Front splitter fell off on the highway

[Abschatten]

Long story short, I purchased my new to me 2017 GT350 (7400 miles) in Manchester NH through private party. Then drove it back to Chicago. I noticed when I got it home that there was some front splitter gap and called Ford last week to setup an appointment for today to have it looked over. Well yesterday while driving down the highway it fell off at 70 mph.I was able to pull over before it was completely destroyed. However, the bolts that are to the belly pan ripped out the plastic that supports the mounting point. I removed the splitter and have been driving without it.

How screwed am I? I've been doing a lot of reading and it sounds like this will fall on the dealer that installed it, and that dealer is about 1100 miles away from me. Not only is the lip damaged but the actual pan is in need of replacement/repair. The 45 degree bolts were missing and the lip was not tapped into place.

It's amazing that a brand new $60,000 car cant bet entrusted to the dealers to install these correctly.

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[jmn444]

Whoever installed the tow hook may be who messed it up... not sure though!

 

[Abschatten]

Whoever installed the tow hook may be who messed it up... not sure though!

My understanding is the front bumper did not come off when the tow hook was installed.

 

[jmn444]

does the splitter not need to come off to remove the undertray?

 

[Abschatten]

The undertray does does need to come off, excuse me! I am getting cryptic responses from the original owner.

 

[jmn444]

No worries, and i haven't done mine yet so not sure what all needs to be removed, but I thought the splitter had to come off to take the undertray off...

Regardless, good luck getting it fixed!

 

[Abschatten]

Thank you! I really appreciate it, this might just be an excuse to get a CF or aluminium splitter that goes under the undertray. . a shame to need to have something like this happen already. I am rather pissed.

 

[Abschatten]

I was informed that the work was completed by the dealership in New Hampshire. So hopefully that is something I can work with.

 

[jmn444]

good deal

 

[jpindustrie]

You may be stuck going back to the selling dealer... still have some leverage due to your recent parting of $$$ there..

Your local dealer may not be that sympathetic ... do a search here and on the facebook groups... plenty of guys had theirs fall off and actually had their original SELLING dealer deny any warranty nor provide any help , and these were on newly delivered cars...

I noticed some massive gap and just went ahead, did some research, watched the videos, got the bolts on my own ... etc and went underneath and sure enough my dealer (delivered new BTW) didn't even use the 45 degree bolts that are super important in keeping the damn thing on (and theres like 6 of them too all across the front)...needless to say if you want it done right you need to re-attach yourelf. That was back in 2017 , 6 track days later and the splitter is still on rock solid (knock on wood)...

Yea $60k? This is 2019; when you have Maximas and Camrys approaching 50k fully loaded ...Raptors at 90k+... its chump change for a high end domestic sports car and i'm sad to say we are treated that way. Good luck

 

[jvandy50]

it is definitely on the original dealer, but good luck getting them to admit fault, much less pay for what you need. mine tried to say i ran over or hit something, which seems to be a standard accusation for this type of thing.

did you rip the bumper tabs on the rear? or rip the attachments from the engine splash guard? or both?

i ended up fighting to get it under warranty and they wouldn't let me install, put my car in the air to install my MGW and noticed some mismatched hardware on the winglets...started looking into it, found 16 pieces of hardware not installed and was so pissed i stopped counting, and working for the day.

my advice...whether they cover it in good faith or not...install yourself!

 

[Abschatten]

Just returned from the dealer with mixed feelings of anger, disappointment and elation.

Come to find out, the people I bought this car from outright lied to me. They claimed the engine was never replaced however come to find out it was replaced just before I purchased the car. I drove the car across the country on the highway just at the tail end of the break in period. I am so angry right now I can't even express it. The dealer did say they would be able to replace the splitter due to this however. There was missing hardware and with the recent engine replacement that is enough for a full under warranty replacement. I wish there was something I could do against the previous owners. I did my due diligence too, or so I thought. I checked the carfax, there was no mention of this work. I checked with the dealer and they CLAIMED nothing was done. However when it was ran today, it showed up.

Welp.

 

[jmn444]

wow.... well... you have a new engine on the upside and they will fix the splitter.... i wouldn't worry about the break in too much, guessing you played with the throttle now and then and drove it a little hard on the test drive.

you can extend the warranty anytime before the 3yr 36k is over for (IMO) reasonable $$$.... check into that if the engine is making you nervous, but you have till 5 yr/60k w/o extending too....

 

[Tank]

Just returned from the dealer with mixed feelings of anger, disappointment and elation.

Come to find out, the people I bought this car from outright lied to me. They claimed the engine was never replaced however come to find out it was replaced just before I purchased the car. I drove the car across the country on the highway just at the tail end of the break in period. I am so angry right now I can't even express it. The dealer did say they would be able to replace the splitter due to this however. There was missing hardware and with the recent engine replacement that is enough for a full under warranty replacement. I wish there was something I could do against the previous owners. I did my due diligence too, or so I thought. I checked the carfax, there was no mention of this work. I checked with the dealer and they CLAIMED nothing was done. However when it was ran today, it showed up.

Welp.

Fraudulent sale. Research legal options.. You sure this isn’t disclosed in the fine print?

The splitter is the least of the issues. If they can’t install a splitter, how can you be sure the swap was done correctly?

 

[Abschatten]

Fraudulent sale. Research legal options.. You sure this isn’t disclosed in the fine print?

The splitter is the least of the issues. If they can’t install a splitter, how can you be sure the swap was done correctly?

I got an extremely fair deal to be honest, but they did lie about it. The car was private sale and the bill of sale did not state anything that there was an engine replacement. Just as is. Is there really a chance of anything coming back my way?

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