Golf 118 TSI Engine Failures and Service Campaign 24S4

[Kaliani]

I bought a used 2010 TSI118 1.4 Golf with 100,000km, full VW service history for $9000 last December.

I had a engine rattling incident within a few weeks of driving and the car had never ran really well. I had put that down to reviews saying the car will be uneasy in city driving.

I took the car for a service a few weeks ago and it turns out the engine has blown, cylinder 3 is cracked. I tried for a goodwill fix but after stripping the engine down they found evidence of a previous replaced head gasket and will not provide any goodwill. I've raised with VW customer service and management there are "firm" and "adamant" that no support will be given to me.

I contacted the previous owner who has been responsive and genuinely concerned. They only ever had the car worked on by an authorised repairer and I contacted the repairer to hear a list of minor things done to the car including sump gasket but no replaced head gasket. I've since found out that the authorised repairer doesn't mean anything in terms of VW accepting the cars history.

I am left with the decision to repair the vehicle at a cost of $7400, $660 of which is already due for stripping the engine or scrapping the vehicle and starting again.

I've been really surprised by how common this issue appears to be, how uncaring VW have been and the poor quality of a car produced by a brand I held in high regard.

I'd be really interested in opinions on whether to repair/scrap/other. Of course my main concern with repair is throwing good money after bad.

Sorry to hear you are going through this. I wouldn't let it rest just yet - especially as you have been so diligent in establishing the car's repair history. From my research in this thread (having had the same problem and won the warranty claim) - a number of people have had to write many letters and emails and harrass with with phone calls, as well as doing a little bit of social media shaming. As 'BRAD' suggests, you should also speak with ACCC.

Please see my post earlier in this thread with a run down of cases that have successfully been pursued.

[Kaliani]

UPDATED LIST 1/11/17
I did a bit of research through these threads to pin down the number of successful cases where VW have coverd the cost of all or part cost of repairs. I went back to January this year and tracked each instance. I thought I would share here as a resource for others.

The short story is that between January and NOVEMBER 2017 - as far as I can see - there were 16 instances where VWA covered the entire cost of the repair and two cases where they covered only part of the cost - in both cases this was due to patchy servicing, high KMs. Two cases where no costs covered.

Please correct me if I've missed anything. Here is the table I made. I thought it might be worth keeping a running tally.

FULL COST COVERED
Church
Redhot
Lachlan MC
Anapo
Bensi
Svandas (including a loan car)
Billables
Saveferris
Ellwith
Axyl
Nick123
JoshDC
Zackzorr
theHawk
Pirelli
Kaliani

PART COSTS
1/2 Costs - smokiebear
75% cost Sosotired

NOT COVERED
sixbolt
BurnedbyVW (VW argue evidence of previous head gasket replacement -disputed by owner - voids warranty claim)

[BurnedbyVW]

Sorry to hear you are going through this. I wouldn't let it rest just yet - especially as you have been so diligent in establishing the car's repair history. From my research in this thread (having had the same problem and won the warranty claim) - a number of people have had to write many letters and emails and harrass with with phone calls, as well as doing a little bit of social media shaming. As 'BRAD' suggests, you should also speak with ACCC.

Please see my post earlier in this thread with a run down of cases that have successfully been pursued.

I emailed VW to ask for their details as I wanted to raise a ACCC claim, they thanked me for my email and provided them.

I've just got off the phone from the office of fair trading, as I purchased the car privately they said I have no rights and buyer beware stands. I was certain I had read that there were statutory rights I had against the manufacturer regardless of a private purchase, but unless there's any suggestions I think I'm at the end of the line and will have to pay for the repair.

[brad]

I emailed VW to ask for their details as I wanted to raise a ACCC claim, they thanked me for my email and provided them.

I've just got off the phone from the office of fair trading, as I purchased the car privately they said I have no rights and buyer beware stands. I was certain I had read that there were statutory rights I had against the manufacturer regardless of a private purchase, but unless there's any suggestions I think I'm at the end of the line and will have to pay for the repair.

Fair Trading is state based isn't it? ACCC is different.

