Who's fault is it?

[bens250ex]

Recently a friend of mine had the dealer replace the clutch pack in his rear diff because they said it was bad and making the noise he brought it in . total bill was $1000. Dealer said it was still making a funny noise but let the truck go. He headed home for the holiday a 150 mile drive all highway. got about 70 miles out of town and going down the highway at 70mph the rear axle sheered off dropping the truck on the axle at 70mph. luckily no one was hurt besides the truck. he called the dealer furious they brought a tow truck and a car for him to drive. got the call today from the dealer saying they will not pay to fix the truck but they will fix it. who is in the wrong? should the dealer have to fix his truck since they were the ones that just put the axle back in the truck that day? it did a hell of alot of damage including body damage. Im just curious as to what you guys think.
I knew they would try not to cover it but any of you guys work in a dealership? what would you do if a customer had this happen?

[Kickstarts-suck]

Details on truck??

Was it bought from that dealer? New truck used truck??

[400exrider707]

I'd be calling a lawyer first thing.

[bens250ex]

truck was not bought from dealer since we live out of town now, truck is older it is a f-150 91 model but has about 150k miles on it. never beat, original owners. i know the axle would not have sheered off if the truck wasn't touched. if it was that bad they should have seen something when they pulled the axle. truck is 4 wheel drive and has a straight 6. i also believe the rear end is a ford 9 inch not pos. though. is the a good lawsuit? someone could have been seriously injured or killed but everything worked out in everyone's favor even the oncoming traffic so it was a blessing no one was hurt. it is obvious they didn't do something right when putting it back together. i have tried to look at it from everyone's point of view, but axles just don't sheer off unless 1. your pushing alot of tq/beatin the crap out of it or 2. something was installed wrong

[trx310R#24]

they need to replace it.

[Kickstarts-suck]

Okay then yes they are at fault.

Should be an 8.8 rear end.

[CJM]

Dealers fault, last person to touch it is ALWAYS at fault.

I would contact the manager of the dealer, service manager and then my lawyer. Make sure you mention to them about the lawyer too..

Also depends on how it sheared, did the axle come off at the leafs or did it fly off at the driveshaft like they didnt put it on right?

[Kickstarts-suck]

What im understanding is that the axle sheared off in the diff and the axle came out the axle tube with the tire and all.

[CJM]

Oh if that is the case, then def the dealers fault, axle shafts DO NOT shear off like unless they dont put the clip back or or it wasnt bolted on right.

[eastside 400]

yea what actually sheered? the axle shaft or are you referring to the whole rear axle broke off the leafs. If they redid the clutch pack then they didnt remove the rear axle from the truck, they also might not even of removed the axle shafts, they might of just slid them out a little bit, if something happened with an axle shaft it would be their fault though depending what happened. I am a technician, its not always their fault just because they touched it, stuff breaks, it might of been a coincidence

[aDviSol2y]

I'm pretty sure when fords rear ends blow, the axle can actually come out of the housing. Is this what happened?

[bens250ex]

just got back from the dealer with my friends heres what they said.

The axle sheared off because it was old and someone replaced the axle bearing with a different type of bearing. heres the problem the truck hasn't moved since it was takin off the tow truck the rear diff has not been opened to see if something was installed wrong. problem 2. the axle is not 20 years old the axle is about 2 years old and is a motorcraft axle, and im pretty sure the bearing is a motorcraft as well.
The axle sheered about 1 inch or 2 inches from the wheel hub. you can see on the outside of the axle where it was metal against metal contact seemed like it was right around the bearing i am not familiar with the axle so im not sure. But the bearing was basically not there. YES they admitted to pulling both axles out. I think they just overlooked the bearing that should have been replaced.
another point is they kept pulling crap out there asses sayin this happens pretty often? really axles sheere off driving down the highway all the time??? thats a prob there. the GM didn't really want to talk to us he just took us to the service manager and they tried to fill us with BS. he told them he will get a lawyer if he has too .
Also another big point when he got the truck back they said it was still making another noise in the rear end. (coming from the side that sheered off actuallyl) they gave him the truck back and he told them he didn't like the noise and was bringing it back mon. they didn't say anything so he drove it home and thats when it broke.
It really seemed like they are trying to cover for there asses and fill us with BS. Yes i know mistakes happen but own up to it when something like this goes wrong. We also called another ford dealer that is bigger and spoke with the Service manager he said if the truck was makin that noise he would have not let it go because it could have lead to something like this. He partially felt that someone should be blammed for this. You don't just stick a axle back in and drive it 70 miles and it snapes. something was wrong and they left it that way.

[bens250ex]

Originally posted by eastside 400
yea what actually sheered? the axle shaft or are you referring to the whole rear axle broke off the leafs. If they redid the clutch pack then they didnt remove the rear axle from the truck, they also might not even of removed the axle shafts, they might of just slid them out a little bit, if something happened with an axle shaft it would be their fault though depending what happened. I am a technician, its not always their fault just because they touched it, stuff breaks, it might of been a coincidence

the axle shaft is what sheered

[bens250ex]

Originally posted by aDviSol2y
I'm pretty sure when fords rear ends blow, the axle can actually come out of the housing. Is this what happened?

no the rear end never blew it just started makin a noise and he had it towed to the dealer right after first noise. they said it needed new clutch packs...

