jrm223

Not that I can afford it anyway, but I'd like to know about the pop-top on the van in those pics, lol. Looks pretty decent when closed, anyway.

If it's anything like my 2015 gen 2 TC, it's just a plastic panel.

Looking through the owners manual fuse locations, I don't even see any labeled rear stop lamps or tail lamps, odd. One to check would be underhood fuse box, F21, 5A, Stop Lamp Switch since you say your brake lights aren't working.

We seem to be a rare bird in the TC community. You're the first other person I've seen that doesn't have the rear fuse box - I also don't have it in my 2015 XL cargo. I haven't had to mess with the fuses for the rear lights, so I'll try to check it out to figure out where the fuse is.

I had to replace the front struts on mine (2015 TC cargo) last summer. Right-front was also the one blown, but it went at like 70K miles or so and I finally got around to replacing it at roughly 105K. Since I knew everything was going to be apart anyway, I did both sides at the same time. I've always been the type to replace things in matched pairs, even light bulbs. Unfortunately, RF corner is back to making noise shortly after, although the strut seems to be fine since I can't really bounce that corner of the van with body weight like I did with the old blown strut. CV boots look fine and the wheel bearing was replaced @ 102K when I thought my old noise was the wheel bearing and it was actually the bad strut, so I need to get in there more to figure out this other noise sometime. I used the 'preloaded' struts from RockAuto that already have new springs on them, since I don't have a way to swap springs over and this is my only driveable vehicle.

As already mentioned, drop both parts of the headliner, since you have a passenger wagon. I'm one of the cargo guys, so I can't really help with what's needed for removing the back headliner. Each rail has 5 screws under the ceiling/roof to hold it on, I've marked their positions in red on the passenger side in this pic and left the Ford markings on the driver side: After you get the headliners down, you'll be able to see and remove the screws. There will be openings left behind in the roof, so you'll need to decide how you want to make sure they won't be leaking after you change to whatever other rails you may choose. And you don't have to do anything at all with the side curtain airbags, at least on the front seats. Again, my van is a cargo model, so I can't say what you'll find in regards to side curtain airbags in the second and/or third-row seating of a passenger wagon... But the front ones are mounted far enough outboard from the rail channels that you'll have plenty of space to swing a ratchet, haha.

I just looked through the interior pics I have of my 2015 gen-2 cargo van and I don't have anything resembling that in my van. Is yours a 1st generation TC? Passenger or cargo model?

I love the padded folding chair to undoubtedly primp himself in the mirror before "jumping into action", lmao. I wouldn't be too surprised if those plastic drawers have a mirror and probably even a comb & hair spray, at the least. Definitely looks like an FTC1 to me, too.

I don't have any photos of the caps or holes, but the little plastic caps have a couple of tabs that you can squeeze from underneath and then the cap just pops up out of the holes. Just make sure to squeeze them from inside to loosen them, I broke the first one attempting to remove it from above! I only removed four of them to put on a 'universal' type two-bar ladder rack, although my original plan was to install custom-bent/profiled L-track that I shaped to the roof a few years ago, but I've never gotten around to installing those. Figured a couple universal bars would be a lot quicker - and I installed them alone in maybe half-hour or so! There's really nothing "under those plastic caps", they have a built-in gasket to keep water out and then there's just open holes after you gently remove them, nothing too special. And the holes are not threaded, BTW. The front pair (where my first crossbar is) has small circular holes and I had to open them up a bit with the next bigger drill bit for the bolts to fit through, but the rest of the holes are slightly oblong/oval-shaped (front-back direction) & a bit larger because I didn't have to drill them for the bolts.

And yet they do, for many people. A little friction is all that's needed; the hinges use screws & nuts, so the tension can be adjusted quickly & easily.

Reflectix is radiant barrier and not actual insulation. Great for using on windows as removable covers, but not worth the time & money as wall insulation - especially when you see people put it directly against the sheet metal body, absolutely worthless! Radiant barrier needs at least about an inch of air gap between it and the outer sheathing (or vehicle body, in our cases). You would be much better off with closed-cell spray foam or - for low price, easy access for future maintenance and ease of use & install - the foam insulation boards at the hardware stores, cut down to fit where you need them. I need to get around to insulation and I'll be going the foam board route, although my van is like a Swiss Army knife for me, so I can't build a permanent camper in mine, lol.

I wouldn't expect the dealer to necessarily know anything super technical like that, lol. But once in a blue moon, you'll get a knowledgeable person. Several members here can't even successfully get their perimeter lights turned off at their dealerships and Ford provides specific instructions on how to do it; so there's not much excuse, yet the techs still can't figure it out. On the other hand, I've never heard of any Ford-provided info at all on permanent removal of passenger seat, for comparison. I wonder if your dealer sees a lot of fleet vans? There could be an upfitter nearby that is setting them up for businesses and may be able to help you out with info or something on what they do to remove the seat? My own van doesn't even have a manual shut-off for the passenger airbag, at least not that I've ever noticed. For testing purposes, you could shutoff the passenger airbag and then just disconnect all the plugs under the passenger seat to see what happens, simulating it's removal. For reference, when I was messing around with trying the Gen 1 resistors, the gauge cluster air bag light permanently stayed lit-up to indicate an error condition, plus some OBD codes were thrown, but no CEL that I can remember. I think I even tried it without any resistors, also as a test, and everything was the same.

And that's at only 31 MPH, essentially residential neighborhood speeds, lol.

From what I've seen discussed in the past, disabling part of the air bag system - such as the sensors (3 of 'em: occupant, distance from dash, seat belt) & side air bag in that passenger seat - will disable the entire air bag system, leaving you as the driver vulnerable to full force of impacts in an accident. Here in the forum, there is some old info on removing the seat and putting in some certain resistors to mimic the seat still being there, but that info only works for gen 1 TC (up to 2013 model year). I tried it in my 2015 and it didn't work correctly; I haven't gotten around to using an ohm-meter on the seat connections to see what values are needed for our gen 2 TC's. But that would still only give the ohms required, not the info like 1/4W resistor, 1/2W, etc. If your passenger seat folds down (release on left shoulder of the seat) like my '15 & Kevin's '18, I'd probably recommend doing that until dummy resistors can be figured out to bypass the seat without disabling the whole air bag system. I can't imagine that FoMoCo would drop that feature for 2020 and my '15 is a dealer-lot XL (options added power windows/locks only), so it should be a standard feature instead of optional.