broken doorhandles
Question:
> Everytime I look at my broken door handle, I get mad. I get even by telling > people not to buy Fords.
Which company doesn’t "sock-it-to-you" for parts like a door handle? My sister has been driving a 9 year old Passat with three broken door handles for two years because she is unwilling to spend $100s for each of them to get them fixed. It costs a lot of money to maintain a stock of replacement parts. If the part is still in production it is not a big deal. I know that the driver’s door handle for a late model Expedition, including key pad, is between $60 and $75 depending on the dealership. If the part is no longer produced, and it turns out the part don’t last as long as intended, then the company has a real mess. There is a very good chance that the original tooling for the part is either worn out, scrapped, or just plain lost. Building new tooling to make a couple of thousand parts results in horrendous costs. Even if the tooling is sitting on the shelf ready to go, setting it up to run a few thousand parts is not cheap. Most companies try to estimate the life of the product "spares" requirements and stock pile enough spares to cover the replacement parts needs. This is usually done based on historic demands. Mistakes are made. I know of no company in any industry that does not suffer from this failing. I feel lucky owning a Ford. My need for parts has been relatively low and I haven’t been stuck with any high dollar item (at least not yet). If you want horror stories, let me tell you about Toyota starters, alternator, relays, trim parts, you name it. I think Toyota makes fine vehicles, but they have no scruples when it comes to raking you over the coals for "genuine replacement parts." Only Honda comes close when you are talking about getting stuck for parts. (my opinion based on vehicles in my family..your mileage may vary).
Response:
if you have so much time that you are going to reply to your message multiple times to complain about something that you probably broke….you need to get a life. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->> There’s always the wear and tear items though I think we have the >technology >> to make them last longer. But then there is the part that is designed to >> fail. Many of these require a special tool to replace. So they get you >for >> parts and labor. What is really odd is how the parts designed to fail are >> *ALWAYS* in stock. Just by looking at the dealers parts inventory you can >> tell what will fail. Parts bring in far more money and profit then new >> vehicle sales. I once owned a 1989 Toyota Camry I put 180,000 mile on it. >> Besides the normal, brakes, tune-up etc. The only part failures were two >> California emission control items about $250 to diagnose and replace. Both >> parts were made in the USA and in stock. The car was the last of the >Camry’s >> made in Japan. Makes you wonder. >Fixed Operations(Parts/Service) at the dealer are what keep the dealerships >alive when the car market is flat. We had a GMC dealer here in town with NO >service/parts dept. They lasted about a year and folded. >I haven’t experienced all of the broken parts that many people on the NG >complain about. Is it possible that some folks are just plain hard on their >vehicles? I mean, the handles are cheap plastic, but I have a 5 year that >cranks on them everyday and I haven’t had any break yet. 95k miles and the >transmission works flawlessly. >The quality of American-made vehicles has increased immensely since the 80’s >whereas a lot of Jap imports have decreased. Our ‘93 Pontiac has needed one >alternator and battery in 136k miles of ownership. That alone should tell >you something. >Well, good luck with the door handles. =) >Dan > Jap imports have not decreased in quality, they’ve only increased so much > slower than they used to, but still are about 10% better made than American > cars and trucks. > In the 60’s and 70’s, especially in the 80’s, Jap cars were about 40% better > than American vehicles. The gap has closed to an estimated 11%-6%. > It is estimated that the current crop of Fords and GMs are equivelent to a > 1990 Japanese car. Still about 7-10 years behind. > What’s even more telling is that the cars made by Japanese companies made in > factories here in the USA, mostly in Right-to-work states with no unions, or > really subdued unions, are still better made than cars made by the old big 3 > in their old factories. > Of course, the worst American cars in the world continue to always be > Chrysler. They keep using those old union lazy bad people in their old > factories who couldn’t care less about quality. > I’ll never buy another Ford again, myself. It’s a monthly hassle, a part > here, a failure there, special tools here, "we can’t do that alaignment here" > and the rest.
Response:
> There’s always the wear and tear items though I think we have the technology > to make them last longer. But then there is the part that is designed to > fail. Many of these require a special tool to replace. So they get you for > parts and labor. What is really odd is how the parts designed to fail are > *ALWAYS* in stock. Just by looking at the dealers parts inventory you can > tell what will fail. Parts bring in far more money and profit then new > vehicle sales. I once owned a 1989 Toyota Camry I put 180,000 mile on it. > Besides the normal, brakes, tune-up etc. The only part failures were two > California emission control items about $250 to diagnose and replace. Both > parts were made in the USA and in stock. The car was the last of the Camry’s > made in Japan. Makes you wonder.
