dagrev Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) Minor rear end collision and body shop just found that there is no rear metal bumper that ties into frame. He found just foam inside the outer panel of bumper. Guy had never seen that in 14 years of body work. As a result of the accident more damage was done because there is no metal bumper underneath. Had rear end collision been more than the bump that it was, the damage would have been major. Assembly line person missed this as well as Quality Control person. Wondering if anyone has run into this and wanted people to know that they may want to check their 2011 Edge. Edited April 12, 2011 by dagrev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal3thousand Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Minor rear end collision and body shop just found that there is no rear metal bumper that ties into frame. He found just foam inside the outer panel of bumper. Guy had never seen that in 14 years of body work. As a result of the accident more damage was done because there is no metal bumper underneath. Had rear end collision been more than the bump that it was, the damage would have been major. Assembly line person missed this as well as Quality Control person. Wondering if anyone has run into this and wanted people to know that they may want to check their 2011 Edge. How is the cover mounted if not at all to a bumper? that's weird. Is there an easy way to check without pulling the cover? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrev Posted April 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 The cover was pulled and that was how it was discovered I'm assuming. I'm not sure how everything was mounted if the bumper was missing, but it clearly was because the body behind where the bumper should have been was pushed in. Had the bumper been there that could not have happened with that kind of bump. It's likely a one time thing, but concerning that no one caught this major safety part. I hope the same guy wasn't asleep with others. That's scary to think you are riding around with no bumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrev Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 The mystery may be solved. The car had a trailer hitch installed new and it was removed as there was no need for it (also saved a few hundred dollars on the cost). It was removed by the dealer and the thought is that they removed the metal bumper as well. It doesn't make perfect sense to me but was account given. I think it odd the guy in the service dept didn't know he was removing the whole bumper not just the hitch, and no one asked why he took that off, or even why there was bumper laying around. I'm not sure what to think, but will try to get more clarification tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiggins Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 I do believe the factory hitch is integral to the metal rear bumper - they are not detachable from one another, so if they took off the factory hitch, that would mean the metal portion of the rear bumper came off too. Why a dealer would do this is beyond me. To do the job properly, they would have to install a new metal bumper without the factory hitch option in it's place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal3thousand Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 So you had the Class II Tow Package from factory but they removed the hitch? Kinda weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igcitng Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Why would they remove it? That is a selling point sometimes. Are they going to make it right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrev Posted April 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Why would they remove it? That is a selling point sometimes. Are they going to make it right? It was removed because it was a feature that would not ever be used and removal saved almost $400.00 so dealer was asked to remove it. The genius removing it removed the bumper w/ the hitch. One guy at the dealership said hitch should have been removed at the body shop and not at service department which is a dealership communication problem. Looks like somebody would have noticed the guy was carrying too much in parts for just a trailer hitch removal. Edge is being repaired and it will take until Tuesday because the body shop (which is not at the dealership) had to order the parts since there was damage on the body panel behind where the bumper should have been (not sure what this area is called). This will be replaced at the dealers expense. The body shop guy said it could be bent out and fixed, but since it was a brand new car, it should still be fixed like a brand new car. Basically the minor rear end collision (even though it has been a week of hassles with everyone figuring out what was wrong, why it was wrong and how to make it right), was a blessing in disguise. According to the body shop guy, had the rear end collision been a major one, damage to car and passengers would have been serious. Scary to think how long we could have been riding around without a rear bumper. So to answer your last question, between the Dealership and the insurance company everything is going to be made right thanks to the body shop staying on the dealership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOEHIO Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 (edited) Thank god it wasn't a major collision, and the car will be repaired as it should have been in the first place - with them metal on the bumper. I can't believe that they did what they did, but glad it's being taken care of Edited April 16, 2011 by JOEHIO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiggins Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 (edited) I would be very worried/concerned about any future work that dealer does to your car. The hitch/bumper is one integral piece. If they removed the hitch, the bumper came with it. If you want I can take pictures of my 2011 tow package underneath so you can understand just how