Astra steering to the left...legal issues

[Yowwox]

Hi all, looking for a spot of advice on a current situation. I bought a Vauxhall Astra Elite from a Vauxhall Dealer. The car was bought as used but still under warranty for 2 and a bit years. I've had the car for coming up to ten months now and the car has been back to them 7 or 8 times for the same issue (the first time being a week after I bought). Essentially at motorway speeds the car pulls to the left (also at lower speeds but more pronounced at high speed). It has been tracked and aligned more times than I'd care to suggest. Both by the dealer and indepently by myself. Around 2 months ago I did a road test with a workshop technician who straight away agreed there was an issue and proceeded to tell me how their told never to accept an issue. Id been fobbed off with tracking and camber of uk roads for long enough. The car went in for a week and low and behold
was 4 wheel aligned and wheels and tyres swapped again. They then said they hadn't solved the issue and booked my car back in for this week. Whilst booking it in they told me they wanted to swap parts with a donor car and I heard them say they would book it in for 4 hours workshop time. That doesn't strike me as being anywhere near enough time to swap parts and road test.

Yesterday(2 days after having the car) I received a phone call telling me they have now established that it's a generic issue with this model. I asked them why there had been no recall if this was the case and they had no answer. The best they could offer me was to suggest coming to test drive a similar model to which I declined as I don't trust them not to have fiddled with it. Conveniently the workshop and branch manager are both away at present so I was unable to speak to them and need to wait until Tuesday. I refused to take my car back from them until it was resolved.


I have contacted the finance company who are going to launch a merchandise complaint to the company also but am after any advice possible on other avenues to pursue. The car is still under warranty and essentially I want them to either fix the issue or replace the car but not sure where I stand on that.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Andy Murphy

Edited by Yowwox on Friday 15th August 15:14

Edited by eybic on Friday 15th August 17:09, no naming and shaming please.

Edited by eybic on Friday 15th August 17:10

[randlemarcus]

Yowwox said:

Hi all, looking for a spot of advice on a current situation. I bought a Vauxhall Astra Elite from a Vauxhall Dealer. The car was bought as used but still under warranty for 2 and a bit years. I've had the car for coming up to ten months now and the car has been back to them 7 or 8 times for the same issue (the first time being a week after I bought). Essentially at motorway speeds the car pulls to the left (also at lower speeds but more pronounced at high speed). It has been tracked and aligned more times than I'd care to suggest. Both by the dealer and indepently by myself. Around 2 months ago I did a road test with a workshop technician who straight away agreed there was an issue and proceeded to tell me how their told never to accept an issue. Id been fobbed off with tracking and camber of uk roads for long enough. The car went in for a week and low and behold
was 4 wheel aligned and wheels and tyres swapped again. They then said they hadn't solved the issue and booked my car back in for this week. Whilst booking it in they told me they wanted to swap parts with a donor car and I heard them say they would book it in for 4 hours workshop time. That doesn't strike me as being anywhere near enough time to swap parts and road test.

Yesterday(2 days after having the car) I received a phone call telling me they have now established that it's a generic issue with this model. I asked them why there had been no recall if this was the case and they had no answer. The best they could offer me was to suggest coming to test drive a similar model to which I declined as I don't trust them not to have fiddled with it. Conveniently the workshop and branch manager are both away at present so I was unable to speak to them and need to wait until Tuesday. I refused to take my car back from them until it was resolved.


I have contacted the finance company who are going to launch a merchandise complaint to the company also but am after any advice possible on other avenues to pursue. The car is still under warranty and essentially I want them to either fix the issue or replace the car but not sure where I stand on that.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Andy Murphy

Surely test driving a similar model will either reveal that this is something all Astra's do, in which case they can help you into another brand/model, or it turns out that it is your individual car, and they can help you into another Astra. Suggesting that they can "fiddle with it" suggests they know what is causing it on your car, and can thus replicate those symptoms on a car that doesn't currently do it, or eradicate them on one that does. I'd suggest that unless you have paid out for the last 7 or 8 visits, that they really don't want to see you through the doors again, and would have fixed your car and made you go away if they actually knew what was wrong.

