2018 Ford Raptor Front Differential broke in the snow they say that Ford may not cover it?

yeah, but once one of the field reps speaks, the stealership isn’t going to do anymore work on it without someone paying up.

Dealership relationships matter 100%.

I understand OEM legal policies quite well. I‘m an engineer, but do not work for Ford.
When I off-road (hunt, fish, goof around)—it is in one of our beater Jeeps, UTVs, dirt bikes. That way if/when it breaks, gets bashed, dented—affordable and no tears.

I do not off-road fancy new factory vehicles under warranty—unless I am willing to pay the cost of repair for—if/when something (in the drivetrain usually) fails. If I take that chance, no guarantees.

With a factory warranty (including factory drivetrain warranty 5yr/60k miles):

—If you hit a curb with a Raptor, your warranty may not apply.
—If you go off-road with a Raptor, there is nothing in the legal OEM contract that says you will be covered when/if something breaks.
—I am not talking about Moss-Magnuson, etc.

OEMs are 100% within their right to deny any claim for damage occurring to a vehicle driven off-road.

NOTE 1: My OEM experience shapes my bias. Off-road your Raptor, etc., and have fun! If something breaks—it is not guaranteed that an OEM has to fix it.

NOTE 2: I maintain every vehicle our family owns (those under warranty) at factory dealerships—and do not modify anything. After warranty is over, I have at it.

NOTE 3: Only you can decide if hiring an attorney is worthwhile from a cost/benefit standpoint.

KAH24 said:

Dealership relationships matter 100%.

Click to expand...

I'm screwed, then.

KAH24 said:

I understand OEM legal policies quite well...

Click to expand...

Here's a question. Let's say I take my rig off road and then six months later the transfer case goes south. Can Ford deny the claim because I took it off road?

GordoJay said:

I'm screwed, then.



Here's a question. Let's say I take my rig off road and then six months later the transfer case goes south. Can Ford deny the claim because I took it off road?

Click to expand...

What ever happen to Ford loving to hear about our trucks going offroad? Early in the gen 1 days I would show video of my truck doing jumps at the dunes to the service manager staff, they loved seeing that stuff and always warranted everything, I never had a problem getting anything fixed on my raptor when it was under the factory warranty. The trucks were marketed for offroad adventures, the same is going on now, even though more then less are getting latte's.

GordoJay said:

Here's a question. Let's say I take my rig off road and then six months later the transfer case goes south. Can Ford deny the claim because I took it off road?

Click to expand...

I have never heard of that happening unless there was obvious damage to the vehicle/component. I think what KAH24 (correct me if I’m misinterpreting) is staying is that if a truck shows up at the dealer after being buried in mud with broken components, the “abuse” clauses in the warranty may come into play.

GordoJay said:

I'm screwed, then.



Here's a question. Let's say I take my rig off road and then six months later the transfer case goes south. Can Ford deny the claim because I took it off road?

Click to expand...

GordoJay, sir, if your vehicle has signs of off-road damage (scarred undercarriage, dented skid plates, dented driveshaft, bent rims, etc.—easy to see.

Electronics/telemetry provide a picture that eyes cannot see.

At the end of the day—every dealer is different (why having a relationship matters). If they tell Ford that they believe you caused the issue—you have an uphill battle at best.

In some cases it would be straightforward to tell if someone installed a lift kit, spacers, etc., and take them off before bringing a vehicle in to try to “fool the dealer” if something in the drivetrain breaks.

The challenge that the original poster has (in my opinion) is that he told the dealer that he off-roaded, heard the pop, and slid into something.

FordTechOne said:

I have never heard of that happening unless there was obvious damage to the vehicle/component. I think what KAH24 (correct next if I’m misinterpreting) is staying is that if a truck shows up at the dealer after being buried in mud with broken components, the “abuse” clauses in the warranty may come into play.

Click to expand...

FordTechOne, sir you are correct. My bottom line is that if you off-road a truck and something breaks, man up (or woman up)—and pay for the damage. Warranty details are extremely detailed and not in favor of the consumer.

Being “marketed” for off-road, jumping, etc., and being covered if something goes “pop” are two completely different things.

Again, I have a unique bias and perspective as I mentioned due to my profession.

Also, whenever I hear folks talk about suing Ford (or a dealership), I wince—as my wife is an attorney. In most cases the legal fees would offset any “victory” (and winning is an uphill battle at best). I don’t believe in moral victories.

KAH24 said:

OEMs are 100% within their right to deny any claim for damage occurring to a vehicle driven off-road.

