Replacing Ford Kuga Door Seals Under Warranty
There is a strip of velvet on the doors. In winter this strip, apparently after absorbing moisture from outside, freezes solid to the body. Only on the rear doors. The front doors have the same strip, but nothing freezes there. It is not that we do not use the rear doors for long periods; we carry a child there and use them almost as often as the front ones.
And the rear doors are simply impossible to open. You have to pull the handle very hard, fearing that it is about to tear off, then pry up the metal door frame and pull hard on the metal. The door opens, and part of the velvet remains on the body. The torn-up velvet looks like this:
During scheduled maintenance I told them about it and asked to have it replaced under warranty. The manufacturer approved it. The seals were delivered from Moscow; last week they called and we agreed on today. I brought the car in the morning and picked it up a few hours later.
😳
One door has one type of seal: with velvet, new of course. The other has another type, without velvet, a double-rubber design.
They explained the handover like this: the manufacturer has not decided exactly which seal should be installed. They installed different ones. After some time they will invite me back to service, see which is better, and replace one of them depending on what they decide based on use.
I feel like a test subject.
It is a little annoying that I will have to go to the service center again and spend time. On the other hand, of course, it is good that this showed up during the warranty period and I did not have to pay for the replacement.
Short Usage Result, March 3
After a two-hour snowfall, all the velvet on the rear door whose seal had been replaced was covered with an even layer of ice. Apparently this ice is exactly what froze to the body.
At the same time there is no such ice on the front door; the surface is velvety.
The experimental rear-door seal. For the record.
August 28
At the next service I asked what the manufacturer had decided in the end. They showed me a letter whose meaning was “this is good enough, we see no need to replace anything further.” Of course, I am not satisfied with that. My appeal to Ford:
The actual text of the appeal:
Good afternoon.
In winter the rear door seals freeze so hard that the door can barely be opened. The velvet surface was being destroyed. I contacted the dealer about the problem. The dealer approved replacement. At the same time, one side was replaced with the standard seal, and the other with some other type. When handing over the car they explained: “the manufacturer recommended installing different ones, then looking at the operating result and replacing one of them based on the result, so they become identical.” That option suited me.
When I asked the dealer why there had been no request from the manufacturer to inspect the operating result, they showed me a letter where the manufacturer wrote, not verbatim but in meaning, that the seals are standard and they see no reason to replace them.
I am extremely dissatisfied with this. Use has shown that the standard velvet seal becomes completely covered with ice, and next winter the problem will repeat. I would like the velvet seal to be replaced.
Details with photos are provided here: https://raskumandrin.github.io/ford-kuga and in the attached document.
I believe this freezing of the seal, and therefore the entire door, is an engineering defect. Please either approve replacement with the second type of seal at Alarm-Motors on Kolomyazhsky, or send a reasoned refusal.
Thank you.
September 26
Yesterday this formal reply arrived:
Stanislav Igorevich, good afternoon!
In response to your request, we inform you of the following: Ford Sollers Holding LLC is the manufacturer of Ford vehicles. Sales and further maintenance of vehicles are carried out by official Ford dealers.
According to information from the Alarm-Motors Kolomyazhsky dealer center, the seals installed on your vehicle are interchangeable spare parts. They may differ visually, which is not a defect; the material performs its function fully.
Best regards,
___________________________________
Kozlova Yulia
Claim Specialist
Customer Relationship Centre
Ford Sollers Holding LLC
The original appeal was precisely about the material not performing its function. The style of the reply is like something from officials; I absolutely did not expect this from a commercial company.
Today I received an offer to fill out a survey about the result of the appeal review.
