‘It’s like her dream car’: Arizona man buys 2024 Ford Bronco from Minnesota dealership. Then Ford does him wrong after he drives over
"Ford Motor Company sucks!" That's the proclamation displayed in a text overlay of Zack Launius' (@zacklaunius) recent viral TikTok. It's accrued over 68,000 views on the popular social media application. In the clip, he delineates the frustrating experience he had purchasing a Bronco for his fiancee, who's wanted the car for a long time.
The Bronco, which became synonymous with the infamous 1993 O.J. Simpson freeway car chase, is a hit with female buyers. Detroit Free Press reports that more than 30 percent of Bronco buyers are women. Furthermore, anecdotal reports from car enthusiasts state that they've noticed most Bronco owners they've come across are women.
This is significant because women have long been considered a difficult demographic for automotive companies to successfully market toward, and it appears that Ford's been able to do just that with its new Bronco.
Unfortunately, Launius states, despite his wife's desire to get the updated Bronco, Ford's marketing didn't match its fulfillment of the vehicle. He didn't attribute any of the difficulties in finally acquiring the car to either of the two dealerships he visited but to Ford itself.
A long drive
After finding the model that they liked so he could get it for her for Christmas, they went across the country to get it. He had to travel from Arizona to Minnesota for work, and then they ended up going to Alabama to get the car. The car was driven without issue for three or four days, and then they embarked on the road again. He had to travel away from their home base in Arizona, and she left the state to go and visit a friend in Colorado.
However, on her way to the Centennial State, she received a call from her friend saying that her husband was sick. So, she postponed her visit and decided to head back to Arizona, and Launius followed suit. There was about a four-hour drive's worth of distance between the two of them.
It was on her drive back home that things started going badly. At this point in the video, Launius states that he has always been a lifelong fan of Ford vehicles. However, this experience has made him aver to never purchase another Ford again.
During her long commute back to Arizona, she started experiencing problems with her Bronco. At this point, it only has 600 miles on the odometer, but it's "jerking around" and "acting weird" as she drives it. According to Launius' wife, the Ford Sync application said that the car was experiencing a PCM failure. A litany of other issues, such as four-wheel drive and service engine notifications, popped up on the application.
Stuck on the interstate
To make matters worse, it was raining particularly hard—not the kind of conditions one wants to be in a car that's driving poorly.
"She's limited in limp mode to going about 20 miles an hour on the interstate," Launius states. He re-directs his route to head on over to her, a drive that's over five hours away. Moreover, she was in "rural Arkansas" at this time, driving on an interstate highway with nowhere to pull over and get off. After finally finding an opportunity to pull over, Launius' fiancee is able to shut the car off. When she turned it back on, the Bronco worked flawlessly.
They ended up meeting each other in Dallas and spent the night together before hitting the road back to Arizona. Upon fueling up in El Paso, her vehicle completely shuts down and "won't turn on." Consequently, Launius goes on a wild goose chase to find a U-Haul trailer that'll fit the car so he can tow her car back home. However, the trailer wasn't the right size. So, they had to contact Ford, which told them they had to wait since their vehicle issue occurred late Saturday afternoon. They wait until the next morning, and the car gets towed to the dealership. After making it home, they get a call from the dealership, and Launius is informed that the car's "perfectly fine."
"100% okay"
That call occurred later in the week, so the following Saturday, they drove four-and-a-half hours to get to El Paso from Arizona to pick up the Bronco. However, 30 miles into their drive, the vehicle gets "[expletive] up again." They're forced to snail their way along the highway, going 10 miles an hour on I-10. The highway has an 85-mile-per-hour speed limit, which made their commute especially frightening.
They bring the car back to the dealer, who scans it. Launius said the car read back "five different codes." These included "random cylinder misfire, PCM error," and "throttle position sensor." Additionally, Launius states that there's been no communication between him, the customer, and Ford over the $40,000+ vehicle. After experiencing multiple problems with the car, Launius requested a new Bronco.
He goes on to add that Ford never offered a loaner or rental car despite their issues. Furthermore, his wife had to miss work as a result of being delayed out of state over these problems. Launius urged folks to stay away from buying Broncos and all new Ford vehicles in general over the lack of assistance. What's more, is that Ford denied their claim to buy the vehicle back. The company's reasoning? It needed to be "out of service for 30 days" to qualify for a buyback. Moreover, it has to be "in the shop three times for the same thing" as well. To him, this policy doesn't make sense because they've only driven the car four times, and two of those four times resulted in the vehicle being disabled.
@zacklaunius @Ford You guys have really zero care for your customers. #Ford #bronco #powerstroke #ecoboost #fyp #blowthisup ♬ original sound - Zack Launius
TikTokers weigh in
Numerous other commenters who responded to Launius' video stated that they, too, have lost faith in Ford as a brand. "I love Ford but they let me down more than the mets," one penned.
Another stated that they've retained legal representation for the issues they had with a brand-new F-150. "Bought a 24' f150. Took it in the first time at 200 miles. Then 500, then 750 then 800, then 1200, then 1500. 2 Ford buy back denials later, hired an attorney and I'm suing the [expletive] out of them."
Someone else attributed it to present-day poor manufacturing standards. "Nothing new is any good today. Has to[o] many things controlled by a computer, it’s ruined the industry."
Other TikTokers stated that car companies don't care about their customers, just the payments on their vehicles. "Dude is absolutely correct. They could care less. Ford already got their money. That's all they care about," one wrote.
"But you better bet Ford will still want that monthly payment. Even if it sits at their shop for the next 3 months," another echoed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ford via email and Launius via TikTok comment for further information.
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