I must try to remember these words of wisdom ... bought my 99 countour SE last July and mid winter it began..first one end of the dash vent kept popping out, then both ends, until finally it was
curved up and out and vibrating against windshield all the time. Had to take it out...then
the REAL fun began. The dashboard itself pretty much disassociated itself from the frame -- when you look at the car thru the windshield, it is popped up about eight inches, really disgusting.
I never got notice, since I bought the car used and was not registered with Ford or whatever.

I finally began investigating this in June after I went online and found all these folks saying there was a recall on these cars for this problem.
Called local dealer and asked them about it and was brushed right off told that Ford *was* repairing these but was no longer doing so, they even went so far as to say furhter along into the conversation that "only this very morning" on the Ford website they informed us that this repair was on hold until further notice, and they were supposed to come up with new plan by June 15, call back then.

Took it to another Ford dealer locally who supposedly looked up the VID at least and gave my son the same song and dance, Ford not fixing these anymore.

I began researching and found the TSB stating that this was in effect until Aug 2002 and began wondering if both were giving me the runaround to avoid the job, until the TSB expired, whatever.

Went back to the second dealer last Friday and was not even allowed to talk to the service manager who had supposedly been looking into this for me....but was told that I "was not the only one with the problem", that other people were waiting for Ford to decide what to do as well, and the best they could suggest was that I keep checking back every month or so to see if there was any news yet....! The service guy even went so far as to state that this was a "structual design flaw" that Ford was aware of.....

Today I called Ford Customer service and lo and behold got a lovely, helpful woman who told me that my car was certainly under this recall, and that she couldn't understand why they would say that at either place! She confirmed what I had in front of me that this was in effect until Aug 31, 2002, regardless of mileage. Before we were done, she had contacted one of them, and they told her that they just couldn't understand "why it didn't come up in their system" when they looked at it, but she assured me that they were going to replace the dashboard which is mightily destroyed, to just go ahead and make an appointment for the work.

You don't suppose they will be pissed and destroy a few other parts while they are at it, do you? Maybe *this* is the time to do as my mom suggests and mention my family relationship to a company that has done a HECK of a lot of business with this dealership over the years....

Wish me luck, wish I could send the photos of this
poor baby, but I do Have them for anyone who would like to see, I am new as of today and just trying to find my way thru here.....Sorry to be so long winded !