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Katrina's Legacy: A Flood-Damaged Handicap Van

Disabled Child Lacks Transportation; Ford Refuses to Help

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 8, 2007
Two years after killer storms pounded the Gulf Coast, cars and trucks caught in the flood generated by the massive hurricanes continue to seep through the automobile market.

This flood car nightmare is the story of a new Ford Econoline E250 bought with only 102 miles on the odometer. The van was converted to be handicapped-accessible by a custom shop along the Gulf Coast.

A ConsumerAffairs.com reader found the van when the vehicle was put on display at an RV show in Tampa, Fla. The Ford Econoline is equipped with a handicapped lift which is the reason our reader bought the vehicle.

From the outside, the van appears to be in good condition. There is, however, a thick layer of rust and corrosion underneath that suggests the van once stood in deep water for a long time.

Photos supplied by the consumer

The person who bought the vehicle is now convinced the van was flooded in Hurricane Katrina but finding the proof is difficult and finding anyone to do anything about it is even more difficult.

A Foul Smell

During a trip to St. Petersburg, the air conditioner in the rear of the vehicle malfunctioned and the inside of the van began to be permeated by a strange odor, Joanna told ConsumerAffairs.com.

That was the first sign of many problems to come as the flood car nightmare began. “It got really hot in the vehicle quickly. We all started to feel sick but we never assumed it was the van making us ill,” she wrote.

The strong smell began to intensify inside the Ford Econoline as they traveled down the hot Florida highway without proper air conditioning.

After the trip, Joanna quickly returned the vehicle to the dealer who sold it to her. In all she took the van back on four occasions.

“They passed it off as new carpet smell,” she said.

“In fact they still are sticking to it is new carpet even after they have seen the test reports telling everyone that it is loaded with formaldehyde,” she wrote.

“We had the vehicle on the road because we needed it to transport my severely handicapped son in it. But the smell got worse,” Joanna told ConsumerAffairs.com.

Ford's Response

Ford sent a representative to Joanna's house and worked on the vehicle to see if the Econoline could be repaired but Ford refused any assistance to rent or buy another vehicle.

While shopping for a replacement van, Joanna was advised to “call the EPA right away and make them come out and test that vehicle.”

Joanna called a private testing contractor and they told her that, “this vehicle should not be driven or anyone go into to it again due to formaldehyde poison.”

“This was August of 2006,” she said. “Then is September and we had it retested and it came back same.” And once again in January 2007, the van tested positive for high levels of formaldehyde.

A mechanic told Joanna that, “this vehicle smells and has an extreme amount of water damage and looks like it was dried out and sold.”

The formaldehyde smell, she was told, has spread throughout the van as a result of adhesives used in glue for wood, blown-in insulation in the walls and floor, the seating, the doors and the carpet. When the air conditioning unit broke temperatures reached over 125 degrees and the formaldehyde smell intensified, according to Joanna.

Washed Away

Joanna's research shows that her vehicle was built at a Gulf Coast custom shop between June 2005 to January 2006 when the lift and other custom items were installed in the Econoline She says she found this information from researching the van on the Internet and she says Ford verified the information through the company customer service line.

The little Mississippi town where the custom shop is located was inundated during Katrina, reinforcing Joanna's concern that the van was flooded, but so far that is the end of the story.

The custom shop is out of business, Ford and its dealer refuse to help and the van is virtually useless for Joanna and her handicapped son.

And so, with nowhere to turn, no one to help her and no sign of a helping hand from Ford, Joanna's nightmare continues.

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