CV Axle Snap -- my fault?

[d7602002]

I just heard on the morning news that Ford (and other auto makers) are hoarding parts in anticipation of new supply chain issues.

Did it say why there would be supply chain issues? What are they anticipating will happen?

Sponsored

 

[dhaskit]

Hate to say it; you should be embarrassed posting this.

100% this (above)

I used to work for Apple Computer. A lady called in for a warranty claim. She said that her cat peed on the keyboard of her laptop and it quit working.
Ummm….No. Your factory warranty does not cover cat pee, mam.

 

[Lone Ridr]

Go used to get back on the road for now. There are a lot of totaled Mavericks being parted out. Ebay search.

Ford's "Just in time" policy is hurting the customer. They can turn out a new Maverick in 2 seconds but they can't furnish failed axles in 2 months? Really! It's time owners started making some noise and publicizing this and other major problems. When the issue(s) start affecting sales, axle shortages (et al) will be a thing of the past. Poor performance shouldn't be rewarded or tolerated.

 

[Rob911]

I find it surprising that an axle would have broken but there is no other damage... nothing bent or obviously out of alignment? I assume that the wheel and tire are ok? the control arm and tie rod ends are still perfect. etc.? Was the axle itself impacted (it should have obvious marks)? If nothing else is damaged then this is 100% a manufacturing defect IMO. I have no doubt hitting the curb caused it to fail but it was mechanically or design defective.

Imagine the stress when driving down the highway and then all of a sudden a deer pops out and you turn the wheel to swerve and slam on the brakes, in a couple hundreds of a second the axle basically comes to a stop. If nothing else is broken or bent and the axle itself was not impacted by an object/curb then this is all the stress that the axle experienced at failure.

 

[CajunMick]

Go used to get back on the road for now. There are a lot of totaled Mavericks being parted out. Ebay search.

The big issue is will the dealer replace with “used” part?

 

[ShadowBlack XL440]

The big issue is will the dealer replace with “used” part?

The dealer should not have to. If you broke it, you fix it. That or get a boy friend that can.

 

[Dr. No]

The first issue regarding who is culpable isn't even debatable due to the accident. Even if the early axleshafts have longevity issues, getting snapped in an accident is a completely different story. Like many have said, this one's on you.

It is, however, very unfortunate that Ford seems to be having problems keeping OEM parts available for repair or replacement, especially on a vehicle that's been out for four years.

 

[Johnny maverick]

Joined Tuesday and The OP has left the building.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Apologies if this not the correct area of this forum for this issue.

2023 Ford Maverick

So about a month ago I had an "accident"--I slide on some ice and "hit" maybe a 6" high portion of guard-rail. And by "hit" I mean I drove over what was essentially a high-ish curb. Somehow this snapped by front-passenger CV axle. I thought this was pretty extreme at the time, but figured I must have hit it at an odd angle or something.

Fast forward to now, and I am still without a vehicle as the local dealer reports the part as unavailable, with no ETA on when it will become so. The part in question is apparently SZ6Z-3B436-C. Because this is my "fault" they will not provide a loaner, or really seem to care at all that they cannot fix what is basically an 18 month old vehicle. My understanding is these CV axles had some sort of flaw, hence why they are now out of stock--having either been used for replacements, etc.

Anyhow, all of that leads to my questions: should the CV axle have broken? Obviously, I have not given enough facts to answer that, so I suppose the question really, then, is could whatever flaw that was in the original CV axle contribute to it snapping from what, in my opinion, shouldn't have done anything to the car?

Basically I want to argue this should be covered by warranty (not concerned about repair cost--insurance is covering it), but I am up a creek with no vehicle because I stupidly didn't have rental coverage on my insurance. The fact that a brand new vehicle could be unrepairable for the foreseeable future just did not occur to me...

Thank you!

I have SF INS and I could choose $1200 or $1500 limit for car rental. Of course there are 10 or more ways to get rent car discount, insurance rate is one, ask and maybe you can get that rate but might have to have insurance company billed don't know as I've never tried that.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

The dealer should not have to. If you broke it, you fix it. That or get a boy friend that can.

You can find a girl friend that can do it also. Probably harder to find and you might need to like tattoos.

 

[Falcon Bill]

I just heard on the morning news that Ford (and other auto makers) are hoarding parts in anticipation of new supply chain issues.

Hoarding them as opposed to selling them now? Not sure I understand the logic in that.

 

[DesertHorses]

Hoarding them as opposed to selling them now? Not sure I understand the logic in that.

Possibly to be able to use them for their build inventory? Of course I'm not certain as it was mentioned among other issues on a tariff-dstock market related news article.

 

[Invictus]

Hello all, and thank you for your replies.

I believe my frustration with the situation may have mis-steered people on my question. I was mainly asking about the known--one poster referenced it--issue with the existing CV axles, as I was curious how/if this came into play about why this happened.

And yes, as I recall there was no other damage--but my truck has been in the shop for about two months now, so I haven't inspected it in a while.

I understand the issues around the warranty and it being my fault. Thank you all for belaboring the point, haha. There are some specific lemon laws in my state that I was hoping to make at least a colorable argument for, but that juice doesn't seem worth the squeeze, from what I have learned since posting about the existing CV axle issues. Thank you all for your moral guidance.

For anyone in a similar predicament, here is the update: Ford is not producing this part. According to my adjuster (Ford Dealer parts department confirmed without committing to it, something along the lines of "That looks right from what I am seeing on our end."), the part has no manufacturer listed. The adjuster, and everyone else I have spoken to, expects it will be 6 months to a year before Ford lines up a manufacturer, gets the tooling done, makes the part, ships it, etc. God knows how the present tariff confusion will impact this. Apparently I am #89 in the "emergency part needed" line for this part. Again, not currently in production and no foreseeable time when it will begin production. The kicker is that the local Ford dealers won't even take it in a trade because they have no idea when they will be able to fix it and admit they don't want to sit on it for a year--they report being unable to get information from Ford on the issue either. Whether that was no info from Ford at all, or merely within the window they bothered to get back to me within, I don't know. So beware, if anything happens to your CV axle your options will be to stand in line with me for about a year or get a custom CV axle fabricated. Ford seems utterly ambivalent to the issue.

Thank you to the poster who suggested a custom part. I am going to look into this option. Otherwise I am stuck paying for two cars at once for the next year... Maybe I will get lucky and someone local will total their vehicle without breaking this clearly, oddly fragile part--rear ended, maybe?

Sponsored