Let me start by saying I love my truck, I'm just tired of working on it. 99 Ranger, 3.0 v6, XLT Stepside, 4x4 , in one year I've replaced the front wheel bearings on the driver side 4 times and 1 CV axle, and the wheel bearing 2 times on the passenger side and it just went out again this morning. Now about the legal advice, the day bought the truck the ABS light came on and the air bag light came on, no biggie I'll look at it later. The day after I bought the truck is when the first wheel bearing failed on the drivers side, after I replaced it I called the car lot I bought it from and told him, he said so, it was sold as is, ok chalk one up for lack of due diligence. So now my ABS light and air back light is always on, fast forward to last week, going thru the woods which was quite rough my passenger air bag cover popped open. Guess what no air bag. Some one glued the cover back in place. And also my driver air bag is not there, now the legal question, is it legal to sell a vehicle with the safety devices removed. I can't sell it like it is and I can't use it either, I want the dealer to refund me or trade me out. What say you.

 

Talk to a lawyer... not some random interweb people.

I'm sure a lawyer can assist you with your lemon. Selling a vehicle "As-is" denotes that if any MECHANICAL FAILURE occurs, you are **** out of luck.

However, in your situation, you purchased a vehicle with the understanding that it had certain features. I would imagine that a dealer (retail or wholesale) would need to disclose the fact that there are no airbags.

The rest of your repairs, you might not be able to use as your main argument. IDK for sure though.

Talk to a local lawyer.

 

Oh... BTW, depending on whether or not your state performs yearly safety inspections, dealers need to make sure the car will pass inspection when sold (or fix any issues in order to pass inspection).

Here in Mass, you'd have a case that even the dumbest lawyer could win.

 

On another note, why am I failing so many wheel bearings?

 

Reads like you bought a previously wrecked vehicle.

That would explain ALL the issues you have had.

Yes, local legal advise would be the ONLY thing to trust.

A past owner search(hard to do) and then contacting previous owners to find the condition it was sold in may be your answer.
It was most likely damaged in a single vehicle accident, no police report, and then sold "as is" to a repair shop/person, so title would be "clean" because insurance was never involved.

Proof of any of this doesn't mean you have a claim against car dealer you bought it from, for that you would need proof that they "knew" of previous rebuild/repairs, and about no air bag or brake issues and sold it anyway.

I would take it to a frame/suspension shop and have them give it the once over to see if there is evidence of damaged vehicle repair, it is usually too expensive to replace everything, and they probably wanted a quick flip in any case, so some parts are probably still bent or not straightened enough which is why you have the bearing issues.




And just as part of the school of life class, the $150 to $200 a Ford dealer or an independent mechanic charges for a used vehicle inspection is worth it in my opinion.
And they usually find some problems, even minor issues, and then if you still want the vehicle you can often negotiate $200 or $300 off the price with the inspection paper in your hand.

 

I have a 99 ford ranger. I just had plugs & wires put in. When I stop the motor shimmers. What can that be?

 

Alabama law:

Ala. Code§ 13A-11-271
Fraudulent sale of a motor vehicle without an airbag.
(a) The owner of a motor vehicle commits the offense of fraudulent sale of a motor
vehicle without an airbag if an airbag deploys while the vehicle is owned by the
person, the person chooses not to replace the airbag, and the person knowingly and
intentionally fails to disclose to the next purchaser the absence of an airbag.
(b) Fraudulent sale of a motor vehicle without an airbag is a Class A misdemeanor.


When did you buy the truck?


The technical aspects of the truck prove that they knew of an airbag issue. The airbag control unit does a self check at every startup. The only way they wouldn't know is if they never turned the truck on in their possession.

 

I bought it a little over a year ago. But like I said the airbag covers have been glued on, I didn't realize there were no airbags till this past weekend when they popped open after hitting a pot hole in the woods.

 

Sounds like the airbag light was also removed. It should have been on the whole time with no bags in it.

 

After the length of time, over a year, you could try the legal path to see if dealer can be held liable, but his lawyer will just say truck had airbags when sold, once you had it it must have been tampered with, you took airbag out and sold it, lol, or you had it serviced and that shop did, but they actually don't have to say anything............
Dealer is innocent by default(yes even used car dealers, lol), you have to prove he is guilty, hard thing to do.
If dealer has a history of this kind of fraud you may have a chance, but if he did he would have changed the name of the company so you would never know.

I think you should just spend the money to get truck right and write off that money as payment for a class in the school of life and let Karma take care of the dealer, because it will.
No, I don't believe in mystical stuff, lol, but the personality traits of people that ripoff others will eventually lead to their undoing, the idea of Karma comes from that observation, which has been true for thousands of years.
"you reap what you sow" being an example of the same idea.

But also remember: "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"
You paid for the lesson, remember it

 

Something about the truck not having airbags but the dealer selling it anyways sounds like a problem. I mean it's a "safety issue"

 

Problem is.......when were the airbags removed?

Dealer can't legally sell the truck without airbags, yet the truck was sold so..........it must have had airbags at that time.

The discovery of no airbags in a few weeks or even a month after the sale would almost always fall back on the dealer as fraud, after a year...............hard to say, becomes a "he said, he said".
Dealer has the most to gain, profit, on the sale
Buyer has the most to lose, life, with no airbag, and no real gain coming back after a year to confront the dealer except getting airbags installed, so basically "break even" since it should have had airbags in the first place.

So there is a leg to stand on but..........dealer needs to be proven guilty in our system, which is hard to do unless he says "yes, there were no airbags and I knew it".

 

Well the unit sounds like it's still in there minus the actual bag. This means the serial number would be on the back of the unit. This serial number is recorded and stored when the vehicle is built by the manufacturer. I also think the government has records as well.

Try this website:

http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shop...g+-+VIN+number

Also, a carfax or autocheck report would show when the vehicle had the airbag deployment.

 

It may be interesting (impossible) trying to prove that the dealer knew for a fact that there were no airbags and/or who removed them prior to the sale. And IMO, this is where problems will begin and most likely for someone (ie, the dealer), they will end. Suggestion for future used vehicle purchases.....never buy older used vehicles off of a "seconds" lot because, those vehicles exist on those lots for one and only one purpose. Older vehicles in good condition can be found from private party sellers all over America and without the middleman (salesman on the seconds lot).

 

Have you had the vehicle inspected ?
Was there any indication that the air bags weren't working ?
If there was an inspection and you found out then the air bags weren't working, you might have a chance to get something out of it but as stated... who took the air bags out !

If you really want to do something start with a lawyer, find out if there is a chance of winning a court case and how much !
Chances are the overall cost of trying to get even will cost more than new air bags; then again... is the circuit working that deploys the air bags, is the bulb still in there !
If you get in an accident your insurance company will not want to pay off based on the air bag removal, unsafe modified vehicle.

Parts breaking ! You off road, if you do it hard then parts break and the front wheel bearing hubs on Rangers aren't the best.
Another thought, isn't the '99 one of the Rangers that you can install manual locking hubs ? This would help when not off roaming just unlock.

 

when an airbag is dis-connected , the computer records it in memory

any experienced technician can determine when the airbag was removed / dis-connected

if the dash bulb was removed as well , he can determine that as well