Monday, August 03, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
New Year's Day 2009 and Planned Obsolences?
Washed the F-150 this week. It looks so clean. Had one issue this week that I had to note in this blog. Sunday night, I had to run buy some cat food and a pizza at Food Lion here in Chadbourn. The weather had been very mild for a late December weekend. Temperatures had reached 72-ish. As I cranked up the F-150, and threw her in reverse for the short run to the store, I thought about how nice it could be to feel the wind in my face. So, without even thinking about it, I pushed the electric window buttons in the down direction and the passenger window lowered and I heard a slamming like noise. Out of the corner of my eye, I realized that the driver side window had just fallen down with a metallic thump! I tried to roll it back up. No response. $%!&.
I drove to the store, got out and left it unlocked. That was not smart--in our neighborhood, stunts like that can result in a theft. I went about my chore with only one thing on my mind: My F150 had failed me. F.O.R.D.-- Fix Or Repair Daily. That is what my friend Robert Bullard has always said about Ford products. He is a fan of GM products. I would have slurred- "See! What'd I tell ya?" I was hoping he would not be a the grocery store and see my window rolled down like that.
Well, needless to say, I was upset. When I got home, I told my wife. See immediately told me to put something over the window to keep out the rain. It had not rained in several days, but I did not want any varmints to get into my truck. I draped a tarpaulin over the door and closed the door. Monday morning, it was raining. Since we had the week off, I knew I needed to try to get the window repaired. I searched the Web for forums on customer complaints and How To sites for tips on what my problem was. It was pretty clear that electric window regulators were a common defect in Ford vehicles. I priced the parts. They ranged from new- $190 to rebuilt- $163. I read several accounts of people paying another $200 labor to have it installed. It was just after Christmas and a cheap built electric window was going to cost $400 to repair. I know why people use duck tape and plastic on their windows now.
Around 10 am, the rain tapered off to a drizzle. I put on my rain coat, and hat and headed to find out what the window was going to set me back. My first stop was the Tire Barn. I have been a long time customer and trust their expertise. When I asked if they could repair my window they said sure. They then told me that they would have to take it to the body shop and if I wanted to, I could just go straight to them instead. I figured that might be a smart move. My next stop, in the drizzle with my window down, was the body shop. I was greeted friendly. Man, that place was busy. No clue of an economic depression around them. Unless you think about it that people with jobs want must do everything they can to keep them and in rural areas like Chadbourn, with no subways, city buses, and not bike trails- the car or truck is how we get to work. No car=no job.
Well, back to the repair saga. The nice people at the body shop- Southeastern Paint and Body, owned by Kevin Harrelson, jumped right on my window problem. One of their skilled technicians was assigned my case. I did not get his name. Nice manners, he moved his mobile tool cart out of the shop to their carport area. The carport did little to slow down the wind, but protected the work from rain. The technician popped off the door panel like it was the skin on a banana. He must have done that dozens of times. No schematic, no wiring diagram, no instructions. This brings me to education: prior knowledge. What skills did this guy have that made it fun to him to snap off the panel to access the piece of crap regulator that had broken? He was understood the electrical and mechanical layout of Ford doors. He was a master with his tools. Everything was in a specific location. It reminded me of the guys on the Discovery Channel that build the custom motorcycles, who are they...Pauli and Pauli Jr.? Anyway, he confirmed the window could be fixed with replacement of the regulator and that the glass was not broken. The shop manager asked if I wanted him to check on locating a replacement part. I agreed to have him call and check on a price. He called a local Ford dealer and asked how much it was going to cost. They gave him a price of $173. Well, from my online research, I knew that was a great price. The online places would have tacked on shipping and handling cost to their prices. Before I agreed, I sent my wife a text message to tell her how much the parts would run. My wife asked me to contact the Ford dealership and see if the defective window was covered by warranty. I opted for not adding the expended warranty. Extended warranties require $200 deductibles or more. My factory warranty had run out back only seven months ago. So, it was coming out of my pocket.
I made sure the guys at the body shop knew, that warranty was not going to pay for this and that I was a "poor school teacher". I had on my ragged coat and worn out khaki pants. When they figured up the labor and parts and told me they could have it ready Monday by 3 pm, I was smiling like a fat baby with a dry diaper! I drove my F150 home in the rain to await the parts pickup and their lunch break. Around 12:30, the manager called and said the parts had come in and they would be ready to install it at 1 pm.
I keep my broken part. Not sure what I am going to do with it. I need to check to see if the core can be returned for a credit. Maybe tomorrow, I can call the Ford place and see if they buy them back. I know they are going to say NO! If as many of them break as I assume, based on the comments from the guys at the body shop, their must be a surplus of crappy built electric window regulators some where. I need to get my science students to start thinking about how they could someday design an electric window that is not made of material that breaks right after the warranty runs out. Maybe this how FORD can save the company. Micah M. White in his blog http://www.adbusters.org, outlines some very thought provoking ideas. Maybe it is time to go back to building cheap cars and trucks that have planned obsolescence, or was the electric window regulator designed to keep the parts departments and body shops in business? Not too many folks can ride around in the winter with their window open.
