2020 GT350 "track use" warranty exclusion

[pilotgore]

I’ve passed up on a GT500 that could have been had at MSRP solely because of this. I have zero desire to spend $80k on a car that has this wording in the warranty supplement.

In my line of work of flying planes I have no tolerance for accepting grey areas. If it’s not black and white, I’m not comfortable. Grey areas and “it should be ok” type situations are recipes for disaster. This warranty issues is making me feel similar to how I view those uncertainties at work. Either the areas of concern are rectified to black and white leaving no doubt or I’m not moving. Same thing with spending this kind of money or a high performance sports car. Until warranty language is changed and I am now covered with written word, I will not be purchasing this car.

Thats just one potential customers perspective obviously.

Glad you chimed in.

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[stanglife]

Couple points and wurstions

- I would likely have not bought my 2020 without clarification on this if I had realized it was worded this way.

- after previous years- why would someone assume it would be different?

- Is the warranty supplement available prior to buying the actual car? Seems like a switcharoo.

- years of marketingtagged the car as a car they wanted you to track and would be covered under warrantee. That marketing continued to benefit Ford in 2020 so reneging that aspect of it for this year seems sketch.

- I do also agree that we will know a lot more once someone has a claim.

- def pulling modem

 

[jake_zx2]

depends on the person, buying cars out of warranty is not unusual for most people, and lots of us take the risk of collision damage without buying the track insurance. Depends on risk tolerance and discretionary spending budgets.

Yes, it isn’t unusual for people to buy cars out of warranty to race them, but the reason for that isn’t that they DON’T want a warranty, the reason is because they will save tens of thousands of dollars doing it that way.

Think about it this way: someone wants to buy a GT350 so that they can take it to the track. Their options used to be 1. Buy a 2016 GT350 for $35-40k and just go full send without warranty, or 2. Buy a brand new GT350 for $65-80k and have that warranty to fall back on if something breaks. It actually presented an interesting proposition for the added investment of getting a new car. But now that track use in general can completely void your warranty, why would someone spend that extra $20k for a car witha warranty?

Dude, take it easy. I’m not faulting him for wanting clarification, I was just trying to figure out what his motivations were for asking.

You literally just explained it there. His motivations for asking were to receive clarification

This isn’t hard, you're just being thick-headed because you can’t stand the thought of someone actually challenging Ford

 

[jmn444]

- Is the warranty supplement available prior to buying the actual car? Seems like a switcharoo.

Available online for all model years, and part of what is an issue, is that it's a manual supplement, and IMO it mainly refers to the actual warranty itself which doesn't have different language for different models.

 

[JAJ]

I have a 2016 so I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it occurs to me that we should keep in mind that warranties are there to fix manufacturing defects in the parts that were on the car when it was made. While you can argue that a manufacturing defect that reveals itself on a highway isn't different than one that reveals itself on a race track, the manufacturer is within their rights to draw a line and exclude certain situations. It sounds like that's what Ford has done.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I do track my car. 90 procent of my miles are getting to a track, tracking and coming back. Its a 2017 and had blown motor at the track it had bearings and axles reolaced after the track use and no one questioned anything. Even when my car came in on non stock track tires and different brakes. And i highly doubt it that ford would not honor worronty for 2020 models if something would blow up at the track. There is no way that ford would advertise track capable car and not honor warranty. So wait for conformation from ford perfomrance and dont worry. Your warranty is still good at track whem doing hpde events

Out of curiosity and with regards to the above response @Narwaniec594:

When your engine blew during “track use”, which completely falls under “racing” or “timed event” lingo as denial for warranty work (previously outlined in this thread)....

Did you explicitly tell or inform your Service Center you blew the engine while at the track? Or did you go in there with the shrugged shoulders, “I was just driving it and don’t know what happened!”.

There’s a difference when saying “no one questioned anything”... because most folks who blow up cars at the track don’t always go into their Service Center honestly exclaiming “Hoooowheee, I blew that thing up at the track this weekend, shoulda seen it, hope the Warranty covers it”...

 

[honeybadger]

From my manual

Interestingly, this is found in the maintenance section as well.

The choice of "dedicated road course use" in the first one seems deliberate. Interesting...

 

[jmn444]

yeah, seems a bit conflicting too.

I wonder, is that in the normal mustang manual? The comment about coolers when you have a 2017 makes me think those "rules" would apply to the normal gt where heat is extreme and oem oil fill is 5w20 ?

 

[honeybadger]

yeah, seems a bit conflicting too.

I wonder, is that in the normal mustang manual? The comment about coolers when you have a 2017 makes me think those "rules" would apply to the normal gt where heat is extreme and oem oil fill is 5w20 ?

The way I read it, they're saying if you're going to move to dedicated track use (i.e. real racing, etc.), then you need to upgrade the coolers and change oil more often. In my experience, this is true. In true racing conditions and slicks, it's possible to overheat the car fairly easily.

