When i turn on the windshield wipers, the wiper blades sometime stop, with the blades in a vertical position or another angle on the windshield. they may remain in that position for a minute or more. this has happened many times while driving on city streets and on highways. to get the wipers working again, i usually have to turn the wiper control off and then back on. during this time, rain is accumulating on the windshield, reducing visibility. this is very unsafe. i reported the wiper problem to the dealer, bob thomas ford, 2215 dixwell avenue, hamden, connecticut 06514, on august 15, 2018, when the car had 11,122 miles on the odometer. the dealer did not fix the problem. receipt from the dealership inspection stated: "refer to ssm 45753." repair technician said he could do nothing about the problem. since that time, the windshield wipers have continued to stop, unpredictably, in a vertical or other position on the windshield.
The driver's side wiper is freezing and does not operate properly no matter what operation it is in: low, medium or high. i have had the wiper blades, wiper arm, and wiper motor replaced and none of it has fixed the problem. it has left me in several dangerous situations. i have almost wrecked numerous times. this has been going on for three months. nobody seems to be able to fix the problem, including the ford dealership service dept.
I owned the vehicle 2 years and then replaced the wiper blades at napa. then they started stopping midway on the glass or slowing and stopping. i replaced the blades with genuine ford blades at the dealer's quick lane, but the problem continued. the service dept. couldn't find any problem on two visits, and said it has an advanced sensor system and "it's supposed to do that." i am afraid the wipers will give out in a storm. the service advisor snapped at me "if you keep coming back, we may have to charge you," even though i have time left on the full warranty. this is a hazard, and they should warn people that the system uses so-called smart technology, and to be careful when changing the blades.
There is extreme distortion of the image on the inside manual (non-electronic) rear-view mirror when the mirror is set to the "night" position. the mirrors are ok when set to the "day" position. i have observed this defect in the mirror of my personal ford focus 2015, and in other ford vehicles i have examined on ford dealer lots. when set to the night position, any movement of the driver's head relative to the mirror causes severe distortion of the image whether the movement is in the vertical or horizontal plane (however, movement in the horizontal plane appears to cause worse distortion than in the vertical). this distortion is most disconcerting to folks who drive at night, and could cause the driver to perceive that another vehicle is closer/farther behind than it actually is, or to perceive that it is in a lane other than where it actually is. when i demonstrated this to my local ford dealer service manager and tried to make a warranty claim, he permitted me to observe the mirror in other vehicles on the lot, all of which demonstrated the same defect. he claims that if a "defect" appears on other comparable vehicles, it is not really a defect and is "normal." anyone who subscribes to such nonsensical logic must surely be living in a parallel universe!