Ford Service Damaged my Mustang Bigtime!

I was doing some touch up work this afternoon underneath the passenger door of my 2001 V6 Mustang. While doing this, I took some time to inspect the undercarraige of my Mustang.

During the inspection, I realized that over a one foot+ length of the underneath right side steel seam under the rocker panel (on the passeger side) is badly bent outwards 45' degrees. The paint was also chipped off various areas on the outwards bent seam. There is also a plastic painted moulding attached to the seam. It is attached to the steel rocker panel seam by black plastic clips that look like black tacks. The plastic painted rocker panel moulding is also bent outwards at the same location where the steel seam is bent outwards. I touched up some of the paint chips on the bent steel seam on the passenger side to prevent rust from occurring there.

I also inspected the left hand side rocker panel seams underneath the left hand side rocker panel (on the driver's side) and the steel seams just behind where the left front tire tread is located are completely crushed upwards. They are crushed upwards on to the rocker panel. There is a lot more paint chipped off from the steel seam on this side of the car too (on driver's side). There was too much salt baked on to the driver's side steel seam and I couldn't clean it well in order to touch it up. So, I was unable to touch up the bare metal chipped area.

Are the badly bent steel seams ruined now? This was a VIRGIN Mustang before this damage occurred. I would like to know if there is any way which the bent and crushed seams underneath the rocker panels can be fixed? Can these seams (which are about 1" inch wide) be bent back into their normal position? How about the seam which is crushed upwards? How can it be repaired? I am really angry at the idiot at Ford who did the service on my car who bent/crushed up the seams under the rocker panels.

About a month and a half ago, I got my Mustang serviced at the local Ford dealership and they put my car up on the lift. Anyways, I am pretty sure that they didn't put my car properly up on the lift. They must have put the lift arms under the rocker panel seams causing them to bend when the weight of my car pushed down on the lift when they lifted my car up in the air. I would have never known that there existed any seam damage under the rocker panel seams if I hadn't had to touch up the underneath part of the passanger side door. I would have never looked underneath my car like I did to inspect the undercarraige. I'm glad that I did.

Is there a special tool which is like a very long clamp with very long clamp teeth which can grab hold of the bent seam and bend it back to its original position? How can damage like this be fixed? I called the Ford service department today and made them aware of the damage that they did and they told me to bring the car in so they can take a look at it. I will be bringing it in for my next service within the next 4 weeks so they can also take a look at it. I hope that they will fix it for free. I don't want Ford to give me Bull$hit and blame me that I did the damage because I didn't. If you look at the of damage underneath my Mustang, it is obvious that it was done while the car was on a lift. Also, I don't use any other place to service my Mustang. I have been using the same local Ford dealer all the time ever since I bought my car brand new over 2 years ago.

Please give me your input on how you think that this type of damage can be repaired properly and if you think that the repairs will look like it did when the car came out of the factory. I am not sure that this type of damage can be repaired. I feel that my Mustang is HELPLESS and IRREPAIRABLE now with this type of damage done to it. Please help me out here. Thanks.

that's probably where ford tells them to lift as lift points...That's where we have to lift toyota's.......

if it is under the car who cares about it that is probably where a jack or stand held the car up.

Yes those are the lift points on our cars, your probably gonna have to live with it Ron. But like they ^ said, it is under the car and it isn't detrimental to the operation of the vehicle.

What do you mean that I have to live with it? You haven't seen what the bent/damaged seams look like on the undercarraige of my Mustang. Ford badly bent them up. Plus, the paint has already chipped off in the areas where the seams are all bent up. This means rust/corrosion. I live up here in New England where the roads are covered with a lot of salt. The salt will rust out the bent and damaged seams with the paint gone.

I have seen my car on the lift many times before and the extending arm of the lift which holds the vehicle is ALWAYS placed under the flat part of the chassis/frame of the car. It was NEVER placed right under the fragile thin rocker panel seams. The lift arm always rested behind and out of the way from the rocker panel seams. The lift arm rested on the flat part of the chassis/frame of the car, not on the rocker panel seams. The seams are nothing but really thin metal about 1" inch wide and they bend very easily. So, whoever put my Mustang up on the lift the last time that I took it to Ford Service was a complete moron. You NEVER NEVER lift a 3,700 pound Mustang on a lift from the fragile thin rocker panel seams. The seams will get bent like they did on my car. If you see what the seams look like on the undercarraige of my car you will agree with me in here.

