I am considering buying a FEH. I live in SoCal but will be moving to Phoenix area. Any problems with the FEH in the summer heat of AZ? thanks

 

I can't talk about AZ. but my FEH handled 115 degrees of humid N. Cal heat last summer without any trouble. They really beat the heck out of them durning the testing phase and I don't have too many worries.

 

Yes! There is a problem!

Many FEH including regular Escape owners reported that during hot summer days, the dashboard melts. Yes! It melts! It gets all sticky. I live in New Jersey and it even affected me, but dealer can put a special spray on it to fix the problem.

 

I'm sorry, but this just sounds crazy to me. It get plenty hot here and I have never heard (or seen) of the dashboard melting stuff. Either this is a joke and I missed the punch line or somebody has got something seriously wrong with their car.

I have one of the highest mileage FEHs out there and I have been driving it for over 15 months in a climate that gets extremely hot and I have seen no evidence of this dashboard problem.

 

We have a '05 Ford Escape Limited and an '05 HCH. Both run fine. Of course your mileage will be much less in the summer because you'll be running the A/C constantly (even 3 AM during the worst months). Mechanically, no problem due to the heat for either vehicle.

 

Older cars with cheaper dashboards would get cracks, they wouldn't melt. I have not heard of any problems in the 17 plus years I have lived here with any of the new cars. If you are worried about the sun, you can get a DASH Mat (dashboard cover) and a Sun Shade. Most people use the Sun Shade to help deflect the sun out of the car. It helps protect the interior from fading.

 

What are the tinted window laws in AZ?

 

Window tinting is not illegal in AZ and you can tint any window but the front. Check out this link for specifics on the other windows:

http://www.tintdude.com/itom.html

 

I drove my FEH loaded with 2 adults and luggage and a dog through Las Vegas in July. Outside temp was 117'F in the shade and we had A/C on Max. setting.

As you may know, there are steep mountain hills on I15 going out of Vegas.

Going 70 MPH uphill with A/C on and outside temps of 117'F, the FEH coolent temperature only rose 3'C or about 10'F above normal.

Simply amazing. The coolent temp never exceeded 90'C.

-John

 

Has anyone in AZ been able to find a place that will tint the front passenger and driver side windows to match the factory tint? This is the only thing holding me back from tinting... I don't want to have my tint not match. I can deal if the light transmission coefficients are different, I just don't want blueish or purpleish front windows with the nice dark grey back windows.

thanks.