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Coincidence or screwed by Dealership?

2K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  bl817 
#1 ·
About a month ago I received the recall notice for my airbag on my 2006 GT. Truthfully I contemplated ignoring it just because I never have had the best experiences with my local dealership but figured it's a safety thing and they are doing a bunch of them so it should be no problem.
Fast forward to today which is about three weeks after the work was done but the first time I have driven it since I had the work done (more of a garage queen, only has 10800 miles) and now I have a check engine light. I have never had any issues with car and it still seems to run the same as always but I am concerned. I will give the dealership a call Monday but don't know how they will respond since by age of vehicle I am way out of warranty. Anyone have any thoughts or a real good way to go about dealing with this?
 
#5 ·
You can buy a code scanner pretty cheap. If you have had problems with the dealer - you might want to figure out what the code is first. If its something mundane like a fuel tank vent sensor issue - than no big deal.

If its something more serious or connected to what they did you might want that info before you take the car to them.

Just my .02
 
#6 ·
Don't let them charge you for the scan...before making any appointments I'd talk to their service manager. Ford service is NOTORIOUS for lack of customer service, you have to just trust me on that one.
Your situation reminds me of when I got a recall notice for my '96 F250 when it was around 11 years old. I keep my truck very clean and I'm crazy meticulous about maintaining it. So I bring it to Ford service against my better judgement. This was for the infamous Ford Cruise Control recall-truck could potentially catch on fire if it wasn't addressed. I set the app't with the service manager (who was floored by how nice my truck looked, btw) and left it for the day. I picked it up around 5 and they had done the mod to the cruise control. On the way home, I activated the CC and *nothing*. It simply wasn't working. I drove it back into service the next day and asked them to fix it. They denied any wrongdoing at all. In fact they claimed that the cruise was not even working when I brought it in the day before. Hmm, that's funny since I'd used it on the way down to drop it off! So I leave the truck and they called me around noon quoting me a price to fix what THEY had broken. I told tehm, no way-FIX IT!. They simply refused and long story short, I had to bring litigation against them (the dealership) to make this right. I can assure you of this: I WILL NEVER DEAL with Ford service again-period!
 
#7 ·
Just a quick update, it bugged me all night so this morning I went out and disconnected the battery for about an hour and after reconnecting engine light is gone. I took it out for a quick drive about ten miles and nothing. I think I will still give the dealership a call tomorrow but for now lights out.
 
#8 ·
It usually takes about 75-100 miles of mixed driving before it comes back on again (if anything is stored). FWIW, you can take your car to any AutoZone or Advance Auto and they'll scan for free pus give you the written out report of what codes it pullled. You can still go there without a light because it will be stored in the system's memory. Please keep us posted & best of luck!
 
#10 ·
Well I went to the dealership today and told them exactly what I said I would in my in first post. The service person went and spoke to the service manager which I witnessed then came and told me that they would be happy to test the car for me for $79.99 and that amount could be put towards any repairs that were needed. I then calmly stated that I brought a garage queen in with just over ten thousand miles with zero issues and now you are telling me that I have to pay for what most likely happened here? I was then informed that nothing that they did could have possibly triggered the engine light to come on. At this point I chose to leave calmly before I became rude.
About an hour later I called and asked for the service manager, I told him everything and then told him I would take the car to Autozone to have the codes run for free and that I was frankly amazed with their response and that I hoped the dealership didn't care about the Ford surveys because their's was going to suck. He then said that when I disconnected the battery I cleared all codes and nothing would be saved in any memory but if any code came back it would be his pleasure to check it for free.
At this point I guess I can't ask for much more then that (if he's telling the trurth) and I plan to drive the car every day for the next week and a half or so to see if anything happens. Time will tell.
 
#11 ·
I would guess that this really was a coincidence, and the check engine light had nothing to do with the recall work. Check engine lights are related to emission control equipment and status. A check engine light and airbag module have no link. Unless something was malisiously done to the car then the check engine light has no relation to the trip to the dealer. The dealer is correct, if codes have been cleared there will be no stored memory. You will have to drive the car until the light comes on again, it may not ever come back, could have been as simple as a lose gas cap.
 
#14 ·
are you running a tune? if so they updated your strategy code, usually if you have a tune it won't start. before taking in should have returned to stock so if they did an update you could store the factory tune. then load your tune back on. I have a 2008 GT w/20k miles and keep getting a recall for the passenger side airbag. dealer said it would only take 5 minutes but i had to leave it. i said just do it now, no one is behind me, he said no. i asked about me having a tune, he said they would only update for recall. i just left, get reminders every 3 months from Ford. last letter said they could be held responsible in the event of frontal crash which involve the passenger side.
 
#16 ·
Airbag Code 19 after recall fix

So fast forward - I just had the recall acted on for the Drivers airbag - took almost 6 months to get airbag inflators to this part of the country. Then after a less than stellar performance by the Dealer (Andy Mohr Ford - had the car from 8am-1pm and never bothered to call to say it was done. Picked it up at close). Now I have a light and a code 19 flashing. Dealer was closing so they refused to look at it and said I would need to make an appointment in the coming week for them to look at it - but They did it! Question is what did they screw up to get a code 19, and if this is sloppy work (I am not a dealer person - I do it all myself or sell the car) why would I take it back?:crying:
 
#17 ·
I, like you do all my own work on my car. I did have to relinquish my car to the dealership for the air bag recall, drivers side. I informed them up front that my car was tuned and didn't want them hooking any comps or anything to my car. I had a great experience at Sam Pack 5 star Ford. they had a courtesy shuttle to take me back home and I couldn't even tell anything was done when I got my 05' GT back. I would take my car back and escalate your issue to the next level. as bad as it sucks, there is no reason to have any codes when you get a repair done at the dealership. good luck
 
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