Ford Kuga 2.5 FHEV AWD · 2024 model · leased
The story of my new Ford, told the way I lived it: fault after fault, dealer after dealer, from “that’s how it’s supposed to be” to a replaced part.
The culprit
Service visits and correspondence with Ford Polska · 2026
Diagnostics showed that the steering shaft universal joint had not been tightened at the factory – and it had already started to slide out (video ↗). While there, I also reported the “Parking system fault” message and the flickering display.
The display kept flickering. The update did, however, change the parking sensor sounds without warning.
Another visit for the same display, this time at a different dealer. I was told the flickering is normal behaviour and handed a copy of a service instruction to prove it. In black and white: “Explain to the customer that this is typical behaviour of the electronics and reassure them that the vehicle is fine. Replacing the part will NOT change anything.”
After four visits and a long email exchange with Ford Polska Customer Service, the display was replaced. The problem went away – so it wasn’t “supposed to be like that” after all.
Instead of the view behind the car – smeared streaks of colour. The guide lines and sensors work; the picture doesn’t.
Connectivity settings stop working: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and vehicle functions unavailable, with a suggestion to contact the dealer.
The system that is supposed to call for help on its own after a crash goes down. Along with it, the LTE modem and GPS – the car is “parked” in the United Kingdom.
The LTE modem stopped working and the navigation placed the car in the United Kingdom, although it was in Poland. Cause: a software conflict between the communication module, GPS and modem. The full update took more than three hours.
A month after the warranty service, at 14,792.8 km, the car reports a four-wheel-drive fault. In an AWD car, that is no small thing.
I report the fifth fault this year: “AWD system fault”, twice in one day. It goes away after a restart. I remind them that the “Parking system fault” is still not resolved.
Customer Service does not have the tools to carry out technical diagnostics of the vehicle.
Recommendation: book a dealer visit. Customer Service promises that if there are problems, they will “oversee” the case and make sure it is “resolved once and for all”.
The Kuga in the diagnostic bay, bonnet up. The dealer can’t find the cause.
Less than a week after the first dealer visit, the same message: “AWD system fault. Service!”. Odometer 15,012.7 km.
No reply. The dealer checked the AWD and found no fault – and today the error came back. I have also sent a complaint to the CEO of Ford Polska.
I recommend contacting the dealer again and booking another visit.
Same as 31.08 – this time with the suggestion that I ask the dealer myself for “in-depth diagnostics”.
Will Ford Polska start paying me for the time I spend at the dealer? Who is the warrantor – the dealer or Ford Polska? I demand effective repair of the faults within 14 days, full diagnostics and a 2-year warranty extension. “A pity the reply came after 17 days and only once the case went public.”
The Kuga spends three days at the dealer and covers 50 km on a test drive. Nobody reimbursed me for the fuel used on that drive – and at PLN 8 per litre, that matters. The dealer still doesn’t know what’s causing the fault. The dealer opened a case with Ford’s engineers – no answer yet.
I must, however, stress most firmly that the vehicle repair process has to follow a defined technical path.
Warranty extension? They will consider it – “once effective diagnostics have been carried out”. The very diagnostics the dealer is still waiting on Ford’s engineers for.
The car has been at the dealer since yesterday. I don’t know when I’ll get it back, I haven’t been given a courtesy car, and tomorrow I had a business trip to Warsaw. Nobody even checked in the system where the car is.
We do not receive automatic notifications that a vehicle has just been dropped off at a dealer (…) I am waiting for the name of the dealer.
The warrantor doesn’t know which of its dealers has a car under warranty – and waits for the customer to tell them.
I give them the dealer and the job number. “Forgive my sarcasm, but the situation with this car is absurd, to say the least.”
The vehicle’s location is sensitive data and Customer Service does not have access to it.
I will keep you informed of progress (…) despite your attitude and sarcasm.
