I leased a NEW 2018 F150 in October 2018. One month later on the first day below freezing the door latch malfunctioned. I opened the door and it would not catch when attempting to re-close the door. It is essentially frozen in the open position and does not allow the door to catch. I have had the car to the dealer for a replacement and after two additional freezing events (immediately each service) I am advised that Ford does not presently have a solution to this problem. I have been asked repeatedly to take the car home (and to drive dangerously when the car door won't close. I have been offered no solution.

I have been offered money from FORD toward a rental but only a rental of a FORD car and not adequate money to rent a large enough vehicle or vehicle of similar value. I have been without use of the car for more than a month . Formal incident report to Ford took quite some time for them to respond and six weeks into this problem I have been advised that some pictures are being requested. I will be advised further after some pictures and after some 'work" is done.

In this process I have been asked to drive with dangerous conditions and am caught in a triangle between service people who have not been advised on next service steps, Ford who has been incredibly slow to respond, and the sales team who states they have nothing to do with the problem - this is a FORD corporation thing not a FORD dealer problem. I was not aware at time of purchase that 2016 and 2017 F150's had 1.3 million recalls for door latch problems. This is a brand new vehicle. This is an ongoing problem with many F150's.

1) F150 2015-2017 has had 2 TSB's on this topic. The second one TSB 16-0155 describes a service procedure that includes blowing out water, drying, lube and then install of a rain shield kit. This appears to not work on a large number of vehicles. A recall was issued in Oct 2017 for this problem.

2) My truck a 2018 was built in Oct 2018. It appears whatever design changes in production were either not applied at time of build, or they don't work.

3) My Vehicle isn't covered under the VIN #'s covered in either of the TSB's or the Recall. Ford hasn't "officially recognized" this as a continuation of the class defect.

4) My truck has been at the dealer for a week now, where they confirmed and replicated the failure. The dealer is awaiting further instructions from Ford for the fix...and I'm without a truck to drive.

Given this has been an issue and recalled...I'm thinking Ford has some big issues to solve here..for millions of truck owners.

Update from Sep 15, 2018: Ford put in a different latch this summer...(not the dealership but an actual ford field tech) don't know if it works. It seems to now have troubles when just trying to open the door.