[Closed] Help needed - Ford Dealer / tow bar woes

if your paying main dealer prices you should get main dealer service and parts
thats crap, SHOUT AT THEM until its sorted

I'd be going mentalist, there will have been a job sheet raised when the car was dropped off, you need to find out what it says on that.
When the mechanics at my local Ford dealer didn't do something I asked for, I was able to refer back to the job sheet where the service receptionist had written my instructions on, and get it redone...

That is proper wiring on a ford, isn't it? 🙂

In all honesty they may not have loom sockets for towing extensions on your particular model and in which case they have little other choice. Can't imagine they'd miss a chance to screw you over for Ford parts prices?

Pieces of metal, pieces of board, throw them together and there's a ford.

Insults about fords aside (I'm very happy with my s-max), there is a proper wiring loom for tow bars. They even know how much it costs. I'm guessing they looked up the price when I started complaining. I can see me writing some very stroppy letters this weekend

Get it done, I hate main stealerships.

Never knew there were proper looms, thought they were all scotch locked! 😳

Just spoke to my mate who's a Ford salesman and he's said to check that the dealer actually did the work and that they didn't sub it out. Any towbar fitted at his place would be a pukka Ford towbar with factory loom and he reckons about £500 but he wasnt sure. The main problem he can see you having is if you have any electrical faults with the car during the time of the cars warranty then your warranty is void as you ( well the dealer ) has hacked into the loom. He said make sure you get confirmation that they will honour and warranty the splicing of the loom as a new loom is around £1800...

Thanks flor that, useful stuff. The dealer subbed it out, but I engaged and paid the dealer so it's down to them whatever happens. They haven't called back except to say they haven't found the call when they quoted yet, not that I think that that has anything to do with it anyway. If I'd wanted a scotch lock bodge, I'd have done it myself. Seriously pissed off about this. Gonna spend some time over the weekend finding people to shout at

Might be useful to get a written statement off them about the warranty, if not for you then for when you sell it and for the new owner.

I'm going to push hard down the fit the proper loom route. Written statement re warranty is the absolute last resort, but only after I've complained to absolutely everybody!

Update:

Thanks for your replies, everything helped. I persisted and made a right old nuisance of myself and the dealer has now relented (more like realised they were wrong and didn't have a leg to stand on!) and are going to fix everything properly 😀

only just spotted this and looks like you've got it sorted now anyway. i've got an s-max and fitted a towbar last year. you're right to get the correct parts as they seem to be renowned for problems with the multiplex wiring with a bodged towbar - i'm amazed your dealer would even consider not fitting the right parts. i got hold of the proper ford parts for the towbar and wiring and fitted them myself.

the wiring is really neat, it fits through an existing hole in the floor with a proper grommet and then runs to a new ecu which connects into the vehicle wiring behind the RH boot trim. the vehicle ecu then needs re-programming to recognise the new towbar ecu - i had to get this done at the dealer after the installation.

if it's the correct parts, it does a couple of clever things like disabling the rear parking sensors when a trailer is connected and only turning on the trailer foglights, not the ones on the back of the car to avoid dazzle off the front of a caravan. the bulb out sensing is also done through the normal vehicle system so no buzzers or extra warning lights.

i might still have the ford instructions somewhere if you need to check if anythings been done right

I assume you are talking about the OEM spec wiring, which includes activating the trailer stability programme in the ESP. I found out it's why the VW dealer (in my case) wanted to charge £600 for a towbar - because they use all OEM parts - when even one of the guys there advised me to go elsewhere cos it could be done for £200.

Well £200 only gets you dumb wiring not the intelligent stuff - I managed to get the intelligent stuff for about £350 all in tho.

Great result... 😀

Got proper wiring on the Galaxy when mine was fitted by Benfield.
Which dealer?

Had a mate who worked at a Ford dealership for a while. He was constantly coming out with tales along the lines of the manager telling him to charge hundreds of pounds for a dog guard for a customers new car, only to pop down Halfords and buy a cheapo universal one off the shelf.

I won't name & shame until everything is finally sorted. They relented and despite claiming on many occasions that it was the proper wiring and even coming out with the classic line 'it is the proper wiring for the tow bar', they have seen the error of their ways. I pointed out in a long e-mail / fax to the chairman of the company (who credit to him, replied in 4 minutes!) that the towbar would be type approved, but the wiring would not be unless it was the proper loom. The fact that I'd asked and had it confirmed when I called for a quote that it was going to be the proper wiring helped too. After his involvement the was one more round of silliness from the dealer before a complete backtrack. They are now getting the correct parts in and will call me when they arrive so I can take the car in and they will take out the old wiring, repair the loom and install and activate the correct parts.

It's a PITA sometimes to get what you pay for, but a little research and persistance pays off, eventually. A carefully worded letter to the big cheese is usually effective, particularly when you make it clear you know your rights!

Interesting, I'm considering a second hand SMAX and want a towbar fitted. At least now I know to go to Ford and get it in writing what I'm asking for and what I'm going to get.

Lucas, aside from potential warranty issues with the in car loom, the proper ford loom also integrates with the car, so detects when you have something plugged in and disables the rear parking sensors and stops the rear fogs coming on