I’m heading home because I have an urgent trip tomorrow. On the dash, again: “AWD system fault. Service!”. Two visits, three days at the dealer, a 50 km test drive – and the message comes back. Fortunately it disappears when I switch the ignition off, and the car drives normally.
I’m not asking for a case to be opened – it’s already open. I’m only asking for an escalation so that someone finally answers it, because the dealer complains it has received no reply and we’re at a standstill. The error may come back in 50 km or in 5,000 – it is not acceptable to me that the dealer drives my car for weeks until the error shows up. There must be another way to find out from the car’s logs what triggered it. I remind you of my claim for a warranty extension and ask for an official reply. “I am considering legal action, because I am really losing out.” Today the dealer drove 70 km in my car, about PLN 50 of fuel, and each visit – with travel and my time – costs me roughly PLN 500–700.
Over Saturday and Sunday the AWD-related error came up three times. The dealer still doesn’t know the cause, and the message keeps coming back more and more often.
(…) any analysis of possible compensation or changes to the warranty terms can only be carried out after the diagnostic process has been fully completed, the fault effectively removed and you have confirmed that the vehicle works properly.
So: repair first, talk later – while the diagnosis is stuck because the dealer is waiting for an answer that never comes. Ford Polska only promises to check with the dealer whether the case to the engineers was even sent, and to “put pressure” on the dealer.
You have the history of the previous repairs – please give me an official decision based on it. The car is with me and keeps driving with errors (the error came up 3 times over the weekend). I’m waiting for the dealer to be ready to repair it, but I don’t want it sitting there for two weeks waiting for parts. Shouldn’t I get a refund for the fuel used on test drives, or at least have the fuel level topped up? At PLN 8.20 per litre, every such drive (the last one 50 km) matters.
(…) in accordance with the applicable procedures, the cost of fuel during test drives is covered by the vehicle’s owner.
After consulting its “superior department”, Ford Polska invites me to a joint test drive at PGD Euro Car – a different dealer from the one so far – with two dealer employees taking part. A technical work order will be created only “if the service manager considers it necessary”. Fuel – at my expense.
Why PGD Euro Car and not PGD Partner, where the car has been diagnosed so far? The error may appear after 50 km, or just as well after 500. Why should I bear the cost – of both fuel and time? I really don’t like this idea. “On what basis does the owner bear the cost of fuel?” By the way, the owner is the leasing company, not me.
As a member of the customer service team I have to stick to the procedures, which name the user as the party who covers the cost of fuel during test drives.
Moving the case to PGD Euro Car is, I’m told, a “strategic decision of the superior department”. Asked for the basis of the fuel cost – again only “procedures”, with no provision or warranty clause cited. One word changed: earlier the same day the “owner” paid, now it is the “user”.
But I’m not interested in your internal procedures. Is there such a provision in the warranty? I am suffering real loss. I don’t have time for this kind of thing. I can deliver the car to the dealer on a given day, but I won’t take a day off and lose a day on test drives just because Ford can’t handle a fault in its own product. “Let’s be serious.”
An hour ago I spoke to EuroCar and they didn’t really know what it was about or why I’d been sent to them. For me it’s the other end of Kraków – in rush hour the drive can take up to an hour. I suggest you simply agree between yourselves and give me a day when I deliver the car for diagnostics (I can do it before 8). EuroCar is fine, I’m not insisting on Jasnogórska. A joint test drive is out: the dealer works 7–19, I work 8–17. The error may show up on the way to the dealer, but there’s no guarantee. I remind you about the decision on the warranty extension and ask “which provision says I have to pay for fuel during test drives”.
The decision to send the vehicle to PGD Euro Car was made by the superior department and remains in force. It is the facility with the highest competence in diagnosing the reported fault.
An apology that the dealer itself had not been informed. Fuel compensation and the warranty extension – only after diagnostics are finished and the fault is fixed. The question about a warranty provision is still unanswered.