Fixed Operations(Parts/Service) at the dealer are what keep the dealerships alive when the car market is flat. We had a GMC dealer here in town with NO service/parts dept. They lasted about a year and folded. I haven’t experienced all of the broken parts that many people on the NG complain about. Is it possible that some folks are just plain hard on their vehicles? I mean, the handles are cheap plastic, but I have a 5 year that cranks on them everyday and I haven’t had any break yet. 95k miles and the transmission works flawlessly. The quality of American-made vehicles has increased immensely since the 80’s whereas a lot of Jap imports have decreased. Our ‘93 Pontiac has needed one alternator and battery in 136k miles of ownership. That alone should tell you something. Well, good luck with the door handles. =) Dan
Response:
Same thing happened to me, but I caught it in time and had the dealer fix it right after I bought my ‘97 Exp. The invoice was priced at $315, parts were only $65 each. What the defect is, that there is a little tab on the other side of the hand that pivots and actuates the lever to open the door, this tab is not thick enough and breaks after a couple years. In my mind it is a design flaw and the cost of replacing it should be Fords. Good luck getting them to pay for it, they aren’t going to have much cash left after all the tires are paid for.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Hi everyone, > I have a ‘96 Explorer XL. Last year the inside doorhandle on the > left rear door got broken, so the door could no longer be opened from > the inside. Now the same thing has happened with the other > reardoor handle. > Is this a known weakness? Any insight appreciated, plse email me. > Thanks. > Eric Liong
Response:
Many years ago, I was grumbling to a neighbor about the cost of repair parts for a snowblower. I had an idea of the cost to manufacture and thought the markup was a bit much. The neighbor worked for a consumer appliance company and told me that the sale price for repair parts was about 10 times the cost to manufacture. The rationale was the cost of carrying an inventory that might take years to sell or might never be sold. Of course, there is always the problem of being a customer of a sole source. Charlie – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > I. The > following broke on my 93EB 4×4, each I could of designed better. > Plastic Air Vents, broke two $28ea. worth $3.00 > Arm rest bracket, $37 worth $8.00 > Door stopper/hinge support, $5. I got it from a junked Ranger.
Response:
I couldn’t agree more. My experience with Ford is there will always be the $100-200 repair, though after-market parts are available repair is normally beyond the capability of weekend mechanics (50 dollar part the rest is labor/right tool). Then there’s the $20-100 annoyances that only break after 3yrs or 36,000. Most of use can fix them but *only* Ford has the part. The following broke on my 93EB 4×4, each I could of designed better. Plastic Air Vents, broke two $28ea. worth $3.00 Arm rest bracket, $37 worth $8.00 Door stopper/hinge support, $5. I got it from a junked Ranger.
Response:
Well, Well! Several years ago in a retirement community in the southeast I met a gentleman on a walking trail who happened to be a retiree from Ford. He was an engineer who took early retirement because of his disgust with upper management. One of his areas was (you guessed it!) door handles. As he told me I could have designed handles that would last the lifetime of a vehicle for a few cents more. You can easily guess the rest of the story. I have never purchased a new ford since that day. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Same thing happened to me, but I caught it in time and had the dealer fix it > right after I bought my ‘97 Exp. The invoice was priced at $315, parts were > only $65 each. > What the defect is, that there is a little tab on the other side of the hand > that pivots and actuates the lever to open the door, this tab is not thick > enough and breaks after a couple years. In my mind it is a design flaw and > the cost of replacing it should be Fords. Good luck getting them to pay for > it, they aren’t going to have much cash left after all the tires are paid > for. > Hi everyone, > I have a ‘96 Explorer XL. Last year the inside doorhandle on the > left rear door got broken, so the door could no longer be opened from > the inside. Now the same thing has happened with the other > reardoor handle. > Is this a known weakness? Any insight appreciated, plse email me. > Thanks. > Eric Liong
Response:
writes: >I have a ‘96 Explorer XL. Last year the inside doorhandle on the >left rear door got broken, so the door could no longer be opened from >the inside. Now the same thing has happened with the other >reardoor handle. >Is this a known weakness? Any insight appreciated, plse email me. >Thanks. >Eric Liong
Eric: The following was posted a few days ago. <<SNIP>> >If the child latch isn’t set, the handle needs replaced… $13.00 from >the dealer. >Cheesy plastic and the part that the rod inside the door fits into >shears off.
David: Yep, that’s what fixed my 1994 EB Rear door handle. Part no.F77Z*7821819*AAJ is for the rear door on the 1994 models. I don’t know if the 1997 uses the same one though. They call it a "control". You have to take off the door panel but it’s not too difficult, because I was able to do it. 
-Steve
Response:
Same thing just happened to mine. I have yet to take it apart, but would be happy to post my findings. -Paul ‘95 Ford Explorer XLT > Hi everyone, > I have a ‘96 Explorer XL. Last year the inside doorhandle on the > left rear door got broken, so the door could no longer be opened from > the inside. Now the same thing has happened with the other > reardoor handle. > Is this a known weakness? Any insight appreciated, plse email me. > Thanks. > Eric Liong
– Paul Olson B&B Electronics Mfg. Co. Phone (815) 433-5100 ext. 244 ???Interested in becoming an AutoTap Insider??? Visit http://www.autotap.com/insider.html
Response:
Hi everyone, I have a ‘96 Explorer XL. Last year the inside doorhandle on the left rear door got broken, so the door could no longer be opened from the inside. Now the same thing has happened with the other reardoor handle. Is this a known weakness? Any insight appreciated, plse email me. Thanks. Eric Liong