negligent they were. There's no confusion or even judgement to what they did wrong. You take the hitch off, the whole metal rear bumper and thus protection goes with it. Short of some serious cutting with a torch and rewelding of some metal plates, the metal rear bumper cannot remain with removal of the factory hitch. So when the dealership agreed to remove the integral hitch/bumper and reduce your price by the $395 tow package option price.....did they also remove the upgraded radiator/fans and trailer wiring which are also part of the tow package? I would definitely be watching very carefully any work that dealership did on my car if they didn't even know what the tow package included and was willing to remove just the bumper/hitch and give you $400 credit. Good for you for getting $400 credit but the dealer seems to be clueless in the whole deal, at the expense of your safety no less - evidence removal of the entire rear bumper/hitch assembly without replacement of a bumper. They should have known you can't simply remove the hitch. Anyone even taking a cursory glance at under the vehicle can tell that, no matter what their mechanical aptitude. It's simply that obvious. Edited April 16, 2011 by shiggins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagrev Posted April 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 I would be very worried/concerned about any future work that dealer does to your car. The hitch/bumper is one integral piece. If they removed the hitch, the bumper came with it. If you want I can take pictures of my 2011 tow package underneath so you can understand just how negligent they were. There's no confusion or even judgement to what they did wrong. You take the hitch off, the whole metal rear bumper and thus protection goes with it. Short of some serious cutting with a torch and rewelding of some metal plates, the metal rear bumper cannot remain with removal of the factory hitch. So when the dealership agreed to remove the integral hitch/bumper and reduce your price by the $395 tow package option price.....did they also remove the upgraded radiator/fans and trailer wiring which are also part of the tow package? I would definitely be watching very carefully any work that dealership did on my car if they didn't even know what the tow package included and was willing to remove just the bumper/hitch and give you $400 credit. Good for you for getting $400 credit but the dealer seems to be clueless in the whole deal, at the expense of your safety no less - evidence removal of the entire rear bumper/hitch assembly without replacement of a bumper. They should have known you can't simply remove the hitch. Anyone even taking a cursory glance at under the vehicle can tell that, no matter what their mechanical aptitude. It's simply that obvious. Thanks, I would indeed love to see some pics. That would be greatly appreciated. Don't worry--we have no intention of ever taking it back to that dealer. About everything they did they messed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re5513 Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 The mystery may be solved. The car had a trailer hitch installed new and it was removed as there was no need for it (also saved a few hundred dollars on the cost). It was removed by the dealer and the thought is that they removed the metal bumper as well. It doesn't make perfect sense to me but was account given. I think it odd the guy in the service dept didn't know he was removing the whole bumper not just the hitch, and no one asked why he took that off, or even why there was bumper laying around. I'm not sure what to think, but will try to get more clarification tomorrow. While I understand that the trailer hitch and bumper may be co-dependent, if there were no bumper behind the bumper cover it would seem to be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure said bumper cover without resulting in significant rattle or looseness I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThinLine Posted May 10, 2011 Report Share Posted May 10, 2011 (edited) Ummmmmmmmmm, am I missing something here or would it have been better all around if the dealer just left the hitch on and took $400 off the price...? Edited May 10, 2011 by ThinLine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldo Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 Basically the minor rear end collision (even though it has been a week of hassles with everyone figuring out what was wrong, why it was wrong and how to make it right), was a blessing in disguise. According to the body shop guy, had the rear end collision been a major one, damage to car and passengers would have been serious. Scary to think how long we could have been riding around without a rear bumper. Well obviously your body shop guy is not an engineer. When you design a car for crash impacts, you have two opposite directives. One is to prevent damage (deflect energy) in low speed collisions. The second is to absorb energy in high speed collisions. The bumper beam is designed to deflect energy in low speed collisions. In high speed incidents, it just passes the energy forward into the unibody structure of the vehicle. So in a major collision, the damage to car and passengers would be no different if the beam is there or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igcitng Posted May 11, 2011 Report Share Posted May 11, 2011 Well obviously your body shop guy is not an engineer. When you design a car for crash impacts, you have two opposite directives. One is to prevent damage (deflect energy) in low speed collisions. The second is to absorb energy in high speed collisions. The bumper beam is designed to deflect energy in low speed collisions. In high speed incidents, it just passes the energy forward into the unibody structure of the vehicle. So in a major collision, the damage to car and passengers would be no different if the beam is there or not. Does that bumper offer any protection to the other driver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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