Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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Groundhog

Active member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Posts
30
We picked up our new Sunseeker on Saturday, and headed right to the campground. It wasn't until we were halfway there that I noticed that I had to hold the steering wheel to the right to go straight. It was too late to go back and have it fixed, so I went to the CG, and called the dealer on sunday to let him know about the problem. I talked to the service manager today and asked him if I could just take it to my local Ford Dealer and have it fixed, because the dealer is 96 miles from my house. He said sure. Well there is only 1 dealer in my area that has a rack big enough to hold the class C, but they said it wasn't covered under the ford warranty so they would have to be paid for their service. They said it should be covered under the RV warranty. I called the RV manufacture and they told me Front wheel alinement's aren't covered under their warranty.? I'm waiting for the service department to call me back to see what they are going to do about it. To me it doesn't make much sense to take it back to the dealer if it's going to cost me just as much to get it there as it would if I paid to have it fixed.

What would you do?? Pay for it yourself? Take it back to the dealer you bought it from and spend just as much in gas and tolls as it would cost to have it fixed? Keep fighting with the manufacture?
 
It is the selling dealers responsibility, However putting enough pressure on the manufacturer may help in getting the dealer to make a deal with your hometown dealer.  Good Luck
 
Steering problems are the responsibility of the chassis manufacturer. In this case Ford should take care of the problem. If you can't get satisfaction from the Ford dealership I'd contact the RV dealer and have them arrange the repair under warranty. They should be willing to do this. Most RV dealerships do not have the means to handle chassis problems.

I have a Spartan chassis on my American Coach. Whenever I have a problem and go to the American Coach service center it's Spartan that actually does the work. They have a team at the service center just for this.
 
Jim, I talked to both the Ford Dealer and Forest River. They both said it wasn't covered under their warranties. The dealer I bought it from is trying to help me out. I think he's talking to FR to see what they can do. The problem I have is it will cost me just as much to take it back to my dealer as it would to have it fixed myself. I feel I shouldn't have to pay a dime to fix it, but I know I'm gonna have to pay one way or another.
 
When I had a Ford Chassis on an RV, I got the same story or at least one similar.  Ford would not admit there was a problem and further said the Steering wheel could not be aligned as I(you)want and the RV Manufacturer indicated the same.  I took it to an independent shop and got the whole thing straightened out although it did cost me money.  At least I knew it was done right.
 
Since it is a new RV I assume you will be finding several things wrong early in your ownership.  I've read others reporting that it is common for things to go wrong early in ownership.  If the steering is a minor nuisance, might it not be a bad idea to wait and see what other things "pop up"?  And then have the list taken care of in one trip.
 
One of the reasons I drive GM is a car I used to have which had parts made by FORD, these parts clearly had FORD staped all over them (Oval logo and everyting) in fact it was the Ford 4-speed RAD (Reverse Always Dies) Manual transmission

Turns out it had a design fault, the reverse gear only engaged about 10%

Of course Ford said "Not our problem" since the car was an AMC.

And that's part of the reason I don't drive Fords

Some times you just have to push.  However I will note there are several things that can cause the issue you have, one is tire inflation, check your tires (Dealer should have done that) Better yet, drop a line to one of our members here and pick up a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (Pressure Pro, easy to install (you can do it, trust me you can do it) and it allows you to check tire pressure from the comfort of wherever you happen to be sitting (so long as it's within so many feet of the motor home, or INSIDE the motor home)

There can also be other issues.  All of which the dealer should have checked before delivery by the way
 
Front end alignments are not normally covered by any vehicle warranty.  For an bare chassis, it is usually the body manufacturer's responsibility to do a final alignment after finishing the vehicle, since adding many tons of body weight changes the balance and the alignment.  You need to make the case quite strongly that this defect existed at the time of delivery. Unfortunately, the manufacturer  has no way of knowing wheher you hit a pot hole one block from the dealership or not.  They will tell you it was OK whenit left the factory, because their procedures say it must have been so.  And it may indeed have been OK and the non-alignment may have happened during the delivery drive to the dealership.  Still, with enough pressure and support from the dealer they will probably make an exception to policy and take care of it for you. Whether it is worth your effort is another story.
 
As a former auto sales Mgr of Americas big 3 at one time or another and an RV sales manager on 2 occasions,  I have never seen an alignment warrantied by the manufacturer.  It clearly states in all manuals, or at least it always did, that the factory in no way is responsible for tire balance and front end alignment.  That comes under dealer get ready service that the dealer is paid by the factory to perform.  They are to service and test drive and to correct any and all imperfections.  It can't get much plainer than that.  A few dealers will do these feats but few of them do.  It is the selling dealer's responsibilities and no other.  In 93 bought from a dealer in Fla. and called him 20 miles down the road while heading to St Louis area and told him the tires were out of balance and I was taking it to a dealer in my home town.  He agreed to pay.  I called the dealer back when I got home, he made arrangements with my Ford dealer and it was taken care of and all was well. Otherwise I would hace had to pay or take it back to the selling dealer.  Talk to them.  Good Luck
 
Good point Shayne.  Here is something for all to consider

Ever read a warranty card?  Usually at or near the end there is a statement something like this:

"You may have other rights which vary from state to state"

You should learn what those rights are.  They do apply.  Since they do, in fact, vary from state to state I can not tell you what YOUR rights are but I can tell you this.

The statment is a reference to something called the Uniform Commericial Code, this is an implied warranty which every SELLER makes on everything unless a waiver of rights is signed.  It is also not a law in and of itself but a Federal guideline,  With one exception (I won't name) each state has implemented some form of this guideline as law.

But the key word in this statment is that the warranty is made by the SELLER (Dealer in this case) not by the manafacturer

So those warranties which say "Do not return to store"... Don't wash in 49 states (And I know nothing at all about the law in the remaining state)

You do have rights, what they are, as the warranty implies, varies from state to state
 
Another feature to consider,  don't know about other states,  ILL has a 3 S law.  It must start, steer, and stop properly, and is the selling dealers responsiblility.  Note  all goes back to selling dealer. 
 
My experience with my cars and my over the road tractors, is that there is no warranty regarding alignments. I just took delivery of a new 2007 Volvo VN780 yesterday. It will go to my local big truck alignment shop some time this week to make sure all is correct.

I have done this with all of my big trucks and cars, I have never had any covered by a warranty.

I just look at this as my first bit of out of pocket preventative maintenance.

Mike
 
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