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How to Effectively Complain about your Car Problem

14 messages,  Last post on Apr 12, 2013 at 5:20 AM

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Messages Page 2 of 2

#4 of 14 Re: flies and honey? [steve_] by ray80

Mar 13, 2013 (4:53 am)

Replying to: steve_ (Mar 10, 2013 1:00 pm)
No tricks by me either. I always just try to be nice and explain what ever the problem is the best I can, perhaps adding some info if the problem 'seems' to have been experienced by others and posted at places like Edmunds. Even if I have to be persistent and it takes multiple trips I'll still be nice about it. For instance my daily driver had a situation where the brake fluid warning light would come on under certain circumstances (temps under 20 degrees or so) , not nice at oh-dark thirty in the morning on a cold day when trying to get to work on wondering if there was going to be an important failure.
 
Dropped it off at dealer two or three times only to get the 'could not re-create' answer, likely do to the fact that by the time they got to it the black vehicle had been cooking in the early morning sun and had gotten to warm to re-create. I did persist though and managed to take a lunch time ride to dealer on a really cold day when it didn't get warmed up enough circumvent problem and they had a tech walk out just to prove the light was on. Annoying , but got to where we needed to be to attempt fix.

#5 of 14 this was pretty effective by steve_ HOST

Mar 16, 2013 (7:26 am)

"Honda’s recall of about 183,000 vehicles that might apply the brakes on their own was prompted by a woman who was frightened by having that problem in her own Honda and angry that there wasn’t a recall.
 
Carrie Carvalho of Arlington, Mass., used a little-known tactic: Filing a formal defect petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, requiring the agency to review her concern."
 
Petition by Owner Prompts Recall of 183,000 Honda Vehicles (NY Times)

#8 of 14 My 2013 Subaru Outback by subiebarb

Apr 01, 2013 (7:50 pm)

The mileage on sticker said 26-30, and my 2012 identical car regularly got 30-31 mpg. The new car has been terrible. Best mpg so far is 26.1 and I have 5600 miles on the car since purchase at end of December. Who do I complain to? I called the salesman and he blamed it on "winter fuel".

#9 of 14 Re: My 2013 Subaru Outback [subiebarb] by boomchek

Apr 03, 2013 (10:17 am)

Replying to: subiebarb (Apr 01, 2013 7:50 pm)
So your car gets the advertised mileage. I don't see what the problem is.
 
Winter driving will always consume more fuel especially if you live in a region where you have snow or slippery roads where your AWD is constantly engaged, therefore using more fuel.

#10 of 14 My Story by bryan

Apr 05, 2013 (9:19 am)

With my 2004 Bonneville, the A/C would cycle on/off at weird times, and no codes were in the system. Like when I would accelerate to pass, it would kick on; it would kick off when I was just cruising. Drove me crazy, not to mention made me hot.
 
Of course, they could not replicate when I left the car on several occasions. This is a smallish GM dealer, and customer service is their hallmark. It's the main reason I do all my business there.
 
Usually the same mechanic works on your car, so I asked to leave the car and have the serviceman drive it as his personnel vehicle until it could be solved. In the third week, it finally replicated, and he had his OB? scanner plugged in, and got a code. It turned out to be a crimped wiring harness.
 
Car was returned completely fixed with a full tank of gas!
 
Then there was the time I got a seat on the last flight out of Atlanta because I was the only bumped passenger from the cancelled earlier flight that asked rather than demanded. The desk and gate agents made sure everyone at that gate waiting to be called for standby knew that my being considerate got me the last seat.

#11 of 14 Burned Up over my 2000 Kia by nokia4me

Apr 06, 2013 (7:30 am)

Literally, burned up. That's what happened to my 2000 Kia last night. My daughter had just started it up and had driven it about 1/4 mile when she noticed smoke pouring from under the dash on the passenger side. She quickly exited the vehicle and saw flames shooting from behind the dash on the driver's side and within seconds flames were shooting into the air. The drivers side is completely burned and the passenger side looks as though there was never a fire. We bought the car in December from a dealer with 61,000, we have had no problems and there were no warning signs of any problems. I am going to go to Kia, but from what I have read, it doesn't appear as though they will be of any help. Any suggestions.

#12 of 14 Re: Burned Up over my 2000 Kia [nokia4me] by steve_ HOST

Apr 06, 2013 (8:42 am)

Replying to: nokia4me (Apr 06, 2013 7:30 am)
You should file a complaint with the NHTSA too. They won't act on individual complaints but if there's a pattern of similar problems, they'll investigate.
 
Safety Complaints

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