Dealer fitted ‘faulty’ seat in another van
CASE STUDY Owner shocked at Vauxhall garage’s admission over creaking seat switch
IF a faulty car proves impossible to fix, Auto Express readers often say it’s hard to know what to do next. Should they sell it on and wrestle with their guilty conscience later?
To some, the answer is yes. One Vauxhall Vivaro owner, who asked not to be identified, told us that the creaking noise in the driver’s seat of his 16-plate van was driving him crazy.
But after a dozen trips to his dealer, T Wall Vauxhall in Kingswinford, West Midlands, for a variety of failed repairs, the garage eventually swapped the entire seat and mounting with one from another Vivaro on its forecourt.
Our reader, from Wolverhampton, said: “I reluctantly agreed, because I was tired of living with the fault, and Vauxhall clearly wasn’t going to fit a new seat.”
But he was shocked by the dealer’s decision to fit his faulty seat system in another van. He added: “The service manager just said whoever bought that van might not even notice the knocking. Or if the driver is a different weight, it might not even trigger the problem.”
Our reader had been a loyal customer at the dealer for almost two decades, but he’s now lost all faith in the garage. He said: “How can I ever trust this dealer again, knowing that it’s prepared to fit faulty parts into vehicles on its forecourt?”
When we called to question this decision, Vauxhall admitted it hadn’t approved the dealer’s decision to switch the seat into another van. Its spokesman added: “They swapped the seat into a demo van, and it seems to be working. They can’t find anything wrong with it.”
We asked Vauxhall why it hadn’t simply replaced his seat system with a new one. The spokesman said: “This hasn’t been the easiest fault to identify, as it’s only noticeable under certain conditions. We cannot change parts if no defect is present. If the problem occurs again we will review the case.”
But the manufacturer is now having to do just that, because our reader says his replacement seat is also creaking now. The Vauxhall spokesman added: “We’ve arranged for one of our technical field team to inspect the vehicle.”
“He has been a loyal customer for almost two decades, but has now lost faith in the garage”