Dealer damaged car during recall work due to unkown upgrade. 28 October 2022 at 3:57PM in Motoring 17 replies 1.2K views

sense_2

A family member has a car they purchased last year from a large national car retailer which wasnt known until now that the screen was replaced with a larger version
during recent recall work the dealer has stated that when they kept trying to upload the software it kept crashing and eventually they forced the softwarwe on to the system which appears to have broken the screen and they are quoting £2000 for a new screen.

What actions could we take and against who? if any?

thanks

TadleyBaggie

Broken what screen? Is this physical damage?

SiliconChip

I think you need to ask your family member to post for themself because your version of events makes little sense.

facade

My understanding is-

The car has been retrofitted with a non-standard infotainment system.

When the dealer tried to do a firmware update as part of the recall it wouldn't load (probably as the firmware was incompatible with the non-standard system)

The dealer forced an update which has loaded the wrong firmware for the system, and now the screen doesn't work.

The dealer now waves his hands in the air and says "not my fault mate"

Tricky one

The dealer carried out his orders to the letter (no-one ever got shot for carrying out their orders)

The failure was caused by the non-standard system not the dealer.

No doubt on page 387 of the T&Cs it says something along the lines of "not responsible for firmware failure caused by the modification of standard equipment" 

The solution is either refit the correct sytem, or find someone capable of sorting out the modified one.

The problem is whether the car retailer is liable.....

Grumpy_chap

sense_2 said:

A family member has a car they purchased last year from a large national car retailer which wasnt known until now that the screen was replaced with a larger version
during recent recall work the dealer has stated that when they kept trying to upload the software it kept crashing and eventually they forced the softwarwe on to the system which appears to have broken the screen and they are quoting £2000 for a new screen.

What actions could we take and against who? if any?

thanks

I assume the family member could see the size of the screen when they purchased the car, so the "not known" part really refers to being unaware that the screen was not the standard screen for the vehicle.

What is the nature of the larger screen?
Some cars, the base models are fitted with a smaller screen (say, 7") and the higher-spec models have a larger screen (say, 10") as standard.  When buying the base model as a brand new car, it is often possible to order with the larger screen.

1. Is this the larger screen than standard for the model, but was fitted when the vehicle left the factory?
2. Is this the larger screen than standard for the model, but still the retrofit of the manufacturer's screen installed by the manufacturer's approved network?
3. Is this the larger screen than standard for the model, but still the retrofit of the manufacturer's screen, but installed by an independent garage / auto-electrician?
4. Is the a larger screen of a generic type from a general auto-factor?

In 1 & 2 above, the case for the manufacturer to resolve is strong.  In 4, the manufacturer can pretty much shrug their shoulders.  Case 3 is in the middle.

In what way is the screen now broken?
Can the previous software version simply be reverted to?

Car_54

facade said:

The dealer carried out his orders to the letter (no-one ever got shot for carrying out their orders)

Perhaps not shot, but some have been hanged. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/obeying-orders

facade

Car_54 said:

facade said:

The dealer carried out his orders to the letter (no-one ever got shot for carrying out their orders)

Perhaps not shot, but some have been hanged. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/obeying-orders

That required the loss of a war,and some convenient legal shenanigans. (You did it first/as well is not a defence).

If you are on the winning side you are likely to be shot for not obeying them.

sense_2

Thanks for the replys

The Screen is a genuine part used on a higher spec vehicle, it is not the correct screen size when refering to the build sheet for the car. Im now wondering if the screen simply needs recoding to the vehicle again? and does not require the £2000 spending on it the dealer is suggesting.

daveyjp

If only 'cars' had manufacturer names and model numbers to help identify one from the other.

Without them it makes diagnosing problems so difficult.

Grey_Critic

Trabant? 

Herzlos

sense_2 said:

Thanks for the replys

The Screen is a genuine part used on a higher spec vehicle, it is not the correct screen size when refering to the build sheet for the car. Im now wondering if the screen simply needs recoding to the vehicle again? and does not require the £2000 spending on it the dealer is suggesting.

Is it from a higher spec version of the same make/model/generation, or from a different vehicle in the series?

Who fitted it?