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Car Forum / Volkswagen / Water Cooled Volkswagen Cars / October 2006Passat Control arm recall & VW cheap-skates
Anyone remember the front lower control arm recall on Passats & Audi a4s & A6s a couple of years ago? Had mine inspected 2 years ago & they were fine. They've now gone at 79K miles but VW are saying the recall is over & in any case, because the car has been inspected once they won't cover it so I'm looking at a £3-£400 bill I think. Needless to say they would have merrily paid for it if I'd managed to do the mileage & therefore they'd failed 2 years ago. Failure has nothing to do with time (even the dealers admit that), its entirely mileage related & just my bad luck that my car has taken an extra year or two to hit the required mileage at which the things have failed. Very unimpressed with how cheap they've turned out to be. Very, very unimpressed. I think that'll be the last VW/Audi/Seat etc etc that I buy. Front suspension joints that fail at under 80K (of which probably 50K has been motorway mileage) - how shite is that? I. > Anyone remember the front lower control arm recall on Passats & Audi a4s & > A6s a couple of years ago? Find a good independent. £105 to do one of mine when it failed the MOT (1999 Passat) > Anyone remember the front lower control arm recall on Passats & Audi a4s & > A6s a couple of years ago? [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Front suspension joints that fail at under 80K (of which probably 50K has > been motorway mileage) - how shite is that? That's what you get for going to a VW dealer..... Surely the parts are only about 40-50 quid from GSF?  SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # > That's what you get for going to a VW dealer..... > > Surely the parts are only about 40-50 quid from GSF? Its not the dealer - they can't get any support from VW UK & talking to them is like talking to a sponge. The "Recall" department have decided.... - but of course as a customer you arn't allowed to talk to the recall department - they "are not customer facing" - crock of sh.t. I'll probably end up doing it myself - it shouldn't be that hard. I. > > That's what you get for going to a VW dealer..... > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > I'll probably end up doing it myself - it shouldn't be that hard. Believe me, in my experience of VW dealers, it's definitely the dealer. SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # >> > That's what you get for going to a VW dealer..... >> > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Believe me, in my experience of VW dealers, it's definitely the dealer. Not this time. The dealer was fairly chilled out about the thing - happy to do the work if VW would pay. All subsequent conversations have been with VW CC in Milton Keynes. The funniest (?) bit is that according to VW CC there is no "escalation process" (yeah, right). "The decision is final, we all agree on it, neener neener, now sod off " is near enough what I was told. VW are saying the recall ended over a year ago (blink & you missed it) & that furthermore since my car was checked, that was my lot anyway. If I'd known that was going to be the story I wouldn't have let them check it now would I??! All compounded by the fact that I was told by the service manager at the time that the things would be covered upto 130K miles or 10 years when I asked what would happen if they subsequently failed - I wish I'd got THAT in writing! My argument to them is that these are non serviceable items which are known to fail (duh that's why there was a recall) & that failure is directly related to mileage, not time. It just so happens its taken me a bit longer to clock up the 79K miles needed for the arms to fail. If I'd done that mileage by two years ago (or even a year ago) they'd have picked up the tab - but now the recall is over & they are not interested. They havn't even offered my a token discount on the parts! I'm just contemplating if its worth my time to try & "make them famous" over this.......suggestions as to who to write to in order to kick up a stink received with interest! So far there is the obvious BBC Watchdog and that bloke at the Telegraph.......any more? The Passat is due for replacement in about 18 months & my Mrs Audi A4 (which has had 6 control arms replaced!!) is up for renewal next year. Up to this morning favourites to replace them with were a Touran & a B6 Passat. I'll probably write to VW next week & if they still won't play ball then they can sod off as far as having any more of my money on new cars is concerned! They probably arn't any worse than any of the others but I'm buggered if I'll buy from people who knowingly walk away from a known fault like this - sod that for a game of soldiers - life's too short to mess around with them. I >>> > That's what you get for going to a VW dealer..... >>> > [quoted text clipped - 52 lines] > this - sod that for a game of soldiers - life's too short to mess around > with them. Consider your self lucky! I had to have the cam belt and the rear suspension arms changed on my Alfa 147 at 32K. Cam belts are supposed to be changed at 72K but with them breaking well before that and thereby buggering valves, heads and perhaps worse Alfa halved the interval. The belt was beginning to show signs of wear and suspension bushes were on their way out. Fronts were marginal. 32K (or 4th annual) service plus cam belt and suspension arms cost £900 at a good non-franchise dealer. I dread to think what it could / should have cost. Bye bye 147 2l petrol, hello B6 Passat 2l TDI DSG. Dave S Minari 1.7 and Passat. (www.minari-register.org.uk) > Bye bye 147 2l petrol, hello B6 Passat 2l TDI DSG. Don't use the coin trays in the dash of the Passat. Every car on our fleet is currently waiting for new ones - they've all broken and parts are on a 4 week back order from VW. Also, be *very* careful when driving through deep-ish flood water in the road - there's a fuel cooler underneath the car that gets ripped off with very little effort. I'm waiting for a new one to arrive at the dealer at the moment. SignatureSteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo' www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark Alfa 156 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI SE - COSOC KOTL BOTAFOT #87 - BOTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC # >> Bye bye 147 2l petrol, hello B6 Passat 2l TDI DSG. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > underneath the car that gets ripped off with very little effort. I'm > waiting for a new one to arrive at the dealer at the moment. Thanks Steve. I have been using the trays in the dash for coins,I did actually wonder what they were for! I will have to be careful. Also the warning re deep water is a bit late, Big Big puddles, or were they small lakes, but as the car is still running I have got away with that one. Some thing to remember for the future. Dave S Minari 1.7 and Passat. (www.minari-register.org.uk) |
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