park versus Neutral when the Neutral Tow setting is engaged (the transfer case is in Neutral), so the "leave it in Neutral" is about the steering lock function, versus anything related to Neutral Tow status.

I think the whole "power ran down so my transfer case shifted out of neutral and trashed my transmission", is completely wrong.

I don’t believe there is a steering lock on the Ranger. Try and engage it by turning the wheel with the key off and out of the cylinder and nothing happens ( that or I’m weak)

 

[deleriumtremor]

I don’t believe there is a steering lock on the Ranger. Try and engage it by turning the wheel with the key off and out of the cylinder and nothing happens ( that or I’m weak)

Well that blows that theory (or I am too weak too).

Maybe the guys who deleted the steering wheel lock, didn't tell the guys in the Tow Neutral team they don't have a lock anymore, so Park should work just as well as Neural in Tow Neutral mode?

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