NOTE 1: My OEM experience shapes my bias. Off-road your Raptor, etc., and have fun! If something breaks—it is not guaranteed that an OEM has to fix it.

Click to expand...

Not quite. in the 90’s, GM lost a an appeal on a lemon lawsuit, the facts of which were ‘basically’ - customer had an Fbody - camaro or firebird of some model, had drag raced it and because of that was denied warranty coverage on a pretty serious engine issue. The abuse claim was that he drag raced the vehicle. What cost GM was their advertising of 0-60 and 1/4 mile times in the sales brochure.

Manufacturers would like that they would not have to warranty parts driven by 1 percenters but that’s just not reality. They can practically get away with it if the repair is less than high 4 figures but once it’s a repair implicating 5 figures, it’s worth it to get a lawyer IF you have a solid claim. It’s a major PITA, I know first hand.

I don’t think Ford would be on solid ground to blanket deny coverage of a failed and expensive part merely for off roading the truck - 4x4 or Raptor or Super Duty. Generally, I don’t think they do either. Although we’ve seen some rather ‘infamous’ incidents, a few have been tied to modifications (lifted), but by and large the mechanicals have proven pretty sound and we’ve seen more breakages and covered fixes than breakages and a stealership telling the customer to go F*ck themselves.

Just simply taking the truck off road will not and cannot be a grounds for denying warranty coverage on a 4x4. Now, if you get buried in mud up to the top of the fender flares, furiously try to dig your way out to the point of overheating, crack the block and what have you I can see that being denied, I get it.

We have seen a push by some stealerships to invalidate warranty work in favor of much more lucrative uncovered repairs where they can soak the customer for 2-3x the going rate. I’m not sure what the right answer to that is, other than to not let that stealership do the work.

Smurfslayer,

Before reading this—I hope it is clear that I stated that a dealership relationship is critical.

I work as an engineering veep for an OEM manufacturer—with experience in defense, aviation, motorcycles, etc. Like Farmer’s Insurance says, “I’ve seen a thing or two.” My bias comes from the countless number of times that I’ve consulted and/or signed off on warranty claims. I won’t say what percent I approved—but lets say single digits. EVERYTHING comes under rigorous scrutiny when a claim is filed and usually something was not maintained to OE specs, was modified, or subjected to stresses that exceeded established parameters. Of course—if a part is defective that is a different story.

Please understand that I am ambivalent and agnostic regarding the front diff breakdown—in that I could care less. I admit my biases as much of my post military career has been dedicated to identifying what end-user factors may have contributed to failure (and that people do tend to cover up actual use—which gets exposed rather easily in most cases).

I can’t speak to the GM case, but I can speak to today. If someone drag races a car (or races it in general)—good luck getting warranty coverage even if a company markets a car as having a 0-100-0 time of 10 seconds. If you bought a supercharged V8 car advertising a 0-100-0 time of 10 seconds—raced it, and something went “boom”—it wouldn’t take a half competent professional to dig through the vehicle electronics/telemetry to see what may have contributed to the failure.

My belief regarding the Raptor is that the act of gently driving off-road vs. the act of jumping, stressing the drivetrain while hammering the engine in mud as you mentioned (or other surface that places undue stress on the drivetrain), doing burnouts routinely, etc.—are completely different situations. Off-road is a broad range of activity (heck driving down a gravel road gently is technically off-road.

Just my opinion, and only my opinion: I also believe that Ford is smart to provide trucks for the Raptor Assault—so when they break, no big deal—and that they would never remotely consider letting an owner use their own Raptor (because if something broke, the owner might be in for a rude awakening in going for a warranty repair).

I’d really encourage everyone to take a deep dive into warranties and consult an attorney of your choosing if you feel screwed. That said—I agree Smurfslayer that you have to determine what the $$ of eating the repair vs. the cost of litigating is worth to you.

Before taking the big leap into a court of law so to speak, do take time to comprehensively understand the limitations of a warranty.

In good humor, my wife and I have a kid in college, and one in grad school (fortunately one of our boys graduated Annapolis—so that saved us a ton). My wife loves representing clients and earning her billable hours—which our family benefits from. Sue, sue, sue away!

NOTE: These are solely my views, subject to my experience/biases, and not the opinion of any OEM company.

I had my front diff explode while at Ocotillo wells. Scared the crap out of my dad and I! Pieces all over the place. Put it in 2x4 and Ford covered it..

My wife thinks I only have 3 guns