Parking brake boot.....Genuine Pleather

[RedlandRanger]

Interesting - I love the hand e-brake and I've got about 12,000 miles on mine and so for it looks good. No issues at all. I use it all the time.

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[DHMag]

I use mine all the time as well. If I were to nitpick, I prefer an electronic ebrake. Whatever Ford does, please don't take away my dead pedal !

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Mine has just over 2k and my boot is not damaged, but I do notice that it is very stiff and I'm basically expecting this. It is obviously either some type of synthetic or the cheapest "leather" Ford could get.

When mine cracks and has to be replaced, I'm going to see if I can get the old one and have an upholsterer friend make me one in real leather.

I notice that there are dozens of aftermarket boots for the Mustang brake. I wonder if one of those could be made to fit?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Mine has just over 2k and my boot is not damaged, but I do notice that it is very stiff and I'm basically expecting this. It is obviously either some type of synthetic or the cheapest "leather" Ford could get.

When mine cracks and has to be replaced, I'm going to see if I can get the old one and have an upholsterer friend make me one in real leather.

I notice that there are dozens of aftermarket boots for the Mustang brake. I wonder if one of those could be made to fit?

Hi Dr.

I wonder if using some of a product that makes leather more pliable might help.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[DHMag]

My local ford dealer wants over list price. I'm tempted to buy one and take it to an upholstery shop to have one made of real leather.

 

[Langwilliams]

With an automatic I only use the parking brake on hills. I had the electric parking brake in the fusion an the handful of times I used it it was fine. Seems like they make servicing the rear brakes easier too. I'm tempted to take the cover to an interior shop an have a leather one made. The one near me did a seat for my Harley...he does great work but you have to pay premium dollar for it an wait a while.

 

[David J Appel]

Update. Dealer told me they ordered the wrong part and the boot is still on backorder. He thinks their is a problem with the part. I told him it's not just my truck. Anyone else get feed back from the dealer yet?

 

[jsphlynch]

Update. Dealer told me they ordered the wrong part and the boot is still on backorder. He thinks their is a problem with the part. I told him it's not just my truck. Anyone else get feed back from the dealer yet?

Not yet. Dealership just e-mailed me yesterday to let me know my touch-up paint arrived, so I plan on bringing up the brake boot issue when I stop by for that. Will let you know what they say.

 

[Mokume]

Unacceptable in a vehicle this age, I've owned dozens of Honda's with similar setups and not one of them cracked like this, neither did their shifter boots.
Piss ass poor material, I'd say...

 

[MattiD]

Mine was damaged when brand new, they had to replace the boot. Plastic frame holding the "Leather" broke (I assume during assembly) and the leather was pulling away creating a gap, I had a picture but I can't fine it.

 

[jsphlynch]

Update:
Stopped by the dealership today. I wasn't sure how they would react since the tears are still really small. My sales guy took one look and immediately told me to pull it around to the service bay. The service guy looked at it a little closer, pulled the handle up and down a few times, then said something along the lines of "There's no way this should be happening. We need to replace this. Follow me so I can get your information." I think they had the replacement ordered within 10 minutes of me first saying something to the sales guy. The service guy said there's no estimate on delivery in the computer system, which he said could indicate a supply chain issue. Hopefully the new one (whenever it gets here) holds up better than the original.

 

[Mokume]

Update:
Stopped by the dealership today. I wasn't sure how they would react since the tears are still really small. My sales guy took one look and immediately told me to pull it around to the service bay. The service guy looked at it a little closer, pulled the handle up and down a few times, then said something along the lines of "There's no way this should be happening. We need to replace this. Follow me so I can get your information." I think they had the replacement ordered within 10 minutes of me first saying something to the sales guy. The service guy said there's no estimate on delivery in the computer system, which he said could indicate a supply chain issue. Hopefully the new one (whenever it gets here) holds up better than the original.

Sounds like excellent service to me, I just looked at mine, I don't see any imperfections yet.
But then again, the truck is just 5 days short of being in my possession for 2 months and it's travelled a total of 220 miles.
Just by virtue of what the service guy indicated makes it apparent that the part may be a known issue.
No doubt my truck's boot eventually will show cracks as well, I always apply the parking brake when parked.

 

[jsphlynch]

Sounds like excellent service to me, I just looked at mine, I don't see any imperfections yet.
But then again, the truck is just 5 days short of being in my possession for 2 months and it's travelled a total of 220 miles.
Just by virtue of what the service guy indicated makes it apparent that the part may be a known issue.
No doubt my truck's boot eventually will show cracks as well, I always apply the parking brake when parked.

Yes, this dealership has been pretty good about their customer service. So glad I'm not working with one of the horror story dealerships that seem pretty common on this forum.
Not really sure how common this problem is. For me, the splits showed up in about 2 months/1200 miles, though I use the parking brake every time I get out. There's so many trucks out there that are much more broken in than mine, that I would have expected this to be a much longer and older thread if the problem was really widespread. I'm guessing (or maybe hoping) that there's just been a few bad lots of the pleather, or maybe one troublesome supplier if they have multiple suppliers, and I just had the bad luck to get my boot made from one of those lots.

 

[Mokume]

Talking about suppliers, a couple of weeks ago when installing my seat covers I noticed a tag attached to the seat cushion which had some companies name, TV something or another based in Las Vegas.
Seems as though this company may have been the supplier for the seat assemblies, my Lariat dos have the wrinkled/sagging upholstery syndrome, no matter now, it's been covered.
Perhaps some aftermarket suppliers will jump on the bandwagon and offer parking brake boots for Rangers later on, Wheelskins manufactures probably the best lace on leather steering wheel covers on the market, will see a market for the boot perhaps.

 

[David J Appel]

My experience with the dealer has been excellent. Hoping the new boot doesn't tear again.

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