I got word from EuroCar that I’m supposed to book with Jasnogórska after all… I don’t understand any of this anymore. Can you confirm that?
After consulting the Service Manager again, we agreed that, for your greater comfort and convenience, you may go to the original dealer (Jasnogórska).
A day earlier Euro Car had “the highest competence” and the decision “remained in force”. Now we’re going back to where the car had been diagnosed from the start.
OK, I’ll book at Jasnogórska. But probably on Monday, because the person who looks after this at the dealer isn’t there anymore.
On 3 October the app again showed a powertrain fault notification, with the odometer at 15,700 km. Exactly five weeks have passed since the first message (29.08).
Today I got word from Partner PGD that they are still waiting for guidelines from Ford. Communication is clearly failing.
The case is not suspended. From the information I received from the dealer, they are in direct and constant contact with a Ford engineer.
The same day, the dealer told the customer it was still waiting for guidelines from Ford. And the closing question: has a date for the Jasnogórska visit been set yet?
No date has been set for the visit at Jasnogórska, despite many attempts to get in touch on my side. The person at the service does not pick up my calls and does not answer my messages. On the general PGD hotline, both yesterday and today (I called twice), I was told that the service employee would call me back, but that he is waiting for guidelines from Ford Polska. So far, no contact. I don’t want to book a date through the general hotline, because the people there are not in the loop: I would arrive, the electrician who knows the case would not be there, and I would lose time yet again. Please tell me whether someone from PGD will contact me once there is a repair plan, or whether I should wait patiently (the car is driveable, so it is not that urgent, although driving with the error and the rear drive disabled is less comfortable), or whether I should pester them with calls every day. I am a bit confused.
Today, too, nobody from PGD has contacted me. Can I know what is going on? By when do you intend to repair my car? I have a longer trip coming up.
After the escalation, a PGD employee called me back on 8 October. I learned that nothing has been arranged and the service is still waiting for guidelines from Ford. He was to clarify the matter with Ford and call back on 8 or 9 October with the date to bring the car in. He called back on 9 October. I was promised a replacement car: a Ford Puma.
At present it is the Service that holds the most up-to-date information from the engineering level, and it is the Service that is responsible for giving you a specific repair date and an action plan.
Please therefore wait for contact directly from a service representative, who will inform you of the timing options, taking your upcoming trip into account.
Ford Polska now says that the service is responsible for the date and the repair plan. Yet as late as 06.10 the service said it was waiting for guidelines from Ford. The Service Manager has only now been asked to contact a Ford engineer to obtain “final technical guidelines”.
I let Ford Polska know: PGD has given me a date, 13.10. There was no mention of a test drive with me; I am to leave the car and will get a Puma as a courtesy car.
I am not kept informed of their progress, nor am I copied on the correspondence, so I do not know what led to the visit being handled this way – in particular, without a test drive.
As recently as 30.09, a joint test drive (on my fuel) was a “strategic decision of the superior department”. Now it is gone, and Customer Service doesn’t know why.
I ask whether a Ford engineer has actually been assigned to the case at all. On Thursday the dealer said nobody like that had contacted them, and that they had been waiting three weeks in the system for an answer from the engineers in Germany.
I confirm that a Ford engineer has been assigned to the case and remains in direct contact with the Service.
Please bear in mind that sending me messages more often will not speed up the arrangements made directly between the Service and the engineer.
On 13 October I handed the Kuga over to PGD Partner on Jasnogórska. This time the car stays at the dealer for longer. I got a courtesy car: a Ford Puma.
52 days after the first message, there is a diagnosis. The dealer found faulty rear axle shaft position sensors and an excessive amount of metal particles in the PTU oil (the power transfer unit that sends drive to the rear axle). The decision: replace the PTU.
the technical consultations between the Authorised Service and the Ford engineer have produced results
Details, scope of work and timing? For those I am, once again, to contact the dealer.
