halfalpine

This just happened to me. Air temp was about 50° and I had been driving with the rear defroster on for 15-20 minutes. First time I had used the rear defroster since last winter. Before it happened, I noticed that two adjacent lines of the rear defroster on the side that broke were not working. They were in the middle of the window, and right where the shattering occurrred. Thankfully the glass did not make it to my baby in the backseat! Anyways, I guess you are not alone... 2013 high-top with 58,000 miles

Re-posting this because I'm curious myself. Is this a doable DIY maintenance job? My wonderful 2013 XLT just hit 55,000 miles and I'm trying to stay on top of things!

Keep an eye out when you get a warning about brake wear from you mechanic. I had my 2013 Transit inspected when I bought it at 45,000 and also at 53,000. (Different shop.) Both told me that the rear brakes were starting to go, but I’m pretty sure that neither one actually looked at the parts—is this something that would show up on the OBD? Is there something else I don’t know about the brake assembely that could have caused him to recommend replacement? I took the drums off of both rear wheels last month, planning to do the replacement myself,, and I had tons of pad left—they looked closer to new than used. (Currently around 54,000 mostly highway driving with light loads.) I checked the discs too, and those will definitely need replacement before 60,000. But what I don’t understand is why both mechanics said to replace the ones in back. Definitely keep an eye on the brakes if you own one of these vans, it looks like it’s a known issue, but also take what you hear with a grain of salt.

Here's a better view of the roof. You can see the divots underneath the cross-bars. The van had a single previous owner, and I know that she never used a rack. Worried that the divots are going to get worse, but to be honest, I don't know if they were already there when I bought the van. Do other Transit owners have these roof divots? Cracking paint? Distressed body panels on the roof?

I think @windguy is onto something here--I don't have rails for my setup. I'll post pics later, but without tracks installed for the rack (just plain Yakima Skyline towers), all weight is coming down directly on top of the four mounting points. I''ll post pictures later today when I get home. In the meantime, has anyone else suffered roof damage from using the roof rack without rails? Are there other users who carry heavy loads without rails or tracks, without problems?

Hello, new Transit Connect owner here. Well, new to me, right? I have a 2013 model that I bought with 47,000 and now have 51,000 on the odometer. And I love this thing! Made a camper set-up and it's just like home. All mileage has been with surfboards on the roof, with a Yakima rack that I installed after purchase. Thing is, I am afraid that the roof rack load is damaging my van. The damage appears in the form of divots under the beam that supports the roof rack. I usually carry 2 longboards and a shortboard, must be less that 40 lbs total load, including the rack itself. But look at my pictures, the roof itself seems to be buckling. I noticed this the other day when adding sealant to the rack mounting point threads (but that's another story). I know that the previous owner did not install a roof rack. I also never carry more than 40-50 lbs on top, and I never drive over 70 mph. Cannot figure out what is going on, and worried that I am going to have a problem with my van's roof in the future. Can anyone offer some advice?