Consumer guarantees | ACCC

Basically, you'd expect a "quality" manufacturer like VW to produce an engine that would last at least 200,000km if serviced IAW the manufacturers recommendations. To have it crack a piston at 100k km isn't normal for an engine these days. In addition, it appears to be an issue for that engine type, therefore it should be repaired at the manufacturers cost.

[BurnedbyVW]

Fair Trading is state based isn't it? ACCC is different.

Consumer guarantees | ACCC

Basically, you'd expect a "quality" manufacturer like VW to produce an engine that would last at least 200,000km if serviced IAW the manufacturers recommendations. To have it crack a piston at 100k km isn't normal for an engine these days. In addition, it appears to be an issue for that engine type, therefore it should be repaired at the manufacturers cost.

The office of fair trading lady I spoke to said they handle the ACCC claims as well and said no chance. Here's the section I think she was referring to, bullet 2: (happy to hear if this is BS)


Rights to a repair, replacement, refund, cancellation or compensation do not apply to items:

- worth more than $40 000 purely for business use, such as machinery or farming equipment
you plan to on-sell or change so that you can re-supply as a business
- bought as a one-off from a private seller, for example at a garage sale or fete (but you do have rights to full title, undisturbed possession and no unknown debts or extra charges)
- bought at auction where the auctioneer acted as an agent for the owner (but you do have rights to full title, undisturbed possession and no unknown debts or extra charges).

[brad]

The office of fair trading lady I spoke to said they handle the ACCC claims as well and said no chance. Here's the section I think she was referring to, bullet 2: (happy to hear if this is BS)


Rights to a repair, replacement, refund, cancellation or compensation do not apply to items:

- worth more than $40 000 purely for business use, such as machinery or farming equipment
you plan to on-sell or change so that you can re-supply as a business
- bought as a one-off from a private seller, for example at a garage sale or fete (but you do have rights to full title, undisturbed possession and no unknown debts or extra charges)
- bought at auction where the auctioneer acted as an agent for the owner (but you do have rights to full title, undisturbed possession and no unknown debts or extra charges).

She doesn't understand your issue.

It's got nothing to do with where you bought it from. You are claiming due to "fitness for purpose" of a design that has proven to be inadequate as demonstrated by multiple similar, premature failures of the same item.

[BurnedbyVW]

She doesn't understand your issue.

It's got nothing to do with where you bought it from. You are claiming due to "fitness for purpose" of a design that has proven to be inadequate as demonstrated by multiple similar, premature failures of the same item.

Thank you Brad, that's very helpful. I've asked for the work to be carried out, does that impact my ability to get compensation? E.g. after the work has been done and I've paid.

[brad]

Thank you Brad, that's very helpful. I've asked for the work to be carried out, does that impact my ability to get compensation? E.g. after the work has been done and I've paid.

I have no idea...

[arnoldc77]

Several months back my Golf began to run poorly and I booked it in for service and was told piston 1 was cracked. The car had done 75000km and was regularly serviced at vw for first 4 years then elsewhere either on time or a couple of months late.
As per suggestions on this thread I contacted vw general manager, head of customer service and head of customer experience.

I was prepared for a long fight but within 10 minutes I had a response from Jason Bradshaw indicating vw would diagnose my issue free of charge and provide a courtesy car.
With 24 hours I had received a phone call arranging for me to drop my car at my nearest dealership.

After a week or so I received approval for a goodwill repair replacing all pistons, as well as the timing belt and water pump.

I'm happy to share directly my initial email correspondence if anyone needs help raising the same issue with vw.

[ope126]

Several months back my Golf began to run poorly and I booked it in for service and was told piston 1 was cracked. The car had done 75000km and was regularly serviced at vw for first 4 years then elsewhere either on time or a couple of months late.
As per suggestions on this thread I contacted vw general manager, head of customer service and head of customer experience.

I was prepared for a long fight but within 10 minutes I had a response from Jason Bradshaw indicating vw would diagnose my issue free of charge and provide a courtesy car.
With 24 hours I had received a phone call arranging for me to drop my car at my nearest dealership.

After a week or so I received approval for a goodwill repair replacing all pistons, as well as the timing belt and water pump.

I'm happy to share directly my initial email correspondence if anyone needs help raising the same issue with vw.

So great to hear!