Faulty New Car Multiple Failed Repairs

s_glover

I would be grateful for any advice on a problem with our new car, apologies for the long post. I've tried to keep fairly brief but wanted to explain previous events.
Our Nissan Qashqai was purchased from a dealership on 1/11/14 paid with debit card. I have an 80 mile round trip to work which the car was specifically purchased for. Less than 6 weeks later we notice the air distribution from the ventilation system is incorrect ie when air is selected to be towards feet it is solely coming out of the windscreen vents. This is intermittent and has no set pattern of occurrence. We arranged for the car to be taken to the Nissan garage nearest by boyfriends’ place of work (Bradford). The garage had the car and day and whilst the problem was occurring at the time of dropping off but the Service Engineer could not replicate the fault during time of the test. The car was returned the same day. 2 days later we noticed the problem had recurred so took it to the garage where purchased Nissan Pentagon (Huddersfield) the following day. The salesman confirmed the problem and arranged for it to be booked in for a week from 10/1/15. Pentagon had the car during this week and the system was re-calibrated as a matter of course as no fault messages were stored. 2 days after picking the car up the problem recurred. The car was returned to the garage for another week and a problem was found with the control unit which was replaced. When collecting the car immediately we started the engine the problem recurred. The sales manager was not available but we spoke with him the following Monday. He advised us to bring the car back to the garage, and to log the complain with Nissan Care (both of which we did). The garage had the car a further 10 days during which time they confirmed the fault again and took advice from Nissan Technical Services to dismantle the dashboard and reassemble. The master technician advised us that although he had not found the root cause of the fault during the dismantling and re-building of the dashboard the problem had appeared to have rectified itself and could have been something loose or ‘one of those things’. On 14/2/14 we collected the car and all appeared to be working. Yesterday once again the fault recurred.
Whilst this is a minor fault we feel we have given Nissan plenty of opportunity to repair the fault, which has been unsuccessful on each occasion. On the 4 occasions Nissan has had the car there has been significant inconvenience to ourselves. The Sale of Goods Act states good should be free from minor defects and as per The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 we are now asking, in writing, for a full refund.
I have checked and as far as I can tell the garage is not part of a regulatory body.
I have read as much information as I can on MSE, Citizens Advice etc and have emailed Citizens Advice asking for any help they can offer.
I would however be grateful for any advice any of you have.
Many thanks

JJ_Egan

Have you contacted Nissan themselves in writing to explain the problem.They may well have an engineer sent out to inspect .This may be easier than any attempt to claim a full refund .

s_glover

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Have you contacted Nissan themselves in writing to explain the problem.They may well have an engineer sent out to inspect .This may be easier than any attempt to claim a full refund .

Yes, we have contacted Nissan Care directly and logged the fault, as directed by the garage. The Nissan Technical Team provided the garage with instructions for repair of the fault the last time it was with them. Nissan Care informed us they resolve most issues within a week. It has now been over 3 weeks and we have not had a single follow up call from them. We spoke to them last night and are still awaiting for the member of staff designated to our complaint to return our call.

ritesh

Hello, just out of curiousity at what point does the air come out of windscreen vents, as soon as the car is switched on or some miles into the journey?

Reason for asking is that on my BMW when ventillation is on AUTO the car has the ventillation on the windscreen before heating the cabin. I believe the temperature sensors activate this behaviour

maninthestreet

Does the car have climate control?

s_glover

No the car does not have climate control.

The air may point at the windscreen at any point in the journey, usually when the selection has been changed to just feet. Sometimes it will course immediately on starting sometimes mid-journey. There seems to be no set pattern at all. If the air distribution is incorrect and the ignition turned off and restarted sometimes the fault recurs, other times it as it should be. Equally if the car has been running as expected then is turned off and restarted it may or may not fault. Also if the fault is occurring it will remain that way until either the selection is changed or the car turned off ie on my 40 mile journey to or from work the fault will remain.