Planned Obsolescence is real. There many books and articles about this topic. If my public library has them, here are two books I may read that deal exhaustively with the topic:
I drove to the store, got out and left it unlocked. That was not smart--in our neighborhood, stunts like that can result in a theft. I went about my chore with only one thing on my mind: My F150 had failed me. F.O.R.D.-- Fix Or Repair Daily. That is what my friend Robert Bullard has always said about Ford products. He is a fan of GM products. I would have slurred- "See! What'd I tell ya?" I was hoping he would not be a the grocery store and see my window rolled down like that.
Well, needless to say, I was upset. When I got home, I told my wife. See immediately told me to put something over the window to keep out the rain. It had not rained in several days, but I did not want any varmints to get into my truck. I draped a tarpaulin over the door and closed the door. Monday morning, it was raining. Since we had the week off, I knew I needed to try to get the window repaired. I searched the Web for forums on customer complaints and How To sites for tips on what my problem was. It was pretty clear that electric window regulators were a common defect in Ford vehicles. I priced the parts. They ranged from new- $190 to rebuilt- $163. I read several accounts of people paying another $200 labor to have it installed. It was just after Christmas and a cheap built electric window was going to cost $400 to repair. I know why people use duck tape and plastic on their windows now.
Around 10 am, the rain tapered off to a drizzle. I put on my rain coat, and hat and headed to find out what the window was going to set me back. My first stop was the Tire Barn. I have been a long time customer and trust their expertise. When I asked if they could repair my window they said sure. They then told me that they would have to take it to the body shop and if I wanted to, I could just go straight to them instead. I figured that might be a smart move. My next stop, in the drizzle with my window down, was the body shop. I was greeted friendly. Man, that place was busy. No clue of an economic depression around them. Unless you think about it that people with jobs want must do everything they can to keep them and in rural areas like Chadbourn, with no subways, city buses, and not bike trails- the car or truck is how we get to work. No car=no job.
Well, back to the repair saga. The nice people at the body shop- Southeastern Paint and Body, owned by Kevin Harrelson, jumped right on my window problem. One of their skilled technicians was assigned my case. I did not get his name. Nice manners, he moved his mobile tool cart out of the shop to their carport area. The carport did little to slow down the wind, but protected the work from rain. The technician popped off the door panel like it was the skin on a banana. He must have done that dozens of times. No schematic, no wiring diagram, no instructions. This brings me to education: prior knowledge. What skills did this guy have that made it fun to him to snap off the panel to access the piece of crap regulator that had broken? He was understood the electrical and mechanical layout of Ford doors. He was a master with his tools. Everything was in a specific location. It reminded me of the guys on the Discovery Channel that build the custom motorcycles, who are they...Pauli and Pauli Jr.? Anyway, he confirmed the window could be fixed with replacement of the regulator and that the glass was not broken. The shop manager asked if I wanted him to check on locating a replacement part. I agreed to have him call and check on a price. He called a local Ford dealer and asked how much it was going to cost. They gave him a price of $173. Well, from my online research, I knew that was a great price. The online places would have tacked on shipping and handling cost to their prices. Before I agreed, I sent my wife a text message to tell her how much the parts would run. My wife asked me to contact the Ford dealership and see if the defective window was covered by warranty. I opted for not adding the expended warranty. Extended warranties require $200 deductibles or more. My factory warranty had run out back only seven months ago. So, it was coming out of my pocket.
I made sure the guys at the body shop knew, that warranty was not going to pay for this and that I was a "poor school teacher". I had on my ragged coat and worn out khaki pants. When they figured up the labor and parts and told me they could have it ready Monday by 3 pm, I was smiling like a fat baby with a dry diaper! I drove my F150 home in the rain to await the parts pickup and their lunch break. Around 12:30, the manager called and said the parts had come in and they would be ready to install it at 1 pm.
I keep my broken part. Not sure what I am going to do with it. I need to check to see if the core can be returned for a credit. Maybe tomorrow, I can call the Ford place and see if they buy them back. I know they are going to say NO! If as many of them break as I assume, based on the comments from the guys at the body shop, their must be a surplus of crappy built electric window regulators some where. I need to get my science students to start thinking about how they could someday design an electric window that is not made of material that breaks right after the warranty runs out. Maybe this how FORD can save the company. Micah M. White in his blog http://www.adbusters.org, outlines some very thought provoking ideas. Maybe it is time to go back to building cheap cars and trucks that have planned obsolescence, or was the electric window regulator designed to keep the parts departments and body shops in business? Not too many folks can ride around in the winter with their window open.
Planned Obsolescence is real. There many books and articles about this topic. If my public library has them, here are two books I may read that deal exhaustively with the topic:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)