2015 Ford Focus flat tow damage
I had a 2015 Ford Focus that Ford said it could be flat tow behind a RV . My Ford Focus came lose from my RV . The unibody broke from the weld . The whole front of car came off . The car was still und...
Forum Discussion
I think Ford would be responsible only if the baseplate was designed and supplied by Ford. As an engineer myself, it's hard to predict what an end user might do - that I need to design around. Top be absurd, should Ford design the hood hinge bolts to handle being flat towed if someone wanted to pull the car with suction cups on the hood?!?!
I'm afraid the flat tow "endorsement" from Ford was probably geared towards the transmission only. The actual method of connecting the car was outside their design parameters.
For example, when I installed my Blue Ox baseplate, for each side, I used some existing holes, but I had to drill a big one to get the nuts into the rail. I seriously doubt the existing holes were placed there by Ford for this purpose, I could be wrong though. Certainly, they didn't design for the big hole that had to be drilled.
What would be interesting to know is whether there was any interaction between Ford and Roadmaster (or BlueOx, or any other baseplate manufacturer) when Roadmaster designed the baseplate, or whether Ford provides any design criteria for attaching parts to the vehicle. In addition to the baseplate, I installed a receiver hitch on the back to carry bikes. From what I remember, it used existing holes as well.
I'm in a different industry altogether, so I could be way off base here!
I'm afraid the flat tow "endorsement" from Ford was probably geared towards the transmission only. The actual method of connecting the car was outside their design parameters.
For example, when I installed my Blue Ox baseplate, for each side, I used some existing holes, but I had to drill a big one to get the nuts into the rail. I seriously doubt the existing holes were placed there by Ford for this purpose, I could be wrong though. Certainly, they didn't design for the big hole that had to be drilled.
What would be interesting to know is whether there was any interaction between Ford and Roadmaster (or BlueOx, or any other baseplate manufacturer) when Roadmaster designed the baseplate, or whether Ford provides any design criteria for attaching parts to the vehicle. In addition to the baseplate, I installed a receiver hitch on the back to carry bikes. From what I remember, it used existing holes as well.
I'm in a different industry altogether, so I could be way off base here!
