Sorry for delayed response. I did not receive any email notifications of messages. Anyway, there's a whole lot to unpack here. My local dealership, in their infinite wisdom, told me to pick the car up while they waited on parts for the hybrid battery.
We picked the car up on 2/17. On 2/20, the car quit again on the interstate. My wife was driving in a construction zone with my 2yr old and 4yr old in the car. She called and said the car was acting funny. It would accelerate at 100% and then quit. It would accelerate at 100% and then quit. Then it died. She had to coast almost 3 miles before finding a safe place to pull over. I put a
dash camera in the car. I have a 5min video of her coasting on the interstate. She was doing 37mph with semi's blowing past her blowing their horns. My 2yr and 4yr are in the background screaming, "mommy what's wrong with your car? Mommy why won't your car go! Mommy go faster! Are we out of gas?" The car got towed to dealership and has been there since 2/20/22. No parts have been changed, nothing has been done to it
I sent Lincoln an email that night and told them this was no longer my problem. The car is their problem and I want my money back. Lincoln refused. They have told me multiple times that nothing is wrong with the car. They see nothing wrong. They aren't saying I'm lying, They just cant get their tech to replicate it. I asked them to review their decision, no dice. I begged them to buy the car back, no dice.
I called a Lawyer to discuss. He told me since I bought the car in Alabama I would have to sue there. He said he would sue Lincoln, the dealership, and Lincoln financial services. The dealer really didn't know what was going on and I felt they should know before they got sued. So I called them. Within 2hrs of my phone call they offered to buy it back. That sounded great. They were gonna do the right thing, so I thought. Turns out they will only give me my purchase price back. I have to eat the tax, title, license and trade-in tax savings, $7,000. I told them no. The dealer did share the Oasis report with me though, for reasons I'll never know.
I called Lincoln one last time to buy the car back. I told them I had the Oasis report and video evidence of the car quitting. They said no. I told them this wasn't the last time they would hear from me and I would go full scorched earth on them. I would literally burn the whole god damn system down to protect my wife and kids, if they wouldn't buy it back. They told me good luck.
Back to the Oasis report. Oasis is Ford's diagnostic report to help service techs diagnose vehicle issues. It registers fault codes on a 60-day rolling basis. My wife's aviator has disabled the hybrid motor on 14 separate occasions! It registered 358 individual diagnosis faults in a 60-day span. That's 6 faults a day. On 2/2/22, the first time it quit, the car registered individual 35 codes when it shut down. The time stamp on the Oasis matches up minute to minute with the videos and pictures I have showing "stop safely now" & "full accessory power".
A Ford engineer called me, also, and asked to put some type of sophisticated engine monitor on the car. I told him I didn't care, we wont ever drive it again though. It's sitting at the dealership and they could go get it for all I cared. He informed me that almost every single Aviator plug-in is doing this. Not all of them but, "a whole lot of them"
I have been on the warpath with Ford since I obtained the Oasis report and that engineer called. This is the hill I'm going to die on. Ford is going to recall these cars. Someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed. Along with my NHTSA complaint, I have filed complaints with the Attorney General's of Alabama and Kentucky, and have spoken with staff in both offices. I called my local news and did an on camera interview, they are running the story in the coming weeks. They have to contact all the parties I contacted and get statements first. A national CBSNews correspondent called me yesterday to discuss as well. Both of my US Senators sent letters of congressional inquiry to the NHTSA about my complaint, Sen McConnell and Sen Paul. Rep Yarmuth called Ford himself and asked them what they're doing. I sent 3 certified letters to Ford's General Counsel. I filed a complaint with the Alabama BBB, under their lemon law act.
The NHTSA called me and asked for a full report. I spoke to them twice today and they said I'll hear from them tomorrow as well. They have run this up the chain of command and have asked for all of the info I have. They have asked me to provide the videos, documentation and any voicemails/emails/texts from anyone that has touched the car.
After Rep Yarmuth called, the Lincoln customer service rep called me and said they wanted to buy the car back from me. Previously, I told her she would be calling me back asking for the car and she was dismissive of that statement. I warned her, and meant it, when I said I would scorch earth them. There's an old quote from a play, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". I'd like to replace that quote with "don't piss off a stay-at-home dad protecting his babies". I will move Heaven and Earth in order to protect my family, especially my children who can't protect themselves.
We shall see
(Attached is the Oasis report and my service repair orders. My wife took those pictures of my babies before she pulled out of the driveway on 2/20/22. 7 minutes later the car turned itself off at 65mph. That easily could have been the last photos my kids were ever in.)
