2017 Undercarriage Corrosion

obgod3 said:

dont new cars have a pretty extensive warranty against rust?

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Often, they will only warranty against "rust-through" which means it't not covered unless there are actual holes in the metal--not just surface rust.

Zathras said:

Often, they will only warranty against "rust-through" which means it't not covered unless there are actual holes in the metal--not just surface rust.

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also it's only covered if it rusted through from the backside to the front. Rust through from the painted side to the back isn't covered.

So I had a thought over lunch of what could have possibly caused that accelerated rust to happen so quickly. I'm an electrician and at work one of our DC rooms in the basement got flooded and thinking of that Made me think of this.

Salt is conductive for one and your negative battery post being connected to the frame of the car as well as all metal being bonded to the negative battery post as well makes the entire car technically one giant circuit.

If this car was under saltwater and the battery was still connected you're going to see something similar to what is happening under the car. Kind of like cathodic protection in reverse, except in his case all the metal on your car is the sacrificial Anode. Rather than having an actual sacrificial anode.

All of the metal DC panels under water showed same kind of rusting at work within a very short time and this wasn't even salt water.

Just an idea but it's totally possible.

This is why i had mine undersealed from new. They salt the roads in the UK in winter so cars that don't get protected properly end up like yours.

Best option for you is to sell it fast and buy something that comes undersealed from the factory.

I live 3 miles from the ocean in Florida, anything steel outside will almost start to rust immediately, that's why my Stang is always keep in the garage, lol.

TC :ford:

id be getting in touch with ford or another dealer thats bad.. i had a 05 subaru that lived in the northeast its whole life and never looked like that deff looks like it sat in standing water for along time before you got it

i have a 2015 and i live in the northwest where it always rains. it's a daily and i drive it year round and i can say mine undercarriage looks nothing like that...?

I'll have to check mine at 6600 miles, but when I did the suspension about 2,000 mile ago, the undercarriage looked brand new. My car is a daily driver, parked outside, and I live in PA. That amount of rust and corrosion looks excessive for such a short period of time.

Its just factory patina; an option you paid for! Man that sucks.

tcman54 said:

I live 3 miles from the ocean in Florida, anything steel outside will almost start to rust immediately, that's why my Stang is always keep in the garage, lol.

TC :ford:

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My mustang sits outside in my driveway, only a coupe miles from the ocean. My undercarriage looks brand new after 2.5 months and 1000 miles.

Maybe they shipped the car by truck transport through heavily salted roads in January. The car arrived, was never washed underneath and the Florida humidity went to work on it for a year.

There is a common misconception that Florida is a no rust state since they don't put down road salt.

Corrosion in Florida is extremely common, both from sea salt and very high humidity.

With that said, this rust seems a bit excessive. I wonder if it did find itself in some standing sea water.

Mine looked very similar to this but not quite as bad. I noticed mine about a week after I bought it. Mostly bolt heads and replaceable parts. The actual uni body is pretty clean. I kinda freaked out at first but planned on changing most parts underneath anyways. Also I purchased mine in June of 2017, it was trucked to the dealer in January 2017.

Lime1GT said:

Maybe they shipped the car by truck transport through heavily salted roads in January. The car arrived, was never washed underneath and the Florida humidity went to work on it for a year.

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That makes sense to me. High heat, high humidity and no under body washing. People forget that rust is accelerated by higher temperatures. So once it starts and gets a foot hold, a warm, humid climate like Florida is ideal for rust to continue progressing quickly.

I owned a 2015 GT for a year, drove it every day in MN salt spray, etc. After a year I looked at it pretty thoroughly prior to selling it. The OP's car looks significantly worse.

Looks like a car from Texas. They distributed cars from the flood zone to surrounding areas

I've had mine over a year now and live within a mile of the Atlantic. Mine looks nothing like this at all. I have no surface rust and about the only thing that even looks remotely like the OP's is my rotors after I wash the car and don't drive it right away.