WTF Ford?!!! $5,600 for taillight replacement?!!

[air2mag]

I bought a Platinum, but also got the ESP with lightning option. One taillight in ten years and I’d almost be even?

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[Snakebitten]

I was an XLT man for most of my life. Got older, paid off the mortgage, kids all finished schooling, so I splurged on a KingRanch F350.

Never looked back. It's the ONE thing I splurge on other than food and HVAC. ?

I'm pretty much a bargain shopper everywhere else. Cars, motorcycles, toys.............all depreciated (by someone else) well kept bargains.

But my truck? SPLURGE!

And I've never enjoyed one more than the last 1½ years with this one.

I said splurge 3 times. Sorry about the poor English.

 

[oneinch]

The automobile has been the one place almost all can have luxury. Luxury need not be new. It's getting tougher though.

It's wise to get extended warranties on these luxury vehicles. Sure, you're prepaying and betting you're going to have repairs. With Fords you're almost guaranteed to break even or win. Those power running boards are going to fail and they're expensive. I bought the key protection also. That 80 bucks saved me $320 already.

 

[adyaro77]

When purchasing my 23' Lariat I figured the ESP into the price. I wanted more options, but also wanted peace of mind. Purchased 8 year/ 125,000 mile warranty. As previously stated the cost of some of these parts are ridiculous.

 

[UGADawg96]

This thread started like....

And I'm like.....

 

[UGADawg96]

In all seriousness, $5k for a taillight does seem rather expensive regardless of trim level and included tech. All that being said, even with just a lowly XLT here, I still added the lights options to my 8/100 ESP at purchase almost 2yr ago.

 

[JExpedition07]

This thread started like....

And I'm like.....

This exact video and thread has been posted like 5 times now on this forum so I guess I lost my cool after seeing it yet again lol

 

[crazywayne311]

feel like things lately are getting out of control around here haha

video is basically clickbait to incite rage amongst the trim levels.

why have no one simply mentioned buying a used one on Ebay?
Or better yet, you can source the tremor/raptor for less than half that repair price.

i get it, some people just wanna spend the money and complain. some dont know how to use the internet and some people just dont care.

Sure everyone has their opinion but i know if that were me, i'd be on ebay, the forums, or FB F150 parts looking for a replacement at a fraction of the cost.

oh, not that i'm a fan or anything but yes, as others have mentioned, there are aftermarket solutions as well for half that cost.

 

[Je1279]

I agree with the Morimoto XB suggestion. The Gen 13 LED tail lights were known to leak and chances are that the insanely expensive replacement set will also leak at some point in the future. I'm all for going OEM if the quality is better, but sometimes there are better aftermarket choices.

 

[Syclone Rob]

usually prices are a good portion of what it takes to build such commodity. Wonder why its so high then.

Before the 2009 meltdown, wages were about ~8%. Now its ~4%.. so wages are not it.

here is a little info from 2015, here it even talks about GM showing approx 5% of costs is labour.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2015/11/30/ford-uaw-labor-costs/76554742/

 

[HeadBanger]

Water is the enemy. Mine has condensation on the drivers side. It needs fixed, else it could develop into an expensive mess.

It pays to check your lenses often, especially after driving in the rain.

 

[TXGREEK]

The world is a stupider place with responses as that ?

 

[Samson16]

I started looking up GMC 1500 rear bumpers with blind spot radar and back up alert sensors. They aren’t cheap either. Turns out you can spend thousands replacing many of these assemblies.
We get so myopic concerning Ford because that’s what we purchased, but equivalent systems on other makes have their problems too.
News flash: My 22 Subaru Outback Touring XT’s Starlink interface is more glitchy than Sync.
Perspective is a tonic.

 

[JohnMcClane]

The real disappointment is the lack of understanding for why the assembly is so expensive.

*Warning* Information that requires critical thinking below.

There are several aftermarket taillight assembly's for these trucks that come in under $1000 for a pair.

Well, have you noticed a common denominator in all those aftermarket taillight assembly's?

*(Requires swap of OE Modules)

Well, those OE Modules make up a patented technology that Ford Global Technologies patented back in 2007 , otherwise known as BLIS.

"But John, the OE Modules don't cost $4k+ to produce"

You're right, they don't, insulin can be made for as little as $5 a vial, but was constantly sold for $300 just a year ago.

"Why do corporations do this John?"

Proprietary Assets are extremely valuable to a company, is it greedy, well, sometimes definitely (selling medicine people need to live for an exorbitant rate is excessive in my opinion, but there's plenty of folks who think Martin Shkreli did nothing wrong and if you know the law, he didn't actually go to prison for raising the price of the drug they were selling). Fords patent expires in 2029 and as we march toward a world of mandatory driving nannies as some of you lovingly refer to them, Ford is milking the cow as hard as it can before it's put out to pasture (can't really blame them).

"So who do we blame John?"

Well, clearly it's the fault of the union rep making $50 an hour spending a few seconds putting 2 screws into your taillight assembly...

 

[Calson]

A great many vehicles have designs and bodywork that makes them far more expensive to repair if there is even a minor collision. This is a good part of the reason for much high auto insurance rates on many vehicles.

In the old days the 4WD vehicle meant for off-road use had the headlights inboard of the wheels so a fender might get crunched but the headlight would be OK. Now the majority of vehicles, especially trucks, are designed to be as pretty as possible to entice buyers.

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