Tell me how all this damage can be fixed properly? Is there a way to bend the bent seams back into their original shape? Is there a special tool that can do this without further damaging the bent seams? Will the seams have to be repainted if they can be bent back into shape? How hard is it to fix this problem? Can a Ford service mechanic do the fix or must the car be taken to the Ford body shop? I need answers here.

You're car weighs 3700 pounds? What the hell have you been feeding it?

Don't go off the subject.
PLEASE answer my questions here. Thanks.

Lesson # 1: Don't take your car to Ford (only buy parts from them)

You're worried about rust? On your profile it shows that you live in Hollywood, right next to Jenna Jameson.

Is it just the metal "tab" that goes straight down? It's nothing to be worried about if it's just bent.

My car didn't even weight in a 3800 lbs.....convertible with all of my crap in the trunk

Get undercarriage spray and cover it up......not a bit deal

I'd be more worried about the pile in the driver's seat

haha well done

I visited my local Ford dealer today where I originally bought my Mustang. This dealer knows that I get my Mustang serviced ONLY at their dealership and nowwhere else so they cannot say to me that the damage to my Mustang happened anywhere else. While I was there, I met with the service guy and with my personal Ford mechanic which I use every time that I bring in my car for service there. He is an excellent mechanic and is very meticulous. He also knows that I am meticulous. So, I haven't had any problems with this mechanic for the last 3 years that I have been using him. My mechanic knows my car very well, but he did not work on the car the last time when I visited the dealership over a month an a half ago. I had to get a nail taken out of my right rear tire and the service department had someone else take the nail out instead of my own mechanic. So, the different mechanic that worked on my car the last time was the one who did the damage to the rocker panel seams. My own personal Ford mechanic even said to me today that the other mechanic wasn't careful when he put my Mustang on the lift. He never checked to see if he had the car correctly on the lift before he lifted the car up in the air to fixed my tire. So, I think that this Ford dealership knows that they are the blame for the damage.

My next step here is to go in on Monday with my Mustang and have them take a look at the extent of the damage that they did to my car. That's when I made the appointment with the Ford dealership to bring my Mustang in to them. I think that they will send me to a private body shop which they use that's located here in my local area. I wasn't able to take my car to Ford service and have them look at my Mustang today because we had a snowstorm up here and the roads were really bad.

I am hoping that Ford will be able to fix my car correctly. I told the service guy today that I have my own bodyshop to take my Mustang to for the repairs. He told me that the Ford dealer will not allow me take it to my own bodyshop. I am not sure if the dealer can do this. I know for a fact that the dealership does not have their in-house bodyshop. They send all their cars out to a private bodyshop here in my local area for all the bodywork. And that's where they want to send me too. When I will bring my Mustang into Ford on Monday, I will speak to the service manager there and tell him that I have my own bodyshop and I will see what he says. The guy who told me that I couldn't bring my car to my own bodyshop today was not the service manager. I don't mind bringing my Mustang in to their own private bodyshop if that bodyshop does a quality job fixing the damage to my car. I don't know how I can ask around to find out if the private bodyshop that they use is reliable and if they do quality work. That's what worries me.

Also, I myself don't have my own bodyshop either. I lied to the Ford dealer today when I told them that I have my own bodyshop. I said this to them so I could see what they were going to say to me. Anyways, I looked in the phonebook today to try to pick a bodyshop and there are 4 pages worth of bodyshops all around here within a 10 mile radius. I don't know which one to go to. I am hoping that the one that the Ford dealer uses does good work and won't take shortcuts. I will be BS if they don't fix my Mustang properly.

OK, I wasn't going to say anything, but you just posted this on another forum, and its getting annoying because I don't see it as anything major. Almost all of your posts are annoying at the least, and misinforming some of the times.

