You now know why some here, exclusively use OEM replacement parts whenever available/possible. Ford's baseline for deciding when to obsolete a part is largely driven by product sales volume, product turn-over rates, and the number of production vehicles and vehilce lines that utilize the part.
First, when you have a seal fail, do your best to remove the seal undamaged/with as little damage as possible. Better yet, try to get photo-proof of the deformity causing the leak before removing the seal, and then demand a refund from the parts supplier. And with a little persistence, you can even get reimbursement for the labor required to install/remove the failed part (if it is within the warranty period).
Why do I suggest this? Because as the aftermarket companies continue to whittle-away at OEM replacement part market-share, they're cutting price to undercut the OEM replacement parts market by out-sourcing their manufacturing sources to the cheapest, third-world supplier. This has had the end-effect of significantly increasing the post-install failure rate in a growing number of aftermarket product lines, while we suffer, the OEM parts market gets hammered, and these companies and their parts suppliers continue to rake-in the money at our expense. Ultimately it will either force U.S. auto manufacturers out of the replacement parts market, or to product-source from the same third-world suppliers.
I've found they only take notice when you take money out of their pocket.
Otherwise the poor quality control that has begun to surface recently in a number of aftermarket product lines, will continue to grow; the number of OEM replacement parts will continue to shrink; and we are the ones that will suffer in the end.
Simply look at the number of high-profile product recalls that have surfaced this year alone.