Got to be worth a shot, and shows willing.

Edited by eybic on Friday 15th August 17:11

[thatdude]

If it's a generic issue, can you contact Vauxhall UK about it and speak to them?

Or test drive another car at a differnt dealership (maybe try a couple of different specs so you get the idea across a range of chassis)

I shouldnt think something, anything, would have an inherant design faulty of pulling to one side.

Have you tried an independant geometry specialist?

Have you got any history on the car to suggest it was ever in an accident (might be worth doing this yourself to at least rule it out)

[jhfozzy]

How much does it pull to the left?

All of my cars (seven and counting) have pulled gently to the left when the steering wheel is released.

I assumed this was a safety feature which tried to prevent the car drifting into oncoming traffic if the driver became unwell or couldn't steer.

[AngryPartsBloke]

jhfozzy said:

How much does it pull to the left?

All of my cars (seven and counting) have pulled gently to the left when the steering wheel is released.

I assumed this was a safety feature which tried to prevent the car drifting into oncoming traffic if the driver became unwell or couldn't steer.

My Bora pulls slightly to the left, even with the tracking done and the steeringwheel dead on centre. Never ntoiced it until a few weeks ago.

[marshalla]

AngryPartsBloke said:

jhfozzy said:

How much does it pull to the left?

All of my cars (seven and counting) have pulled gently to the left when the steering wheel is released.

I assumed this was a safety feature which tried to prevent the car drifting into oncoming traffic if the driver became unwell or couldn't steer.

My Bora pulls slightly to the left, even with the tracking done and the steeringwheel dead on centre. Never ntoiced it until a few weeks ago.

Camber.

[ManiacGT]

Safety feature.. no. Its about the camber of the road, provided all is well with the car.

[Yowwox]

The plan is certainly to try one at another dealership. Certainly the very bog standard Corsa courtesy car I currently have does not get anywhere near to this pull. I'm all for camber of the road but when they've tried to sell me that line, you would honestly have to driving around Daytona!

Had a phone call from the Vauxhall directors office who had already spoken to the dealership and people in question, they are going to send a regional technical officer to check the car over.

As you say, if I'm not paying for it they would want rid of me so solving it would be the obvious solution, however they seem to be going for the unable to help you anymore solution which is where the legal side may come in to play regarding warranty/vehicle swap/refund.

Andy

[jhfozzy]

Yowwox said:

The plan is certainly to try one at another dealership. Certainly the very bog standard Corsa courtesy car I currently have does not get anywhere near to this pull. I'm all for camber of the road but when they've tried to sell me that line, you would honestly have to driving around Daytona!

Had a phone call from the Vauxhall directors office who had already spoken to the dealership and people in question, they are going to send a regional technical officer to check the car over.

As you say, if I'm not paying for it they would want rid of me so solving it would be the obvious solution, however they seem to be going for the unable to help you anymore solution which is where the legal side may come in to play regarding warranty/vehicle swap/refund.

Andy

If it's a big pull to the left then it does sound like it's out of adjustment. I can't see how they can't sort it out unless it's had a bump at some point in it's life and even then they should be able to overcome this.

[gp3000000]

I drove a new 10 plate Astra everywhere for 2,500 miles. It didn't pull anywhere. The slight drift to the left (and it should only be a slight drift, not a pull) is caused by the camber on the road.

Has anyone checked for brakes binding when hot?

[SnailTrail]

There was something similar to this with a DS5 not that long ago on here. It was a brand new car and it pulled severely, he rejected it almost immediately and I think he got a new car after a lot of fighting and people on here going onto citroen's Facebook with the issue and giving them bad publicity!

If it isn't right then don't accept the car back.

DS5 Topic: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=139...

[blank]

I've had 2 current model Astras and driven countless others.

None have pulled significantly to the left or right.

They do yaw a bit under braking though.