Chipped Leather Steering Wheel

[Ron Tobias]

Well, like some others have mentioned my leather wrapped steering wheel in my '04 Premium pkg is chipping. Took it to the dealer today, they are going to check with Ford to see if they can replace it under warranty. I have about 22, 500 miles on it now.



I find it amazing that there should even be a question about replacing it when the vehicle is less than 2 years old. Failure to do so could only mean that Ford thinks that is a proper lifespan of the leather on the steering wheel. It also means that I probably won't buy another Ford and considering that I have bought 18 new cars in the last 30 years, including 3 from this dealer in the last 3 years, I think that could be quite a loss.



I'll keep you posted.

 

[Todd Z]

Well, Most of the time if the dealer is on "probation" with ford, they need ford authorization to replace almost any thing under warranty...

Some have to go as far as sending ford digital pics...

This happens because the dealer replaces parts under warranty like crazy to keep the customer happy....

Waite to see what happens... Don't blame the dealer, IT may be Ford's fault..

The dealer gets paied weather you pay for the part or ford pays them to replace it..

Todd Z

 

[Ron Tobias]

Todd Z,



Your reply is interesting because the shop manager said they may have to take pictures and send them in to Ford. Hmm....



At this point I am under the impression the dealer is going to do whatever he can to keep me happy. If it doesn't work out, I'll most likely blame Ford but the dealer will lose the future sales.

 

[Todd Z]

Now thats more like it.!...

Todd Z

 

[Todd Cloutier]

My wheel started peeling during my trip down to the Dallas meet. This is my 2nd Sport Trac and 3rd vehicle in the Explorer family, and its the only one to have this problem. I wonder if Ford is getting the leather wrapped wheels from a different supplier for the 04's and up.

 

[Ryan Y]

I had mine replaced under warranty a couple of months ago with 30,000 miles and about 14 months old.... The dealership said normally they would consider it "wear and tear," and I told them I understand wear and tear, but I felt like this was wearing out a little prematurely, so they went ahead and replaced it.



at any rate, good luck...

 

[Deleted deleted]

The cheap leather peeling on the steering wheel is nothing new. Been going on since the Sport Trac came out. Yet Ford does nothing to fix the problem at the factory. Amazing.

 

[Tom R]

Yep, had mine replaced under warranty after having to go to 2 seperate dealers to get one to do it under warranty. The 1st on wouldn't budge off of the "it's normal wear and tear" line and not covered under warranty. That was about 6 months ago, now with 36,982 total miles on my 03' ST, the new steering wheel is doing the same thing. Of course it just went out of warranty!