Here are my gripes about the recommended service intervals in owner's manual:

• Timing belt replacement - The owner's manual says it should be replaced every 150k miles. My timing belt failed around 90k (which required an entirely new engine as a result). Note that the recommended interval is 150k miles for the timing belt (1.6L engine) and there's no recommended interval for the timing chain (2.0L engine), which I interpret to mean it's designed for infinite life. I've never heard of a timing belt lasting 150k miles.
• Transmission/Differential Fluid - The owners manual says the fluids should be changed every 150k miles. My differential was shot after 95k miles, and the transmission is already acting a bit quirky. When the car was in the shop at 95k miles the mechanic said the fluid in the differential (and transmission) was filthy.
• Oil Changes - The owners manual claims that there's a sensor which tells you when the oil needs to be changed, and it should be every 7,500-10,000 miles under normal use. The oil-light never came on and I made a point to change it out every 5,000 miles, maximum. When the engine was replaced, the mechanic said the lube system was cruddy from infrequent change outs, and there were metal shards accumulating in the orifices

Long story short, I don't trust any of the recommended service intervals in the owner's manual. And I'm wondering if the person who wrote the manual didn't know what they were talking about, or was too optimistic about the car's reliability. What does everybody else think?

I totally agree with the "edited" points you make above.
Manual says my (oil bath) timing belt change at 240 k Km. NO WAY!
I intend to change every drop of fluid in mine at 80k Km (50k miles)
Blackstone Labs did an oil analysis on my oil when last changed when the oil monitor message was displayed. Blackstone agreed with my thoughts that the oil still had service life left in it. I have however, since then switched to full synthetic oil as a bit more hopefully extra safety? My 2 pennies.

 

Various threads here have suggested that a 150K service interval is Ford's way of saying "don't bother; that's the expected lifespan of the vehicle".

 

Or "don't both, when your vehicle breaks from not maintaining it, we expect you will buy another (Ford) vehicle"

 

i think you were unlucky. something went wrong somewhere. broken timing belt and metal shards even with 5k oil changes?

Even if 150k service is too long and you chose a more conservative 100k. you still would have had a timing belt and diff failure.

yes the car will indicate an oil change around 10k miles. many have followed that with no issue.

sorry you've had trouble, but unfortunately i think you're an outlier, not the norm.

 

If I was experiencing significant repair costs because components were failing before their anticipated life was up, I would probably be documenting my experiences in writing to Ford, NHTSA, and my state’s attorney general. Doing so may not help me recover my costs, but the proper documentation to the right people could eventually lead to recalls and/or changes in manufacturer recommendations, which would obviously be beneficial to other owners.

By the way, as an attorney I suspect an auto manufacturer may have some legal exposure if their recommended intervals are resulting in significant damage to vehicles.* And that’s coming from a defense attorney.

* Of course, I have to add that this is not intended to be legal advice.