So I took the Ranger over to the Ford dealer this morning. I had an appointment to have the center armrest warrantied - the armrest is severely cantilevered on its mounting pivot and the plastic base can crack if you make the mistake of leaning across it to get to the glovebox.

Ask me how I know....

Anyway, I tried to talk the service writer into giving me the part to install myself - even though I knew what the answer would be: "Sorry, Mr. Loser Customer, we have to do the complete warranty repair, parts and labor." So, I hung around and watched through the glass while they diddled around with my truck for an hour plus. (Did I mention that I HATE having anyone work on my vehicles?) For some inexplicable reason, R&Ring the center armrest also required opening the hood and pawing around in there for awhile. (?)

So, finally, the tech brought my truck around with its nice new armrest. The service writer was stalling, waiting for authorization to come back from Ford to order a replacement set of floor mats (different story). When that finally came through, he tried to sell me some brake diagnostic work. They had driven my truck over a brake/shock/alignment tester which claimed that I have a 75% imbalance between my left and right rear brakes.

After I politely declined his offer to pull the drums and take a look (for $30), he informs me that the tech had done a complimentary safety check and noted that my airbag light was flashing and would I like to schedule an appointment to have it fixed ....

WTF? My truck has NEVER had an airbag flash code and I wasn't ready to believe that it coincidentally developed one today.

So I walked out to the truck and read the flash code, 4-7, and recognized it as a seatbelt pretensioner circuit resistance code. Sure enough, the connector under the passenger seat was unplugged! The tech had pushed both seats forward to access the armrest bolts on the rear of the console and had unplugged the PS pretensioner connector accidentally or for some unknown reason. I also noticed that he had neglected to replace the armrest bolt access cover on that side. So, I popped the plastic cover in place, plugged the pretensioner connector back together and the airbag light was gone - mystery solved.

Anyway, I ended up spending about 2 hours total for a job that would have taken about 10 minutes on the driveway ... and I still had to finish it myself. Fun with dealers. I'm so used to it that I didn't even get upset. Sigh....

 

Im glad i dont have a new enough truck yet to have a warranty. I would be so scared to go up to them and have them do it.

Just think, you floor mat visit will be coming up soon. That might take an hour to change as well,

 

wow ..... interesting deal there .... i agree i hate letting ppl work on my truck ... only me ... glad im a tech then i guess ... suchs it took 2 hours ... and u got a stupid tech for the air bag light ....

 

And just think of what you would have had to pay if you didnt know any better...?

 

sounds like lots of fun... its like free oil changes they give out and then all of the sudden your axled needs to be replaced...

 

bob which dealer most here just are ********...

 

Briarwood Ford. Despite what happened today, this is the local dealer I have had the best luck with. So that should tell you what I think of the others.

 

hmm sounds like fun.

why in the world were they looking unde rthe truck?

just out of curiousity the arm reast was recalled? or what is the deal with that? mine is cracked bad.

 

I could only wish there was a recall.. mine is starting to wobble. Theres already a sizeable divot where I plant my elbow while driving. Is there anything I can do to strengthen the brackets that are prone to cracking, preemptively to stop a failure?

 

Ha those jackasses!

 

No recall. I'm still in the 3 year/36,000mi warranty. It cracked, the dealer photographed it and sent the pics to Ford, they approved replacement.

 

Damn Stealership...

 

I don't know of any fix. Do you have the 60/40 armrest or the center console armrest?

 

60/40.

 

must be nice to have low miles like that.

 

I only have about 18,000 and 2,500 of those are from going to Centralia twice!

 

wow, sounds like fun.

i hate going to the dealer.


btw. 4-7 means passanger...anyclue what 4-6 is??
i had that code blink a few months ago...it blinked for a good week then went away.

 

Mine is a different armrest - it pivots from the back on a cast bracket that bolts to the floor. It's about 16~18" long and doesn't have the benefit of having the seat cushion under it. It's fairly strong but if you really lean on it, the plastic base can break.

 

4-6 is the driver's seatbelt pretensioner circuit. It usually comes on for a poor connection at the plug under the driver's seat. Sometimes just unplugging it and plugging it will give a temporary fix. Seatbelt and airbag stuff is warrantied for 5/50,000.

 

sweet, i looked everywhere for that code... thanks man.
i bought mine used so i dont have warranty.

 

If it's under 5/50,000, you have restraints coverage regardless of whether you bought it new or used.

 

I'm just amazed that there is still something stock left on your truck.
It's good to know that they will fix the armrest under warranty, mine is a little loose and I can definately see it breaking one of these days.

 

my warranty is up in two months any suggestions of what i can get replaced under warranty? my center console's been busted for two years lol if would've know that damn arm rest was covered i would have taken it in a long time ago.

 

Go buy some new warranty..

 

Those arm rests are crap. Mine has cracked twice. I have three in my garage loft, cause I know it will happen again. My 91 explorer is very similar and is completly missing. my Dad's 2000 explorer has an identicla one, also broken off. I went junkyard hopping for the '91 and every one I found was broken. I never put pressure on it, but what always cracks them is passengers getting in and feeling the need to lean on it. it is one of my pet peeves

~HJ