Faulty Brand New Honda Civic 1.6 i Detc & Can I demand a replacement?

Ultrasonic

I trust you have been provided with a curtesy car?

The current fault occurred yesterday, right? In which case hopefully getting the car fixed for you by Tuesday really isn't that unreasonable. Although I do appreciate it is very frustrating to be having all of these problems with a new car.

As for the 6 month thing, I am no legal expert but I think this is usually relevant when purchasing used cars, but either way if you have the same fault occurring again I think it would be viewed as a continuation of the same fault that first occurred within the 6 month period. Others know far more about this sort of thing than me though.

Your car will of course have a warranty that covers faults after 6 months anyway though, so they will still get fixed without costing you anything.

AdrianC

snowshine wrote: »

On the contrary I want a car that is new as was claimed by Honda.

You have (well, had, back in October) a car that is/was new. There is not, afaict, any suggestion otherwise.

New means "new" - fresh from manufacture to you, with no previous user (although it will have been tested, will have been driven as part of the delivery logistics, and may even have been delivered by road, so the odometer certainly won't read zero miles). It does not mean "we promise, absolutely, that it will be perfect and fault-free". That's what the warranty is for.

SOGA is a backup, which applies equally to new and to used goods.

My concerns are reading googling to suggest after 6 months I may loose the right for a replacement if something go wrong.

The first question whenever you google for any consumer advice - is what you're reading specifically UK? There is - again, afaia - no such restriction in the UK SOGA.

You have a right to expect the goods to be fit for purpose. True - at the moment, your car isn't. But the supplier has a right to repair. You have no right to request a replacement, unless the supplier fails to repair it. On complex goods like a car, there's a long established expectation that they get repeated attempts to repair.

Since the failure symptoms were different this time, although the failed component may have been the same, there's no cast-iron indication of an inherent fault. The MAP sensor measures the air pressure through the inlet manifold, so the engine knows how much fuel to inject. A fault may indicated with the sensor, but the actual problem may be elsewhere. It may be a wiring issue, it may be a leak in the air ducting. The fact that you've had two different fault warnings suggests the fault code is different each time, although both codes may lead back to the sensor. The fact that they're keeping the car for a period suggest they're likely to be taking it seriously and doing some proper diagnostics and testing, rather than just slapping a new sensor on (which'd be a quick job).

Moto2

Please help

Maybe you could start your own thread and not hijack snowshine's?

snowshine

That is very helpful AdrianC.
I had been lucky all these years with cars (bought always new to avoid such ill feeling) but not this time round...
What happens if they do not get it right (again) this time round and I get a warning symbol in few weeks from receiving my car? Where do I stand?

I paid part of the deposit using my credit card & my bank account, with rest borrowed from Honda Finance Hire Purchase. If this would be of any help in resolving issues if does not go away? I may be in the wrong forum? Am I?

Tilt

Having recurrent issues with a new car is probably one of the most (if not the most) difficult consumer problems in terms of obtaining a replacement. Simply because a car is not as simple and straight forward to exchange as most other products are. Therefore the dealer will string things out as much as possible to avoid offering an exchange.

However, the SOGA applies to new cars just as it applies to any other new product. The SOGA would come into play only when all "reasonable opportunities" have been exhausted to repair the car to a satisfactory conclusion. What is generally regarded as "reasonable opportunity" is at least 3 attempts (although I don't think it is definitive). Yes, by all means involve Honda UK customer relations but ultimately your contract is with the dealer. It will be them who will need to obtain authorisation for any warranty pay out/claim from Honda.

However, if things begin to get "complex" I suggest you take face to face advice from a solicitor who specialises in consumer law or approach your local CAB.

sillygoose

I had the same sequence of faults with my Honda CR-V with a DTEC engine.

It dragged on for ages because the dealer kept messing about with the map sensor either replacing it or fiddling with the wiring to it because the error codes pointed to this being the cause.

The problem was ACTUALLY a different sensor but the engine computer was being fooled and logging the next nearest fault. It only got resolved when I INSISTED they escalate the problem to Honda UK, their experts advised them correctly on what it could be and the car was repaired fine - its been OK ever since.

To talk about rejecting the entire car for the sake of what will be one small relatively cheap faulty sensor component is ridiculous in my opinion!

Tell the service manager you are fed up of the inconvenience and you want him to escalate the fault now.

snowshine

Thank you Tilt & sillygoose.
I was told yesterday that a new sensor was fitted and the dealer wanted to do an extended test-driving 60 miles which I agreed.
I have not heard anything today 24 hours had gone by-perhaps it is still on the test run.
How could I go on with the problem and they keep happy to change the sensor at every time my car dashboard shows a warning symbol! It would not be fair on me. As soon as the warning symbol comes I could not even see at what speed I am travelling, fuel level all goes!!except the warning symbol!!


If no other New Honda Civic 1.6 I Dtec sold after Sept 2013 having an issue why mine alone!! By now others too would be reporting a problem, I thought? This is why I am very concerned, I bought with good faith and kept my side of the contract, I expect a company like Honda should keep theirs too!!

System

Not Chippenham Honda by any chance? I had an issue with a CRV I bought from them and they were useless. Just kept returning it back to me for it to break down again.

snowshine

sillygoose wrote: »

To talk about rejecting the entire car for the sake of what will be one small relatively cheap faulty sensor component is ridiculous in my opinion!

This is not happened for the first time but twice within 6 weeks. The car is just 4 months old delivered from the factory.
There is something else is wrong, I suspect

The latest is:
A call this evening from the dealer:the part is put in & car is fine but they want to keep it for few more days. Extended testing...so I am told...

WTFH

Would you prefer them to test it or to return it to you? If they test it and find an underlying fault, the it can be fixed.