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Demand a Recall on Vista Sunroof


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I keep mine lubed with the Motorcraft PTFE lubricant (the blue-green stuff).... seems to work good so far at least, roof opens and closes perfectly smooth with no noises ('07 w/102k mi). There's other similar lubes too that would work fine, but the Motorcraft stuff I get for free at work, sooooo.....

 

And don't forget the back half of the track too (where you can't really see it under the little felt covers), and lube the little accordion panels too so they don't squeak and chatter

 

xg8_ptfe_motorcraft.jpg

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If your vehicles are still under warranty and you have any hints that the roof is not functioning as well as the day you bought the car, I suggest you take it in to a Ford dealer to have it checked out. This will make a record of your visit concerning the roof. If your roof fails after the warranty expires (reasonable amount of time: < 6 months or < 10,000 miles), you have a good chance of having it repaired under warranty. GM did this for me when the rear dif went out on my Suburban. At 32,000 miles, I took it into the dealer for a strange smell in the passenger compartment (smelled like propane). They couldn't figure out where it was coming from and the truck worked fine making no strange noises. At 43,000 miles, the rear dif went out while going over the continental divide in Colorado. The dealer in Gunnison, CO opened up the rear dif cover and the propane smell almost knocked us all out. GM customer service called my local dealer to confirm the 32,000 mile service call about the propane smell and covered the $3,800 repair as well as the 5 day rental car.

 

Get a service call on the record with your dealer before the warranty expires and you'll have some ammo should it fail after the warranty expires.

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If your vehicles are still under warranty and you have any hints that the roof is not functioning as well as the day you bought the car, I suggest you take it in to a Ford dealer to have it checked out. This will make a record of your visit concerning the roof. If your roof fails after the warranty expires (reasonable amount of time: < 6 months or < 10,000 miles), you have a good chance of having it repaired under warranty. GM did this for me when the rear dif went out on my Suburban. At 32,000 miles, I took it into the dealer for a strange smell in the passenger compartment (smelled like propane). They couldn't figure out where it was coming from and the truck worked fine making no strange noises. At 43,000 miles, the rear dif went out while going over the continental divide in Colorado. The dealer in Gunnison, CO opened up the rear dif cover and the propane smell almost knocked us all out. GM customer service called my local dealer to confirm the 32,000 mile service call about the propane smell and covered the $3,800 repair as well as the 5 day rental car.

 

Get a service call on the record with your dealer before the warranty expires and you'll have some ammo should it fail after the warranty expires.

 

Now THERE'S an encouraging story!

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  • 1 month later...

Does anyone know if it is actually the motors that are bad??? If it is the result of defective motors, does anyone know if the replacement motors are fixed so they don't have the same problems? I would hate to spend money on a new motor and send time replacing it to have it fail again. I have only used the vista room on my 2010 about 15 times after we bought it brand new in 2010 before it would not close all the way without me having to help it close by pushing it when it starts to die about 8 inches from the closed position. Come on Ford so many people have the exact same problem you should issue a recall or tell use the motors were not powerful enough to close the vista roof, but the replacement motors are stronger so you will not have this problem if you replace the motor with a new one. That or I buy a Toyota, Kia, or Honda.

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I don't it has anything to do with cleaning or lube on the track because it opens just fine everyone has issues with it closing. I also do not think it has anything to do with teaching the open and closed positions, because when it starts slowing down while 8 inches away from being closed I give it a little help and it keeps going until it is fully closed. I think it is the motor for the vista roof being too weak, I would just like Ford to come out and say we are not recalling it but it is a faulty design of the motor and the replacement motors are strong enough, so I don't spend time and money only to have it do the samething after using it 20 or 30 times.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My 2008 Edge Sunroof just stopped working. Only had car 2yrs, now I've driven it often car has 125kmiles I've put 70+ on it myself. Either way this shouldn't have happened. Just goes to show why Americans continue to buy overseas cars.,

 

 

Right, all of the overseas car mechanics here in America have been laid off and are collecting unemployment checks due to lack of repairs needed on their brand of cars.

 

My statement is as asinine as the one you posted! My one next door neighbor was a certified Honda master mechanic and was always bitching about all the extra hours he had to work (Saturdays and Sundays) to keep up with all of the broken down Hondas. They had plenty of mechanics, but too many cars needing repair.

