Hey guys,

I was was cleaning my truck and noticed this. It looks like the metal tore or snapped from pressure. This is the first I've noticed this, but it very well could have come like this from the factory. The truck has been to two dealerships for warranty repairs near the tailgate recently. This isn't somewhere that I've looked before. In case you're wondering, it's below the left tail light.

Not sure what to do here. I let my CSR know, he's been "handling" some stuff that I've brought up previously in the forums. Just note I've never hit my truck with anything, not even accidentally. By the looks of the damage, it would take quite a bit of force to do this, i.e. a hammer of collision (obviously neither of which occurred).

What do you guys think this is, and what do you think Ford should do? I'm very concerned about peeling paint, rust, etc, and I planned on wrapping it soon.. no way I can wrap that..

 

Well it's not painted over so we know it happened after paint.

 

probably happened when they were fixing the tailgate.

 

Looks like something cut into it. I'm assuming the black plastic is the top of the bumper???

 

Can we get a zoomed out pic?

 

Sorry guys here's a zoomed out pic. Yes top of bumper. It's not rusted, but I know nothing about aluminum, does this have any indication of the timeframe?

 

Just took it to my local dealer (good one) body shop. My guy said it looks like it may have been dropped when they were messing around with it at the last dealership, and that it might not even be covered by Ford. His body shop is backed up so I'm taking it to another dealer down the road to see.

Any thoughts on this? It's actually dented in a bit (as though it was dropped). He said the aluminum won't rust, so this could have been there a long time. I'm pretty pissed to be honest, can't wrap till this is smoothed out or fixed.

 

I think you're gonna be SOL, but the dealer that did it should fix it. Granted you'd have to prove that they did it, which it definitely looks like it got dropped. What were they doing that they had the bed off? I've got a section of mine repainted and an emblem replaced that got broken when the truck went out for a spray in bed liner.

 

That's odd, If I'm looking at it correctly it's around the side from the tailgate, would be hard to drop the tailgate into that spot.... certainly looks like something hit it though.

 

Im not sure how it could have dropped or what it could have hit, but I am sure that nothing I did could have possibly caused it. I believe it's fairly obvious due to the location of the damage that Ford is either directly or indirectly responsible, as there was nothing I could have done to cause that aside from removing the bed and intentionally bending it.

Definitely wouldn't be surprised if the dealership is at fault. Not really sure what my next step would be though.. really hope Ford does the right thing here. The wrap is 30% of the reason I bought the truck..