Servicing my Ford Freestyle after a successful 5000 km Sikkim road trip

So during my trip, I noticed that the luggage kept in the left rear passenger side footwell area was getting wet.

BHPian sriniadk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Update at 72xxx km after a long road trip to Sikkim:

Mission Accomplished – Zero Point Sikkim

The entire September month I spent my time behind the wheel covering almost 5000 km (I will soon write my travelogue). So during my Sikkim trip what I noticed was that the luggage kept in the left rear passenger side footwell area was getting wet. The passenger who was sitting right behind me had kept her backup shoes under the seat of the co-driver seat. After reaching north Sikkim, she exclaimed that her sketchers were fully wet.

I have already noticed this kind of issue in my Freestyle group where water logging happens in the left rear passenger side footwell. I was unable to notice this problem because I had a full floor matting and I travel alone most of the time. I became curious about this issue, so the same night as soon as I reached the hotel I removed all the luggage and cleaned the entire interior of the car. For info: I have put on full floor matting in my car and above that, I have the Freestyle mats. When I removed the freestyle mats, I found water on the full floor matting in the entire car. So I cleaned the entire car with a microfibre cloth and thought of checking it the next day night. When I checked it the next day, there was a small puddle of water only on the left rear passenger side footwell of the car.

After returning to Vizag, I contacted my Service advisor Prasad (PPS Ford Vizag) and booked an appointment. On checking the car he told me that this is a known issue with a certain batch of cars and can be rectified with a permanent solution. Luckily I didn’t have to shell out money from my pocket (saved 7k-8k bucks) as the car was in warranty. He informed me that it would take 3-4 days as the entire dashboard has to be opened and the floor lining has to be cleaned and left for drying purposes. He checked with the spare parts section and told me that the part to be changed was also readily available. It was a small part named the evaporator seal ( not sure whether it’s the exact name ). But the main problem was its location was at the bottom of the centre console. The next day Prasad sent me the photos of the car after being opened. I thought it was one hell of a job ( photos will justify better )and my car was in bits and pieces. But the service centre guys did a fantastic job and I was happy when I received the car.

Conclusion

After 3 days, Prasad informed me that the car was ready to be taken. When I reached the showroom, the car was kept clean and in ready condition. It was zero bill under warranty and he handed over the same to me. So I am happy that I followed our Bhpian community’s advice of taking an extended warranty. My car is under warranty till Dec 2024 and no worries as such Ford is also offering 7th and 8th-year extended warranties for their cars.

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