Failed Fuel Gauge (again and again)

[jdubbbbbb]

Hey Guys,


I currently own a 2016 Volkswagen Golf AllTrack. I purchased it in July 2016 so it is just over a year old.


In this time i have had it in the service centre 5 times for the same fault. I'll give oyu some background, so i bought the car on July 1st 2016. I am a sales rep for Lee Jeans in Victoria so i drive a significant amount of km's a year. I have driven 36000 km's this year already.


2 Months into having the car i had a sudden fault with the fuel gauge and also the distance to empty dropping to zero and showing a fault on the infotainment screen. I took it back to the dealer and asked them to look at it to fix the fault, they replaced the instrument cluster as instructed by Volkswagen head office and i thought that was that.


2 months down the track same thing happened, i thought it was a bit suss and as i live in Hawthorn i thought i'll take it to a closer dealer. I took it to Bayford in Camberwell and they replaced the same part as instructed by head office.


Another 2 months later down the track same issue, i took it back to Bayford and they did more tests and found it was a short in the wiring loom running from the fuel tank to the instrument cluster, so they had to replace the whole fuel tank, sender unit and wiring loom. That was fine i was hoping they would get to the end of the problem. 3 weeks i drove around without knowing how much fuel i had in my tank. I was on my way to Shepparton when i thought i had enough fuel to get me to Shepparton and i run out of petrol, closest petrol station was 15km walk on a 35 degree day. Wasn't happening i was ropable. They finally replaced my fuel tank and once again was told they were confident that the issue was resolved.


another 2-3 months down the track same issue happened, this time i though thats it i have had enough, i have a lemon here. So i contacted head office and demanded that i get a free service and this issue be resolved, considering the amount of km's i drive my car a month, i don't have the time nor dos anyone as a matter of fact to take there 6 month old car in to get fixed for the same issue 4 times. This time the same fault was found so they put in a temporary wiring loom to bypass the original one to see if that was the problem.


Guess what 2 months down the track same issue, this time i have literally had enough. Volkswagen sent a technician from head office to check over the car and is once again "Confident" the car is safe to drive and the issue will not happen again. I took it back to Bayford and told them i will be contacting head office once again, this time i email Volkswagen's Head Customer Experience Manager and told him my situation, he got back to me pretty quickly whilst the issue was being investigated and at the start was willing to help me out.


This time they replaced the instrument cluster again, now i'm not a mechanic but if they have already done this do you think replacing it again is a bandaid fix? I checked through the ACCC laws to see what Lemon Laws Australia has in regards to this as i would like the car replaced, as mentioned earlier i don't have the time to keep taking the car back to be fixed each time this happens. I found the following need's to happen as a major fault for the car to be replaced but the laws are very blurry and in my eyes the Manufacturer has more power than the consumer.


Major failures:
A major failure to comply with the consumer guarantees is when:

> a reasonable consumer would not have bought the motor vehicle if they had known about the full extent of the problem. For example, no reasonable consumer would buy a new car with so many recurring faults that the car has spent more time off the road than on it because several mechanics have been unable to solve the problem
> the motor vehicle is substantially unfit for its normal purpose and cannot easily be made fit within a reasonable time.
> the motor vehicle is unsafe. What is ‘unsafe’ will depend on the circumstances of each case.

When there is a major failure to comply with a consumer guarantee, the consumer can choose to:
> reject the motor vehicle and choose a refund or an identical replacement (or one of similar value if reasonably available),
or > keep the motor vehicle and ask for compensation for any drop in its value caused by the problem.


So i asked for the car to be replaced as i thought i had a good case. I was told Volkswagen would not replace the faulty car, and they would offer me an Extended Warranty and 2 free services. I knocked this back as an extended warranty is not worth the paper it is written on, due to i would sell the car before the extended warranty even comes up as i drive it so much for work anything over 90000kms is not resell able to receive a decent price on it. I counter offered and asked for all services up to the finish of the capped price servicing program to be free and i would be happy with that. Which i worked out to be $2666 in costs.


I was told that the Extended Warranty was worth $2500.
My question is.
Am i being unreasonable asking for the services to be covered?
Do you think i have a case to take to VCAT in regards to receiving a new vehicle? and also have you heard of anything like this before?

[The_Hawk]

I don't think it's unreasonable to want a new car that works as it should. When recurring problems like this present it's a royal PITA since they probably are doing the right thing each time in trying to track down the issue (which is probably plugging in the computer and replacing the bit it says it broken). I'm interested that they went cluster rather than sender given I would think the sender would be most likely (and cheaper to replace), but then I have to assume the computer is telling them something else.

