Coolant pump broke, Ford says no replacement part is availab

[Suleozev]

6 months in, the coolant pump on my Focus EV as broken. This is bad enough that you have something broken on a brand new car, but after 10 days and sing-and-dance, Ford says no replacement part is available. The company that manufactures them made "some engineering changes" and it is not clear when they will have this part.
My battery overheats when I run the AC (I live in Arizona, so it is not an option not to run it), and the range drops from ~70 miles to less than 40... I have a 42 mile commute!
Not to mention that overheated Lithium Ion batteries result in thermal runaway and can catch fire.

I have called Ford Customer relations and all they tell me is that they are doing the best they can... Meanwhile, the car is still in production so this pump exists!
What kind of company is this? They should start taking electric cars seriously or get out of the game.
6 months ago, I was contemplating between Leaf and Focus. I decided on Focus because all things being equal, I wanted an American car. What a mistake!

 

[campfamily]

Might be time to look at the lemon laws in your state. I know in California, 30 days out of service within the first 18 months automatically constitutes a lemon.

Keith

 

[Suleozev]

Yes, I think Arizona has the same law. I hope it won't get there...

 

[brogult]

Yes, I think Arizona has the same law. I hope it won't get there...

Why not? You get a refund, less the use allowance, and you keep the tax credits that you hopefully got. Or, you get a brand new car. Let them know now that you aren't going to let them off the hook and on the 31st day out of service you don't want it back. So they can take a pump off the production line...or they can just build the entire car with the new pump and give it to you!

 

[Suleozev]

Yes, that would be ideal since this has left a really bad taste in my mouth. I can't recommend this car to anyone else honestly. I love the idea of electric cars; companies who are not serious should not be producing them.
Somehow I don't think it would be that easy to get them to follow the lemon law.
The customer service rep that I talked with was rude and told me that "it is not that easy to pull of a part from the production line", which is complete BS. I am an engineer, I know how production floor works...
But, it is a good idea to call the dealer that I bought the car from and let them know what the situation is. The dealer that is servicing the car is different. I had to search high and low for this car in Arizona...

 

[campfamily]

Somehow I don't think it would be that easy to get them to follow the lemon law.

Why do you think this? The law is very clear (at least in California). If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, there are law firms that specialize in this. You'll likely end up paying $750 or so, and they'll write Ford a letter stating what they need to do.

Keith

 

[Suleozev]

Well I was told by @Fordservice on twitter that there is an "active buyback case being pursued". I asked them what that meant but they could not elaborate further and told me to call the same number that has been giving me a lot of grief... That service rep promised me a call back by the end of wednesday so I will wait for that time...
I am very disappointed to say the least. This is what happens when you don't take your business seriously...

 

[campfamily]

Well I was told by @Fordservice on twitter that there is an "active buyback case being pursued". I asked them what that meant but they could not elaborate further and told me to call the same number that has been giving me a lot of grief... That service rep promised me a call back by the end of wednesday so I will wait for that time...
I am very disappointed to say the least. This is what happens when you don't take your business seriously...

An "active buyback case" means they are likely going to buy your vehicle back from you. I did this on another car that had multiple problems with the brakes, and I received my original purchase price, minus a pro-rated amount from the miles when the first incident occurred, based on an expected life of 120,000 miles (ex: if the problem first occurred with 12,000 miles on the car, you got 90% of the original purchase price), plus any additional costs you put into the vehicle since the problem occurred (finance charges, maintenance, registration, etc.). You return the car, they write you a check, and everybody walks away. Alternatively, they may offer you a replacement vehicle, equal to or better than your vehicle; you pay the difference in MSRP.

Keith