NHTSA Complaint #11024113 — 2011 FORD FUSION

BATTERY, STARTER AND FLYWHEEL. FLYWHEEL MISSING TEETH POSSIBLY AFTER FAILED BATTERY. ORIGINALLY MY CAR WAS JUMP STARTED BY AAA 01/2014 DUE TO BATTERY FAILURE. WAS ADVISED TO GET BATTERY REPLACED. WHICH WAS RELUCTANTLY REPLACED BY FORD AT 36,805 01/2014. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS MAY HAVE TRIGGERED A NOISE THAT I IGNORED FOR A TIME, WHERE WHEN THE CAR WOULD START SOMETIMES IT WOULD MAKE A LOUD NOISE. IT WAS NOT EVERY START, BUT IT DID BECOME INCREASINGLY PRONOUNCED. IN MAY I FINALLY WENT BACK TO THE DEALER WHO SAID I HAD TEETH MISSING FROM THE STARTER AND FLY WHEEL AND THAT IT WAS MY FAULT FOR TRYING TO START THE CAR WHILE IT WAS RUNNING (THOUGH MY CAR HAS THE START LOCKOUT FEATURE). THE DEALER WANTED OVER $1700 TO REPLACE FLYWHEEL AND STARTER. OPENED A CASE WITH FORD AND THEY COVERED THE MAJORITY OF THE REPAIR, LEAVING ME WITH ABOUT A $450 DEDUCTIBLE. AFTER THE REPAIR WAS APPROVED, DEALER RE-CLASSIFIED THE PROBLEM AS THE STARTER STAYING ENGAGED WHICH DISTORTED THE FLYWHEEL. I RAISE THIS CASE, BECAUSE I THINK PERHAPS THE FAILED BATTERY COULD HAVE BEEN THE CAUSE, BUT FURTHER THE REPLACEMENT BATTERY FAILED AGAIN IN 6/25/2017, WHICH I REPLACED AGAIN. ON MY 3RD BATTERY. MAY BE WORTH NOTING THAT MY VEHICLE IS EQUIPPED WITH INTEGRATED NAVIGATION SYSTEM AND DISPLAY. COULD BATTERY FAILURE ALSO BE THE SOURCE OF REPEATED FAN BLOWER MOTOR ISSUE?