[CJM]

I say you got a case, fight them to the death if you must-they will pay out instead of drag you to court.

Call the regional rep, dont even bother with them.

[aDviSol2y]

They should own up to it if they want to keep selling Fords. If the dealership gets too many complaints and write ups on bad service, ford will pull their selling rights. Ford does not want a bad name because of one dealership. I say you got a case, but you need to go directly to Ford and tell them the dealership is being uncoaprative. <----- I know my spelling sucks.... :ermm:

[SRH]

okay heres some advice..

dont start talking law suits...dont get angry...basically id go in and say look i knew this noise was an issue i brought it here to be fixed trusted it was safe and this happened, i spent x amount of dollars on the repair that wasnt needed now i have body damage etc, id demand the whole last repair be reimbursed, and youll pay for the repairs on what you need mechanically now and they handle the body work

id atleast give them a chance...if theyll remiburse the last repair , and ur insurance covers the body damage , be happy because there is about 1 % chance they will do that...you can get a lawyer but it would be cheaper to fix your truck

another thing if they couldnt figure out the noise, and what they replaced was needed, and they told your buddy this..its on your buddy...i mean if this was a ford gm dealer etc...ud expect them to be able to diagnose it... but joe shmo fix it shop might not have the expirience etc. to pin point it like a shop...and of course there going to cover there ***...they missed something and it broke...but if ur buddy knew , its his fault.....its not the shops fault if they said the noise was still there and they didnt know from where...and it wouldnt hold up in court unless you had evidence they were responsible or had knowledge of the bad part...which doesnt make sense , since they would of benefited from fixing it.

basically i would of been dissappointed they couldnt fix it, but if it was still there and not suppose to be there (the noise) and you drive it and it breaks....welll.... its no ones fault but ur own...if there was evidence the malfunction was caused by improper work done by them...then you may have some leverage

[bens250ex]

well it supposedly went like this, he went to get the truck they said they fixed it, but then the service manager said its makin another noise but seemed as though it was no big deal, so what he do drove it home like anyone who just got there truck back from a dealer. We called other service managers at ford dealers and spoke with them, they said they would not have returned the truck with it still making a noise.

[CJM]

I would keep pursuing it...

[stoopidbot]

Your buddy can be to blame too. He knew it was still making noises and he made the choice to drive it off of their lot. I know if the axle on my truck is making a noise, I'm not going to drive it 70 miles home and then turn around and drive another 70 miles to return it a few days later. He should have told the dealer that day he didn't want it back because it was still making noise. The dealer has no way of knowing what he did or did not do to it as soon as he left.

[bens250ex]

Originally posted by stoopidbot
Your buddy can be to blame too. He knew it was still making noises and he made the choice to drive it off of their lot. I know if the axle on my truck is making a noise, I'm not going to drive it 70 miles home and then turn around and drive another 70 miles to return it a few days later. He should have told the dealer that day he didn't want it back because it was still making noise. The dealer has no way of knowing what he did or did not do to it as soon as he left.

yea thats true but when people almost die sh** has got to stop. he's not a mechanic so how the hell is he suppose to know what was going on. thats why he took it to the dealer, so they could fix whatever is wrong. i dunno we'll see what happens

[stoopidbot]

I didn't mean your buddy is the only one, the mechanics should have not let him leave with it.

If you took your quad in for a repair and when you picked it up it was still making a funky noise, would you tell them I'm going to go ride it then bring it back to see what is up?

[bens250ex]

i know what your sayin and i agree. i would not have takin the truck back if it was mine, but it was the holiday and we are at school and he just wanted to head home. he didn't have any other form of transpertation. everyone he knew from the home area had already left. so i dunno im just tryin to help him out since i know a little more about mechanics than he does. i haven't heard from him today to see if they called him back of what.

[dpizz450]

Originally posted by SRH
okay heres some advice..

another thing if they couldnt figure out the noise, and what they replaced was needed, and they told your buddy this..its on your buddy...i mean if this was a ford gm dealer etc...ud expect them to be able to diagnose it... but joe shmo fix it shop might not have the expirience etc. to pin point it like a shop...and of course there going to cover there ***...they missed something and it broke...but if ur buddy knew , its his fault.....its not the shops fault if they said the noise was still there and they didnt know from where...and it wouldnt hold up in court unless you had evidence they were responsible or had knowledge of the bad part...which doesnt make sense , since they would of benefited from fixing it.

basically i would of been dissappointed they couldnt fix it, but if it was still there and not suppose to be there (the noise) and you drive it and it breaks....welll.... its no ones fault but ur own...if there was evidence the malfunction was caused by improper work done by them...then you may have some leverage


He said he brought it to a dealer, not Joe Shmo's fix it shop. What more evidence of improper work do you need? An axle sheering off your truck on the way home, after they have been working on your axle. They said they took the axle off and put it back on. :huh