ChampInSD

So after years of owning nearly always trouble free foreign sports cars, from various Porsches and Lotuses to Z cars, a 2013 WRX, etc., I was drawn to the beauty of the 2015 Mustang. Loved the idea of an IRS. So I bought a brand new GT with the performance package and Recaros. Those are the only options.

At just under 600 miles the dashboard started lighting up with warnings: the hill hold is unavailable, service engine, traction control off (when I did not turn it off), airbag light, wheelspin, etc. Totally random. Then, the power steering started to malfunction. No power assist. Car won't steer out of corners - dangerous. Took it into dealership. 700 miles on odometer when I arrived at dealer. Dropped it off at night. Next morning get a call from service advisor asking me to describe the problems. Two days later they call me and say the computer needed new software, so they uploaded new software thinking it would clear all codes. Nope. Now it needs a whole new "ABS module." They *thought* it might also need some computer part for the power steering too. Again - this car has 700 miles on it. Here's the kicker: they can't get the parts. Next week at best to get the parts they think *should* fix it.

What a piece of crap. Why did I ever make the mistake of buying a domestic car. The last one I had was a Pontiac Solstice. Another example of me buying a car based on what it looks like and its design and overlooking my logical side telling me: This is a bad idea. That car was constantly in the shop. Traded it on Toyota FJ, which was completely trouble free.

What is wrong with American car manufacturers? I just don't get it.

ChampInSD

Edit: I meant "just over 600" miles.

ChampInSD

Oh, I forgot to add: The dealership noticed that the hood latch is broken. Seriously. (The hood has been opened exactly twice. Yet, it is already broken.) The hood is also misaligned. Maybe when they fix the latch the will figure out how to get it to fit properly.

ucinn

Sorry to hear about all your problems, it's not the norm, but unfortunately you just got one that happened to be bad. It even happens to Hondas and Toyotas. I was at the Honda dealer the other day working on a machine and they were having to do a warranty engine swap on an Accord with less than 10,000miles on it.

I hope they get you back and going soon so you can really enjoy the ride because they really are sweet rides

jz78817

I refuse to believe you had Porsches and Lotuses which were "trouble free."

ChampInSD

Thanks man. I'm just venting. I'm really really disappointed. Who is going to pay me back for the car being in the shop and useless to me while Ford figures out how to fix a car with 700 miles on it? Ridiculous.

I started doing some research online this afternoon - once I heard the car won't be back until at least next week - and it seems others have had similar gripes about quality and time in the shop. I don't really care if most of these cars are trouble free. That does me no good. The point here is that my car is literally BRAND NEW and it's in the shop with a variety of failed parts and the dealership can't even get the parts to fix it.

In the meantime, I going to drive my 1993 Nissan 300ZX to work. That car never misses a beat. It's not as fast as the Mustang but the handling is sublime. Makes you wonder.

ChampInSD

Honestly, I've had a variety of Porsches and they are very stout reliable cars. I still have an old 912 that I've had since 1998. The only things that have EVER failed on that car are a throttle cable and a fuel pump.

The Lotus was an Esprit. I bought it used with about 20k miles on it. The only problem I had with that car was the ECU failed. Guess what: It was a GM part. Lotus wanted like $1000 for the part. We figured out it was the same as any GM ECU for a four cylinder car. Got the part at NAPA for as I recall $100 and it ran great after that until I sold it, which I regret.

ucinn

No problem..I've been in your shoes when I bought a 1985 Chevy Celebrity. I owned that car for 7 months and it was in the shop 5 of those months.. I traded it in on a Ford Ranger which lasted me for a cool trouble free 150,000 miles until the 2nd kid came along and had to sell it for a family car.

jz78817

you have an interesting definition of "reliable."

at any rate, it sounds like you have a ****ty dealer service department. I believe your description of the problems you're having, but I highly doubt you've had several electronic control modules fail all at once on your car. the symptoms you're describing sound like they all tie into one root cause. everything you've described (hill hold, airbag, wheelspin, advancetrac warnings) all tie together because the stability control works among all of the attendant modules (BCM, PCM, RCM, PSCM, ABS.)

I'd be willing to bet that there's a fault somewhere in the CAN bus wires and those modules are losing communication with each other, or there's one faulty module which is corrupting the bus. And the dealer you brought it to is just shotgunning parts onto the car hoping they'll find the one which fixes it.

if they can't fix it, you've always got the lemon law at your disposal.

ChampInSD

I completely agree that logically there is one source problem. I was surprised that the dealership couldn't identify one such problem. They told me that they are coordinating with engineers back East on this because they couldn't figure it out. So, if there is misdiagnosis going on, that failure to identify the problem involves the dealership and Ford. And even if the dealership is not fully analyzing the problem, what does that say about Ford? Am I as the consumer supposed to assume incompetence in the dealership? It's a brand new car. How hard can it possibly be to figure this out?