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Ford Authority

Sidelined Ford F-550 Ambulance Frustrates Fire Department

Aside from making it difficult for automakers to obtain the parts needed to build new vehicles, COVID-19 induced supply chain shortages have also wreaked havoc on the repair side of the business, with many frustrated customers waiting months or even years for those repairs to take place. Couple that with some well-documented quality issues, and a few fleet customers are facing very real problems – particularly those in law enforcement and emergency services. The latest example of this comes to us from Abington, Massachusetts, where the local fire department is incredibly frustrated over how long it’s taking to repair its Ford F-550 ambulance, according to Boston 25 News.

The 2019 Ford F-550 ambulance is one of the department’s two such vehicles, but last October, it suffered an engine failure. Luckily, the vehicle is still under warranty, but nearly six months later, it’s still sitting at a repair shop awaiting its new powerplant. The problem, according to the repair shop, can be traced back to supply chain issues that are making the simple act of obtaining replacement parts more difficult than usual.

“This is a problem because this is a $300,000 ambulance that is completely unusable at this point,” said Abington Fire Chief John Nuttall. “Get us the engine. Get it back in service. Please cover your warranty. Stand by your warranty and actually get us the engine we need.” In the meantime, the department has been forced to borrow ambulances from other, nearby departments. “That’s actually affected our transport decisions with some patients because we’re at such risk with further damaging the older ambulances that we have now. “When one town in this area goes down with ambulances, that affects the whole mutual aid network in the community.”

In the meantime, the department is willing to travel across the country to any dealer that might be able to secure a new engine for the Ford F-550 ambulance, though it seems as if FoMoCo might be willing to step in an help expedite this process. “We are looking into the issue to see how we can support this customer,” a Ford spokesperson said.

We’ll have more on Ford’s supply chain issues soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford Super Duty news, and continuous Ford news coverage.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. First Ford Explorer’s for cops are acting like crap and now this. If Ford doesn’t get their act together, we are going to lose EVERY municipality in the USA. FIX YOUR **** FORD!!!!

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  2. Does this example have the diesel or gasoline engine?

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    1. The f550’s all come with the standard 6.7 litre V8 Powerstroke. The 7.3 litre is a no cost option.

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      1. Buy the 7.3 IDI all mechanical. Very reliable, very easy to repair. No phony pollution control on it. Runs clean.

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  3. A lot of info is missing here. What engine type, what was the cause of the failure and what it was being used for when it failed. Also, it’s common knowledge that most municipalities do a poor job of maintenance on their vehicles. They are often left idling for hours.

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    1. Is FORD that stupid that they couldn’t design the engine to withstand many hours of stationary operations if that turns out was a contributing factor in this? Emergency vehicles need the engine to power various systems on board. Unbelievable.

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      1. Agree 100%

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  4. i have a 2014 dodge journey with a bad ABS module under warranty and have been waiting over 6 months and the dealership at the time said he had a person that had been waiting a yr as of that time, I understand of the parts problem BUT the manufacture are still building vehicles so if they can build for them after a so long wait time of 3-6 months, they should have to send some of the new parts to the dealership for repair especially on safety issues

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  5. Looks like the Pooperstroke pooped out.

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  6. Perhaps this department should just take upon themselves to do their own swap. Put a CUMMINS 6.7L in the interim so at least they can use it then swap the POWER STINK back in when a replacement becomes available. But the way things are going, that could take a few more years. Sure this scenario may seem silly but when you have vital emergency equipment that you can’t use…FORD is the one that’s look bad.

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  7. BUT…BUT,,, they are really busy building EV’s and plants to build more EV’s and Battery plants, and electric charging stations, and forcing dealers to spend a ton of money to support these EV’s that are coming… there is not enough time in the day, week or months to worry about vehicles that are currently under warranty and in need of parts and we all know the more important EV’s are needed to save the planet .

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    1. Actually they are real busy at losing 5 billion building EVs and battery plants.

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  8. Gee I thought mayor Pete had everything in control. All the supply chain issues were resolved so now they are fully DEI compliant.

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    1. What the hell does the government have to do with how a business like Ford chooses to operate itself? What an asinine statement. Blame

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  9. I don’t need to say customer loyalty is critical. I’m 73 years old and have driven the same brand of vehicles all my life. I’ve NEVER had a serious problem. But I’m concerned about my Ranger that’s in the shop. Back ordered parts under warranty has me frustrated. A leased vehicle with 21,000 miles shouldn’t happen. I live deep in the forest in Northern Michigan. Four wheel drive is a must! The dealership quickly put me in a loaner vehicle. A older model 2 wheel drive. I just received a weather alert for 6-9” of wet heavy snow and high winds for tomorrow. At my age living alone 1/2 miles back in the woods off a gravel road could be life threatening. Stop, stop, stop with supply chain excuses! Put the same effort into customer satisfaction as you are rapidly doing to satisfying special interest groups.

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  10. Being a Ford owner this doesn’t surprise me. There should be some legal action brought against Ford for this. They should be monetarily penalized daily or how about just replacing the entire vehicle? Or perhaps we could look at the initial reason there’s an issue with supply in the first place. It’s really discouraging to see this hapoen to an important organization- makes me wonder what the chances are going to be when MY Ford blows up

    Reply

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