The big issue here is the time it takes to return the thing time and time again. Given the circumstances I would be asking for assurances that if/when the problem comes back they will cover 100% of the costs of getting the car to/from the dealership as well as providing a replacement car (or hire car) in a manner that makes it easy for you. The hard part in this is when dealerships open/close vs when you need your car. This could include an agreement from them that 100% of hire car costs will be covered when they are not able to supply a loan vehicle within a reasonable time.
From what you have said it drives as normally (just without a fuel guage) so you should be able to estimate to a reasonable degree when you need to fill up (even if you have to stick to filling up when you think it's about 1/2 a tank) which means you can be a little bit flexible in working out a time to drop it into the dealer.

What I would also be asking is "what is too much"? How many times does the same fault have to occur before VW will replace the vehicle? Let them try to draw that line in the sand.

If you haven't already I would make sure you do as much as possible in writing and keep notes inclduing date, time and person you were speaking to for the other times. Where possible I like to follow up spoken conversations with an email confirming the agreed position and what was discussed. Again, it's a huge pain, but it can help you out later rather than relying on everyones memory of events.

[Ozsko]

Time for arbitration, nothing else will get you anywhere. I don't know what the options are in VIC but NSW have a special organisation for this sort of problem. Ring consumer affairs and ask the question and they will tell you what you are entitled to. I know you are seeking reassurance but asking questions here will only get you keyboard lawyers.

[Umai Naa!!]

Besides the fuel gauge, the car is ok?

From my understanding of your situation, it appears that the dealerships and VW are going through a process of elimination to resolve this. Repeatedly replacing parts, could suggest that they're pinning their hopes on newer revisons of these parts as some sort of solution. It would also appear to me that perhaps there is an issue with the vehicle that the parties involved have not come across before, and therefore throrough testing and investigation is required, with you doing the testing.

My advice? Leave the car with the dealership, in exchange for a courtesy car at their expense, until the matter is resolved. Follow it up weekly, daily if you have to.

For what it's worth, VW's extended warranty is identical to their new car warranty. Presuming that's what they've offered.

[Ozsko]

Keyboard lawyers......get some real advice. he does not want the extended warranty, read the post as to the reasons why.

[Umai Naa!!]

The warranty stays with the car, and is transferable to the next owner.

[The_Hawk]

Time for arbitration, nothing else will get you anywhere. I don't know what the options are in VIC but NSW have a special organisation for this sort of problem. Ring consumer affairs and ask the question and they will tell you what you are entitled to. I know you are seeking reassurance but asking questions here will only get you keyboard lawyers.

"Keyboard Lawyers" Heh . You're not wrong, best intentions that we might have aside (even those that have experienced this sort of thing first hand). VCAT might very well be the next best step if you can't resolve things yourself.

[jdubbbbbb]

Thanks guys much appreciated. I spoke to my accountant today as he loves his cars. He mentioned to keep it, take the 2 free services and extended warranty on the proviso that it is transferable. Also ask the question of what happens if this issue arises again and leave it to Volkswagen to determine. I have looked at VCAT, the issue with that is, it is an expensive way of going about it and i could end up with the same deal or worse, due to the money Volkswagen has to back them. I am going to send a letter to Consumer Affairs to see if they give me any advice. The accountant also mentioned due to the amount of km's i do, i should flip it next year for a new car as if i did it now it's not worth it due to depreciation. Another year with more km's the car will not depreciate as much as it has in the first year.

I love the car to which is the other major problem. At least if i flip it next year the next owner gets 3 years worth of warranty, and i will get the two free services out of them.

When you dont have the coin to defend yourself the corporation shave the balls. Much appreciated. Will let you know the outcome eitherway.

[tigger73]

I think they are doing all they can in reality. They've even sent one of their own factory trained techs to look at it so it's not like it hasn't been escalated. Unfortunately in your case it is yet to be fixed and can understand that it's a painful experience given that I do similar km and not having a working fuel gauge would be a right pain.

Suggest either packing a jerry can or short filling/ resetting your trip meter each full-up. And making sure you don't go too much under 1/4 tank is better for the car anyway


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[The_Hawk]

Resetting your trip meter each full-up. And making sure you don't go too much under 1/4 tank

Doesn't everyone do these things anyway? I think I have seen the fuel light in my car only a handful of times...