Anyways not to get off the point, you'll miss what I'm saying. You drive it in the salt. I'd hate to break it to you but a V6 Mustang is ONLY A CAR. Say it slowly if you need to, "It's only a car." I'll admit its a nice car, but still, you shouldn't be putting it on the level of a Cobra, or a GT40, etc. Sometimes crap happens, and you should not get on stangnet and rant. The first thing you should have done is gone back to the dealership. Wait, no you should have taken the tire off of the car and only taken that to get it fixed, but if that is beyond your abilities, you should have taken your "severly" damaged car to the dealership before posting. I'm sure they would have been nice and polite, until you left. Then they would talk about what a freak you are when you left. You are the type of person who makes me ashamed to own a nice daily driver. Why, because I get daily **** about how Mustang drivers are *******s and think that they own the roads because of their car. At one point I thought about going home and grabbing my parents Saturn and let them drive around the Mustang just to shut people up. Thank's for the undeserved reputation.

On another note, you are always overly critical of everybody in the forums, because you are great or something. Anyways, your knowledge level should be above this forum, and you should have known exactly what to do.

As to how to fix the problem, I would have grabed a pair of vise grips, got it fairly straight, then touched it up, or undercoated. Problem solved. I bet that's what every body shop would do to. You're the customer they take in out of kindness, then wish they didn't. Remeber, it's only a car.

BTW, those "weak" rocker panel flanges are often times the strongest jacking points on a unibodied car, that's why every unibodied vehicle I've ever seen is jacked at that point.

Ditto.

If anyone ever said to me "it's only a car" because I was bothered that someone else damaged something on "my car"...I would smack your ignorant ass.

The fact is wether it is a 1975 pile of crap...or 2001 V6 Mustang...or a 2003 Cobra...or my picnic table, or my fence, it does not matter.

YOU DO NOT DAMAGE PROPERTY THAT IS NOT YOURS, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS.

Now, if anyone here would like to make his car payments, then you can say it is only a car because he is getting the car on someone else's expense, but he is paying (or paid) for it, so he has every right to get pissed about it.

This is no driving down the road and a rock chips the paint...that is life...this is someone else screwed up...why should he just take it.

So if someone came up to your car and kicked the door in while you are sitting in it...are you just gonna smile and think to yourself.."it is just a car" and drive off?

It is just a car right?

Let's put into context what you are saying.

The jacking point is designed on the car, and although not perfect, it works and is very cheap to add to a car. In saving money by not putting a thick plate there, buckling stresses are created at this point. Wether you are jacking in you driveway or on a professional lift there is an inherent risk of the flange slightly bending. This flange being bent slightly is normal, just as paint chiping from rocks is considered normal. (Don't argue this, if I feel like it I WILL get out the math, and engineering to back up my statements) I agree that it is an issue, but the solution is going to be a pair of vice grips, plus I don't feel you should put it on two different forums, and act like you just had the dealer run it into a wall at 30 mph. There are inherent dangers in doing things, this is one of the jacking dangers. Yes, they should have told him when it happened, but I bet a lot of cars are in this situation. How many of the owners are posting two threads?

Now to kicking in my door. I doubt that without a major kick you would do any damage, hell, I'd give money for you to dent a Saturn's door. Just as your face wasn't designed for a fist, my door also wasn't designed for you foot.

But, the jacking point on your mustang was designed for a jack, and the picnic table was design for someones butt.

What if your picnic table broke while someone was sitting on it? What would you do then. I don't like damaged property, but give me a break. I recently had the parking brake recal done. the guy put a scratch in my console, but I don't care. My parking brake works right, and its not like I bought an ultra rare car. Its a little thing on a cheap car. Maybe if it was your Lightning I would think about complaining.

How about people shut the hell up and start driving their perfectly fine cars like they are supposed to do, and stop whining about the fact the dealer jacked up the car when I ran over a nail, or my friend closed his jacket in my door, did it do any damage?

I know somebody just like that. He also thinks the redline is the intended shift point.

I absolutly can't stand anal retentive people....get some subframes problem solved.

Its just a car, blah, blah, blah.

Its his money, and if he wants his stock mustang to be near perfect, let him. The ford idiot lifted the car up wrong, and it should be repaired to factory perfectness.

When I bought my 1993 Grand prix, other than some old wear and tear problems, I didn't know at the time it was in a serious side swipe accident. 2 Days later when I was cleaning the trunk, I pulled the carpet back on the driver side quarter, and the vin number didn't match, looked at the door, the vin number didn't match. I was heart suck, and very upset that I had a car that had been crashed before, without being told. Of course it was repaired, right, but no matter, I believe any car thats in an accident is tarnished.

