Just got the word, and apparently the prior good news was just words. After waiting 5 days for my car to even make it into the service bay, and that's 5 days after the appointment I was given with AutoMax Ford of Killeen TX, I got the call late yesterday that it was indeed the latch that had been replaced during the recall that had failed. But yesterday they said they were submitting a request to Ford to cover it and it usually takes 24-48 hours to get an answer. I just got off the phone with the dealer and the answer was NO! The reason given was that the recall parts were only warrantied for a year after install.
So for the exact failure that generated a fleetwide recall that happened 4 days outside the standard 3yr/36000mi warranty and 1 month outside the warranty on the installed recall repair parts, Ford will do nothing. It's really making me rethink my plans to do a custom order Transit Connect van next July once my TC Wagon is paid off. It also has me rethinking the trade in vs keep it if the recall repair is only lasting 13 months.
So it's going to be $550 for the repair. I made sure to tell them to give me tho old failed drivers side part. I am actually going to increase that cost a bit and get the same part for the passengers side since they were both part of the recall repair and I want to be prepared for a repeat failure on the other side. But if it does happen, I'll see if the repair is DIY or take it somewhere else if I have to. All in I expect to be out around $700, not too bad, but I shouldn't be paying anything for a repeat repair of recall issue.
After I finish this post I do intend to do a little more fighting. Starting with calling the Ford phone number listed on the recall notice. I still strongly suspect the recall wasn't properly installed. I also made sure to tell AutoMax Ford of Killeen to make sure to keep the old parts, even if it involved an extra core charge (which it turns out it doesn't) so that I would have evidence if needed when I file a report with NHTSA (? or other appropriate governement recall agency) that the recall repair has the same failure with the new part as was failing on the old part. I drove around for years with my poor puchase experience on a Toyota RAV4 shown on the back for all to read, I guess I can do the same with the poor recall repair experience on the TC posted all over that big back hatch for all to read until I upgrade next year. I guess I'll also have to start doing some more serious research into making that replacement possibly be a Mercedes Metris instead of a Ford Transit Connect.