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Well I don't care about mechanic's I just care about my roof not closing and worried about flooding. My Sunroof as well started going a lot slower awhile ago, then week ago it started that pulsating to close & open.

 

So am I correct this isn't recalled or covered since everyone is having this issue?

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My Sunroof as well started going a lot slower awhile ago, then week ago it started that pulsating to close & open.

 

If I read this correctly, you had advanced warning that your sunroof wasn't working properly, but ignored it until now when it has stopped working altogether? Now you want to complain about the car?

 

I hope you are able to get this taken care of with little or no cost out of your pocket.

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Well I don't care about mechanic's I just care about my roof not closing and worried about flooding. My Sunroof as well started going a lot slower awhile ago, then week ago it started that pulsating to close & open.

 

So am I correct this isn't recalled or covered since everyone is having this issue?

 

Not everyone. Your car is 5 (6 if 2014s are out now) model years behind, Yes things break at that point. Mileage on that part doesn't matter.

 

Plus recalls are for safety issues. I don't think this is a safety issue.

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  • 3 months later...

We too have an Edge (2009 Limited) in which the Vista roof has stopped working. It won't even try to open. I guess we should be pleased that it didn't stop in the open position! I've checked the fuse and it is fine. I don't know if anyone from Ford actually looks at these forums but I would think there are ample amounts of complaints here to consider making this right for us loyal customers. I've owned fords for 30 years now and bought this Edge for a lot of reasons but the Vista roof was a big part of it.

 

Ford, Please wake up and take note. You have many displeased customers due to this issue!

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Just to let everyone knows, I had the same issue (2011 Edge SEL) and the dealer lubrified the track system and it has worked perfectly fine since then. My guess is that it does require some regular lubrification.

 

Be careful though as the dealer is quick to propose a motor replacement, which is really costly. Here is what happened to me:

 

First time at dealer, they lubricate the tracks, problem was not fixed, I am told to book a two day appointment to disassemble the roof, check the motor and possibly replace it. (vehicle was still under warranty)

 

I bring the car in for the two day appointment, the car is ready in a few hours, they lubricated something else (rear track maybe?), problem is solved. Obviously this was under warranty, if I would have been paying for the repair, they may have skipped the lubrification process and charged me for the entire job.

 

As far as the recall goes, I agree that recalls are for safety purposes.

 

Although, other car company, such as Honda, have been good enough to recognize when a defect is present and provided free repairs. This happened to my friends CR-V, which had to replace his air conditioning compressor, and later received a letter from Honda with financial compensation.

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We too have an Edge (2009 Limited) in which the Vista roof has stopped working. It won't even try to open. I guess we should be pleased that it didn't stop in the open position! I've checked the fuse and it is fine. I don't know if anyone from Ford actually looks at these forums but I would think there are ample amounts of complaints here to consider making this right for us loyal customers. I've owned fords for 30 years now and bought this Edge for a lot of reasons but the Vista roof was a big part of it.

 

Ford, Please wake up and take note. You have many displeased customers due to this issue!

 

Hey grandpagarn,

 

Have you been to the dealer for this concern? Let me know and I'll look into options available to you.

 

Todd

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  • 1 year later...

Yep, mine refuses to close all the way. I first had a problem with my brake booster, which was dealt with terribly by Ford. Now this..............................I refuse to take my car back to the dealer after the way we were treated. I guess we will just never open the sunroof again as long as we own the car. And yes, I've tried the initialization process.

 

Not that we could afford a $2k plus fix for something as trivial as a sunroof.

 

Thanks Ford

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landon_chris,

 

I had the same issue (ford edge 2011), went to the dealer to get it lubricated, it did not fix the problem the first time, they told me I would have to change the motor (under warranty). Went back but instead of changing the motor, they lubricated other parts and it has been working fine since then.

 

With any car companies, some dealer are good, and some are terrible. My recommendation, change dealer, and insist that they fix the problem without replacing the sunroof motor. Usually the problem is that the friction is too high and the motor just stops thinking it has reached the end.

 

Ford should really have a proper preventive maintenance procedure in place for the sunroof, it would prevent a lot of the issues.

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