Edit: should clarify that ambient air temps play a role, obviously

 

[Tomster]

I’ve passed up on a GT500 that could have been had at MSRP solely because of this. I have zero desire to spend $80k on a car that has this wording in the warranty supplement.

In my line of work of flying planes I have no tolerance for accepting grey areas. If it’s not black and white, I’m not comfortable. Grey areas and “it should be ok” type situations are recipes for disaster. This warranty issues is making me feel similar to how I view those uncertainties at work. Either the areas of concern are rectified to black and white leaving no doubt or I’m not moving. Same thing with spending this kind of money or a high performance sports car. Until warranty language is changed and I am now covered with written word, I will not be purchasing this car.

Thats just one potential customers perspective obviously.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I, like you, don't live in a world of grey. Unfortunately, I caught this little blurb after the fact. Anybody who accepts this discrepancy and hopes for the best will one day be left with a big surprise and a huge bill.

 

[JT1]

I’ve passed up on a GT500 that could have been had at MSRP solely because of this. I have zero desire to spend $80k on a car that has this wording in the warranty supplement.

In my line of work of flying planes I have no tolerance for accepting grey areas. If it’s not black and white, I’m not comfortable. Grey areas and “it should be ok” type situations are recipes for disaster. This warranty issues is making me feel similar to how I view those uncertainties at work. Either the areas of concern are rectified to black and white leaving no doubt or I’m not moving. Same thing with spending this kind of money or a high performance sports car. Until warranty language is changed and I am now covered with written word, I will not be purchasing this car.

Thats just one potential customers perspective obviously.

Between the warranty language, and the cars wanting to phone home with all my driving data, I am no longer considering a new GT500 or GT350R,

No offense to those who don't track their cars, but owning one and not tracking it is ridiculus to me.

Nowhere can you even remotely explore these cars potential on the street.

I don't want to be one of those poser types, "yep it's got 760 HP, goes 180 top speed, 1/4 mile in 10 seconds, but I've never done any of those things in it, I just rub it and stare at it."

No thanks!

Isn't Farley supposedly a "car guy". This is short sighted IMHO. Nothing pisses a customer off more than not standing behind the product.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/ford-ceo-farley-warranty-costs

 

[jake_zx2]

I have a 2016 so I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it occurs to me that we should keep in mind that warranties are there to fix manufacturing defects in the parts that were on the car when it was made. While you can argue that a manufacturing defect that reveals itself on a highway isn't different than one that reveals itself on a race track, the manufacturer is within their rights to draw a line and exclude certain situations. It sounds like that's what Ford has done.

While I agree with this completely, I would also say that if a company is touting a car as being “track-ready”, then the car should be able to withstand whatever standard track use may throw at it, and if it doesn’t, it should be considered a manufacturing defect as the components were designed with track use in mind

When your engine blew during “track use”, which completely falls under “racing” or “timed event” lingo as denial for warranty work (previously outlined in this thread)....

You keep asserting this, but it’s simply not true. “Track use” is completely separate from “racing” or “timed event”. Just because you’re driving on a race track doesn’t mean you’re being timed by a mediator and competing in any way. In fact, MOST track events don’t do this. You need licensing and such to compete in timed or wheel-to-wheel road course events

“Track use” means ANY instance of a car being on a race track. “Racing” or “timed event” means only cars that are on a race track with the purpose of driving competitively

 

[Tomster]

Please be civil everyone....

Ok, I just had a long conversation with Jim Owens. He is a track enthusiast just like us. He is happy to see us out on the track enjoying the car the way it was engineered to be driven and the way Carol Shelby would like to see us use our vehicles.

Now, pertaining to the warranty.....

I was assured by Mr. Owens that the spirit of the warranty is not to exclude track use. When he returns from his vacation over the holiday he will review the warranty and issue a written statement to that effect.

 

[key01]

That new warranty stance with shared costs on the suppliers end is going to end up making a lot of attorneys rich. The amount of finger pointing between Ford and the suppliers will be impossible and definitely lead to trouble with dealers and buyers. Since Ford won’t let the dealer touch a Voodoo that has failed, Ford will have the final say in what caused the failure and try to place blame somewhere. This is really going to be a huge issue going forward.

 

[RPDBlueMoon]

Please be civil everyone....

Ok, I just had a long conversation with Jim Owens. He is a track enthusiast just like us. He is happy to see us out on the track enjoying the car the way it was engineered to be driven and the way Carol Shelby would like to see us use our vehicles.

Now, pertaining to the warranty.....

I was assured by Mr. Owens that the spirit of the warranty is not to exclude track use. When he returns from his vacation over the holiday he will review the warranty and issue a written statement to that effect.

Out of curiosity who is Jim Owens?

Also regarding Ford Performance and Ford doesn't Ford Performance just build and tune the cars? Are issues like warranties and such (like parts) fall under Ford since basically you would have to go to a Ford dealership or it doesn't matter? Just wondering how realtionship the works

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