OP,
The manual could be wrong but what if it's not and you damage the vehicle by not following the manual for your vehicle?
I don't understand your "appears", "I have heard" and "apparently" justifications vs getting an official answer from Ford. I don't know if an official answer would make any difference in compensation for a 2014 vehicle should towing damage occur and you did not follow the manual but wouldn't you at least feel better knowing what Ford has to say? And I would not underestimate the effort required to get an answer from Ford.
Trust me I understand that Ford does not want to spend $$ if they can get out of it. I had to thoroughly research and prove to them that their torque converter design was faulty and they chose to not replace it with the updated design. In the end they replaced it and credited me with unnecessary charges.
