Should I get a lawyer!? My son and I took off from Northern Ca. 5/16/19 to travel to Illinois to pick up a 40 foot 5th wheel and bring it back. I’ve maintained this truck through dealership and had it checked out just before we left for a scrapping noise under load and going around corners, it checked out ok but they replaced radiator. 45 minutes into our cross country trip we noticed a definite vibration and humming noise in the drive train under a load on the freeway. I called a dealer nearby and had them check it out. The service rep said he was going to have a 35 year ford veteran look at it after I asked that they should drive it to experience what I was. After about an hour and a half or 2 the rep said that the service technician
could not determine the problem as no indication came from his computer as to the problem.I asked the rep to his face, is this truck road worthy for this trip and hauling a 12,000 5th wheel back, his reply was we can’t determine what the noise or vibration was, it may just be a sensor that will most likely reset once we park for 6 hrs. so we continued all the way to Decatur Illinois
with the vibration and the humming. Once I hooked up to trailer we got 20 down the road at 60 mph the drive shaft fell down and had major damage. I feel this could have been a major incident
and could have caused a serious or catastrophic accident. We got lucky!?
Attorney?
This is CarTalk, not CarLegalTalk. I don’t think we have a lawyer on the forum.
In the defense of the mechanic, not every imminent failure can be seen or felt before it happens. No one can assure you a truck will make a long trip pulling 6 tons without failure. Sorry, fix the truck and drive on.
Get a lawyer who takes cases on a contingency fee basis. The initial consult will be no cost to you. If the lawyer feels there is a case, pursue it. Any fees to the lawyer will come out of whatever you recover. You essentially have nothing to lose.
This is a clear sign of incompetence . . .
If there’s a vibration that you can feel . . . you need to drive the truck, rack it if possible and perform a hands-on and visual inspection
If that had been done, the mechanic would have probably discovered that the driveshaft was in desperate need of attention
It’s hard to say if the service writer was incompetent in explaining to the mechanic what the customer’s concern was, or if the mechanic himself was incompetent
In any case, with that kind of customer complaint, my first thought would NOT be “Let’s grab the scanner”
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If there’s an actual problem that’s causing an audible noise and a vibration that can be felt, there’s clearly something seriously wrong . . . and it won’t “fix itself” by parking the truck for 6 hours
I would be calling the shop back and explain what happened, and that you’re extremely disappointed that their mechanic(s) missed a driveshaft that was so bad it was about to fall off. Then ask them what they intend to do about it, especially considering you paid money for a diagnosis
Exactly what are you hoping to get out of this . . . ?
reimbursement for repairs and tow bill?
Or are you seeking more than that?
Hire a lawyer to sue for a collision that did not occur? Do you want to sue both technicians that did not hear the noise?
May I should have taken it to a mechanic instead of a (technician)?
Stuck in Decatur for five days, not sure what I want but what’s the worst thing that can happen when drive shaft snaps? Also I requested they drive it, but they relied on a lap top to tell them what to do. Love the truck and pay through the nose to make sure it’s in best condition, my feeling is gross negligence or gross incompetence
You hire the lawyer to ensure that incompetent or negligent people get punished. The best way to do that is to hurt them in their wallets.
Thanks, I felt my son who was traveling with me was put in a bad situation by people I relied on for expert advise, I paid extra for warranty and didn’t want to void that by bypassing a ford technicians advise
Did the repair order state that you wanted a noise checked out? I can’t imagine performing a module scan to find a noise, seems like a communication problem between the people involved.
Yes! The invoice, which they kindly didn’t charge me the $100 bucks for stated my exact concerns, a 10 year old who goggles it with his phone, drive shaft comes up 1st five relative things to check
I don’t see this going anywhere.Was it fixed under warranty?
When filing a civil complaint, the plaintiff has to specify the damages that he/she allegedly incurred. While I doubt that the OP would be successful with this type of suit, if he does decide to pursue it, he should be aware that his actual damages are all that he can sue for.
I wasn’t advocating anything
I just wanted to know what op hoped to get out of all this
Nor did I think that you were!
I was just trying to provide some reality for the OP.
I have to wonder if there some miscommunication with the service rep (a.k.a. service advisor) being inserted into the mix.
If I sent you a copy of their report you would see, no miscommunication on my part what so ever
So your warranty covers driveline issues? Like a broken driveshaft? And damage to diff? Or transfer case?
By miscommunication I do not mean on your end. I refer to miscommunication between the service advisor and the mechanic. The vast majority of service advisors (at least in my experience) have not been very mechanically inclined to put it mildly. It only takes a word or phrase out of whack to create a problem.
I assume you mean an extended warranty and yes, a driveline issue should be covered. The problem that arises is if the warranty is issued by some third party company that is not affiliated with Ford Motor Company. Most will try to stonewall or dismiss coverage for some made up reason. If your warranty is from FOMOCO they should cover it no questions asked.