Just done courtesy service

[wusyc]

I went to Strapp Ford Burwood (VIC) yesterday to get the courtesy service done. (I bought mine from Knox Ford but easier for me to get serviced at Strapp).

I requested them to turn on the anti hijack feature. They knew what I was on about. They said, "oh yes, the speed lock function. Will do that for you". Also reported steering wheel veering a bit to the left.

They re-aligned the back wheels under warranty and now the steering is pretty much spot on straight.

However, in my MB Titaninum diesel, they simply could no longer find the option for anti-hijack or speed lock. They spent a bit of time to make sure that they didn't miss anything. I read the euro Mondeo forum and at least one person reported the same. It looks like the newer ones don't have it any more. The Strapp Ford guy said that it was a bit strange as they have another MB XR5 there and it has it.

[JC807]

XR5 might be considered more at risk of being hijacked than the diesel?

[wusyc]

Originally Posted by JC807

XR5 might be considered more at risk of being hijacked than the diesel?

Haha, JC807, you got a good point there... who wants dirty diesel???

[RicOz]

I thought this was mentioned before? Apparently Ford in Europe has disabled this feature on new Mondeos as it was a safety issue getting the door open if you were in a crash?

[AlanD]

I will give you just one guess where we took our car (see signature for type) for it's courtesy service! Required two 100k return trips to "complete" the A/C concern we had. Tomorrow when it gets hot I'll find out if they did good.

I asked for this feature (I think it's called an anti hijack or two stage locking)and they got it into place but managed to lose the averaged fuel consumption in the process. Also asked for the instantaneous readout too - but that was too hard : They wanted to replace an instrument cluster module (requiring third trip to the dealer) to try to sort out the mess they had made. In the process of attempting to get the Averaged Fuel Comsumption readout the two stage locking got turned off :

The car will from now on be serviced at another dealer, and I have written to the dealer General Manager (No reply) and Ford (Who got back to me) to tell them why.

It might be less convenient, but I know where I won't be going for service or warranty activity.

[TheColonel]

one has to wonder if when the system computers get updated to give you some features, those ones that were available have been taken out of the code.... just a possibility

[AlanD]

Originally Posted by TheColonel

one has to wonder if when the system computers get updated to give you some features, those ones that were available have been taken out of the code.... just a possibility

Yes this occurred to me as well - and perhaps the "replacement module" was to increase the capacity? Then there would be room for more functional code to be uploaded.

However, is it too much to ask that owners are properly informed about the limitations of the on board hardware and thus why not all functions are available simultaneously?

Didn't change my mind about the "quality" of the service facility. So we continue to use another dealership that has provided good service and feedback to us.

But if you do not explain to a service provider why you are taking your business elsewhere there is no hope for getting any improvement. I'm afraid that, as a nation, we are just too accepting of any crappy service (or the lack of it) that comes our way. So really it is our fault for not being prepared to kick up a bit of a fuss from time to time.

Cheers

[csv8]

Is the Mondeo to technical for the service guys ? Mondeo must be more technical than the FG ? BMW, Merc etc send their techs for factory training when new models come out.