I agree that if he wants his car perfect, let him. But, I also agree that this is a minor thing. I'm willing to bet that if you looked under any 94 and up Mustang, those flanges are going to be bent. THAT IS THE DESIGNED JACKING POINT!!! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF ITS ON A LIFT OR A FLOOR JACK. LOOK AT YOUR OWNERS MANUAL!!! You should be happy that Ford is going to fix it, those flanges are going to bend, Ford knows it, designed it like that anyway, end of story. You're lucky they didn't just tell you it was normal and should be expected.

LaserStang38,

You do NOT know $hit about what the hell you are talking about in here. Your opinion has NO VALIDITY. My vehicle was NOT damaged by me. It was done by the dealer. Before it got damaged, it was in excellent condition. I have owned over 10 brand new vehicles within the last 20 years and every one of them was placed up on a lift when service was done to them. And NONE of them ever got any damage done to the thin metal seam flange underneath the car while they were placed on the lift for service. WHY? Because the mechanic was competent and he placed the car correctly on the lift.


Laserstang38,
Do you know how to read? The flanges are NOT supposed to bend or get crushed if the mechanic places the vehicle on the lift correctly. Unfortunately, the idiot who put my Mustang on the lift did NOT put it correctly on the lift. That's why it got damaged. And the damage is not just a small area. It's NOT minor damage like you say it is. It is OVER 1' FOOT in length. And that's not including the damage done on the other side of my car. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE. If anybody were to ruin my Mustang I would want it to be ME, not the mechanic at the Ford dealership.

Some people in here say that this area located on the Mustang is the jack point. You are HALF CORRECT. It is the jack point only for the jack which is equipped with the car. The jack that comes with the spare tire is made to be used for the area where the metal flange seams are located under the car. BUT these metal flange seams are NOT meant to be used on a large garage lift. The arms of a garage lift are placed underneath the car and MUST lay on FLAT SURFACES like on the flat part of the unibody frame or even on the flat suspension and/or floorpan surfaces. Any of the lift arms which are placed on the thin metal seam flange on any vehicle will badly bend the thin and fragile seam. Maybe you didn't know this. To me, you seem to know $hit about my car or about the extent of the damage that was done to it by the mechanic. I keep my vehicle in excellent physical and mechanical shape and I EXPECT (YES, I EXPECT) my Mustang to be treated properly by any mechanic while it is being serviced. If the mechanic is incompetent and ruins my car, then I have the RIGHT to be mad and to complain. They are responsible to fix any damage. Even if it is a small scratch.

You seem to think that I am a pain in the ass for posting what happened to my car. Are you stupid or did you forget that this is a message forum? That's what people do. They post their complaints and issues about their Mustang vehicle in here. And they have the right and can post the same questions in different parts of the forum to get as many replies as they can from fellow forum members. If you don't like this then you got a problem buddy. My vehicle is not "just a car". Maybe your Mustang is just a car to you, but mine isn't. I suggest that you be more respectful to others in here. You aren't convincing anybody in here that you are right by posting stupid remarks about me or about my Mustang. If you don't like it get the *uck out of here and don't come back.

everybody needs to calm down or

Let me start off from anew. Didn't mean to **** you off, but sometimes I go on rants. Anyways, now that I know it is 1 foot long, it definately is a problem, but one I beleive will be easily fixed by a qualified body repair person. Also, it is NOT designed to bend, but would be easily bent if a moron lifted it wrong. That's the point I've seen used for 15 years, and it hasn't bent yet (being carful you can use the flange jacking point on a 3 ton truck with a full lift. I've seen it done a number of times). Not saying you are a moron, but the technician is/was/may always be. My point is your initial frustration should have been vented to the dealer. It appears that they even want to fix it.

Anyways, long stressful days, then a rant about the dealer bending something (thought it was about an inch long, not a foot) and it put me over the top. And when I said slightly I meant ever so slightly (like a degree).

Also, I have just as much of a right to post how I think you complaints are stupid, even if you disagree. I think we can both agree on that. Beauty of the internet.

Anyways, good luck getting it fixed, hopefully this thread let us both get out our frustrations.