Entitled to claim labour to fix known car fault?

I've a late 2005 car with under 19,000 miles on it. (I don't get out much. ) Recently for no apparent reason the ABS and traction control system packed up. Dealer says it's a known problem for my type of car. Although the car is no longer under warranty the manufacturer has agreed to supply the parts free (value €1,800) as a goodwill gesture. But I'll still have to pay around €600 labour.

As it's a known fault and the manufacturer has *almost* acknowledged this by offering to supply the part for free, have I any grounds to request that the manufacturer also pays for the labour? I would have thought the correct thing to do would have been to recall the cars.

Thanks.

This issue was dealt with on the BBC watchdog programme last night. The conclusion seemed to be that as it was out of warranty one had no recourse even when it was a 'known' fault. In this case it was the fact that BMW cars alloy wheels often cracked when driving over normal UK roads. Though one guy sued them (experts report on alloy wheels cost 1700 !) and won 7K as my understanding was he was able to show their was an inherent fault in the alloy wheel structure (the metal part of the wheel) which meant it would crack if it hit a pot hole. But the general impression I got was that out of warranty meant you get nothing.

Thanks. Must look up to see if BBC streams their programme online. Coincidentally, my own car is also a BMW - hope my alloys don't go wallop too.

LD I don't know anything about cars but when I saw the car initally I noticed that the rubber part of the wheel was very thin, ie the distance between the metal and ground wasn't much. I was thinking of myself as I often hit the kerb when parking so even though not an expert I could see right away the problem. Not enough of a cushion. Good thing is my other half is going to put air in my car tyres tomorrow as he hasn't done it for a while !

Bronte said:

... Though one guy sued them (exports report on alloy wheels cost 1700 !) and won 7K ....

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MIRA (it was stamped on the cover of the report) don't do "expert reports", they do product / component testing and reporting which is why they charge so much; they undoubtedly tested at least one BMW wheel to destruction. http://www.mira.co.uk/

Bronte said:

LD I don't know anything about cars but when I saw the car initally I noticed that the rubber part of the wheel was very thin ...

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The "rubber part of the wheel" is generally referred to as the tyre , the metal part of a wheel is generally referred to as the rim, or erm, wheel.

Annie Botoxed did say last night that the problem is specific to BMWs with "run-flat" tyres. BMW don't seem to understand that if you want to use a run-flat tyre, you need to design a wheel specifically for that tyre (just like the top quality Japanese engineers have done for their cars) and ideally fill the tyre with nitrogen, rather than air. The road shocks and impacts that a normal tyre absorbs in the internal air-cushion are transmitted directly to the wheel via the mesh construction of a run-flat tyre. Hence the consequences of BMW's decision to use ordinary or poorly-designed road-wheels with run-flat tyres are bring seen by their customers.

mathepac said:

The "rubber part of the wheel" is generally referred to as the tyre , the metal part of a wheel is generally referred to as the rim, or erm, wheel.

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Let's not get too technical I'm sure LD knew what I meant.

LDFerguson said:

I've a late 2005 car with under 19,000 miles on it. ... Recently for no apparent reason the ABS and traction control system packed up. Dealer says it's a known problem for my type of car. Although the car is no longer under warranty the manufacturer has agreed to supply the parts free (value €1,800) as a goodwill gesture. But I'll still have to pay around €600 labour.

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Jebus ! I'd get a second opinion if I were you. Try www.bmwowner.com and register to use the forums. Those guys are very very knowledgeable about BMWs and if there was a problem with ABS/TC that cost nearly 2.5k to fix, then they'd know about it (and possibly have a much cheaper fix).

I personally do not believe that an electronic part costs 1800 or that it costs 600 to fit. If it's 1800, it's probably mechanical and therefore I don't understand how it could affect Traction control AND ABS. TC, maybe if it's a differential problem, but then this would have no bearing on ABS.

It doesn't add up to me.

Thanks for this. I rooted around the interweb and found that the problem is common enough:





Am mulling over my next move...