The dealer told me the PTU has disintegrated, with an excessive amount of metal particles in the oil. The car has under 16,000 km, no tow bar, spent 80% of its time on flat roads in Kraków and has never left the tarmac. That is why I maintain my request to extend the warranty to 6 years (currently 4). Nobody has checked whether something similar is happening in the eCVT transmission. I ask whether Ford plans a post-mortem analysis. The dealer still doesn’t know what causes the “Parking system fault” either.
we will be able to consider possible compensation in this form only after the repair has been fully completed, the car collected from the dealer and you have confirmed that the vehicle works fully correctly.
eCVT, analysis of the failed part, parking system: Customer Service “does not carry out technical assessments”, so once again it sends me to the service advisor.
“You will certainly not hear me confirm that the car works properly, because I do not have the competence to do so.” That is the job of the dealer’s technicians. I expect the car to be handed back fully working. If the warranty is not extended, I will take legal action, “and this time I am writing it completely seriously”.
it was in no way my intention to shift onto you the responsibility for the technical assessment of the repair.
has the repair been completed yet and have you collected the vehicle from the dealer?
The warrantor asks the customer whether the car under its own warranty has been repaired yet.
Since 20.10 I have received NO information at all. I don’t know when the repair will be done or what is happening with the car. The FordPass app hasn’t connected to the car for a week; the battery has most likely gone flat. Please don’t send me to the dealer: the warrantor is Ford Polska. I suspect the car is sitting there waiting for parts. “It is incredible that at routine services you assure the customer they will be informed of every detail (…), yet with such a serious repair I have absolutely no idea what the current status is.”
Customer Service has no access to the service systems, so I cannot see the current status of the diagnostics, the stage of the repair or any waiting time for parts.
The same day, Customer Service had asked whether the repair was finished. Now it explains it has no way of checking, and asks the dealer again.
Since 20 October I have had no information at all about what is happening with the car. The Kuga is still at the dealer, and the FordPass app hasn’t connected to it for a week. Ford Polska has asked the dealer for an update; I am waiting for an answer.
Current status
Since the first days, “Parking system fault” appears on some start-ups. After a moment the system works, but the message comes back. Reported many times – the cause is still unknown. Video ↗
“AWD system fault. Service!” since 29.08, a month after the warranty service. Two visits (9.09 and 21.09), three days at the dealer and a 50 km test drive on my fuel brought no diagnosis. The message came back on 15.09, on 23.09, three times over the weekend of 26–27.09 and again on 3.10. Since 13.10 the Kuga has been at PGD Partner. On 20.10 the dealer found faulty rear axle shaft position sensors and an excessive amount of metal particles in the PTU oil; the PTU is to be replaced. Since then I have had no information about what is happening with the car.
Not tightened at the factory, it slid out. A steering component – not infotainment.
First “that’s how it’s supposed to be”, then the display was replaced. After the replacement the problem went away. Video ↗
Software conflict. No connectivity, no emergency assistance, and the car was “in the United Kingdom”. More than 3 hours of updates at the dealer.
Videos
Warranty service
That’s how it’s supposed to be.
You can leave the car with us for a month.
What disappoints me most is not the number of faults, but that the first reaction to a report was usually to prove to me that there was no problem. My July correspondence with Ford Polska Customer Service about the parking system ended with me being sent back to the dealer I had just come from – and then with silence.
Correspondence · from 30.08.2026
In short
In fairness to the dealer: I have nothing against the dealer on Jasnogórska. They do what they can, but their options are limited – they opened a case with Ford’s engineers. They waited weeks for an answer.
To be clear
I like this Kuga for how it drives and how refined the hybrid powertrain is. For free, purely as a hobby, I run one of the Facebook groups about the Ford Kuga MK3.5. That’s exactly why this disappointment hurts so much.
I don’t expect a car that never breaks down. I expect that when it does, the manufacturer and its dealers take it seriously.
What I expect from Ford
