FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - daveyK_UK

Dear Honest John,

Before I commence its really important I am fair with all the facts.

Dacia has 2 factories which produce the Duster model, one in Romania one in India.

The factory in Romania produces good quality Left Hand drive Dusters with very few (if any) reports of any build quality issues or lack of factory quality control.

The same Romanian factory also builds the Sandero, Sandero Stepaway and Logan MVC models; all of which are proving to be problem free when it comes to build quality.

The same cannot be said for the Indian factory which build right hand Dusters for the UK.

Of the faults owners have found so far on the Indian built Dusters;

· Change in specs randomly by Dacia with no notification (for example they dropped the chrome instrument surrounds on the ambience model, etc).

· Change of extra pack items and quality of items (they dropped the alarm from the protection pack with no notification to owners who had ordered the pack/they changed the boot protector from a hard wearing mat to a soft sponge like mat with no notification to owners).

· Underneath bungs/grommets are missing from some cars, it’s the hole used in the factory to transport the cars along the assembly line. Dacia unable to confirm if they should or should not be bunged up, they tell some owners its for drainage, despite the fact the holes are not at the lowest point, are lipped inwards and are huge. This is already leading to some rust.

· Under sealer missing in places, grommets not sealed, rust evident

· Rust on numerous Dusters, in various places under the bonnet and inner wings. Rust also found behind seals on rear doors.

· Seats losing their stitching or stitching partially missing.

· Some owners who specified the protection pack with parking sensors have not received the visual warning lights on the dashboard for the reverse sensors, some have.

· Rattles- various interior rattles from the seat belt holder to the steering wheel; steering wheel rattle is due to incorrectly positioned wiring which is in contact with the plastic cover.

· Wiper blades are practically useless, Dacia will change them if owners complain.

· Owners finding car seat head restraint area material is ripped and damaged. Problem may be caused by head restraint clips being fitted before seat back cover was put on.

· Door protectors and wheel arch protectors fitted loose and/or incorrectly, and with visually obvious defects such as bending plastic or poor overlaps.

· Drivers seat having lots of play and movement when stationary and locked into position. Some dealers push Dacia into a replacement seat base, others fob off customers.

· Some cars pull considerably to the left, there is a clear problem with the rear axle. Dacia don’t want tot know despite independent evidence of bad tracking and allignment from new.

· Brake pipe union joints failure, handbrake adjustment problems and brakes not lubricated, dealers report it’s something which has been missed by the factory. Dacia have put out an unofficial ‘blue’ recall to dealerships. Some owners claim brake pipe cover shields have been found missing by dealers on some cars.

· Rear springs not properly fixed into retaining cup, owners experience heavy knocking from rear.

· Catalytic convertor failure, owners get a warning light on the dashboard. Dealers first fix is to reset the light but the probable soon comes back. Catalytic convertors failing/not installed correctly.

· Some owners report their cars are over heating in slow / stationary traffic. 30A fuse blows but real culprit is cooling fan that doesnt work. Part is unavailable due to demand. Owners left with courtesy cars.

· Door seals failing, mainly due to being installed incorrectly. Owners and passengers getting wet on rainy days. Problems with part supply to repair and replace dodgy seals. Other water ingress issues including water into footwell.

· Dusters displaying warning lights and going into limp home mode. Dealers get a number of error codes which Dacia/Renault technical support so far has not responded. Example on Dacia owners forum of Duster been with dealers for 2 months and still they cant work out what’s wrong with it.

· Paint work from the factory on cars is poor, marina blue inparticular suffers from white specs within paint. Dacia don’t want to know. Lacquer top finish is also poor and easily scratches.

· Day time running lights fitted as part of extras package have been falling out of recess, clip to hold them in is inadequate.

· Trip computer display failures, replaced by dealers.

There are more issues than the list above on the Dacia owners forum, but im sure after reading that list you get the idea.

The most disappointing thing o the whole episode has be the awful response from Dacia/Renault customer services.

They have denied problems, they have been slow or simply non responsive on issues, and have provided little help to owners

To further compound matters, there is a major parts shortage.

At salvage yards, you can see all current Dacia models (Dusters, Sanderos and Stepaways) written off with the most trivial of damage as Dacia cannot source spare bumpers until next year!

The Duster is a cheap vehicle, but cheap does not mean badly built with glaring omissions and non existent quality control.

Why do European Duster owners have good quality Dusters, while UK owners are stuck with poorly built examples of the exact same car?

To summarise; if you buy a Sandero, Sandero Stepaway or Logan MCV built in the Romanan factory the evidence and feedback tells you your buying a well made car.

Buy the Duster built for the UK from India, and your rolling a dice.

Please see the Dacia owners forum and other sources for evidence and further stories of problems.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - SteveLee

If you think the Indian-built cars are bad - you wouldn't believe the quality of the software they write for most of our high street banks.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - alastairq

As I understood the latest reports, Renault recognised the Indian factory had quality control issues [brought about by working flat-out to try to meet demand]....and consequently have taken steps to address the issues, by upgrading the Indian quality contrl systems.

However, this doesn't solve the issues arising from products already in the market place.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - retgwte

re Indians and the banks...

yes and breaking the immigration laws, employment laws, and copyright laws daily.

(Edit - we had a complaint about the last sentence.)

Edited by Avant on 12/08/2013 at 23:27

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - retgwte

Its got to be said that Hyundias from India are not the best either. The ones from Turkey or Korea are much better.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - daveyK_UK

Edited by daveyK_UK on 06/08/2013 at 21:47

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - daveyK_UK

Same with the Nissan Pixo and Suzuki Alto made in the Maruti factory in India.

Not great, build quality and finish leaves alot to be desired.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - colinh

Hope Jaguar Land Rover are reading this thread

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Falkirk Bairn

The Queen & Duke of Edinburgh were on a factory visit maybe 10-15 years ago in Edinburgh. It was a fairly Hi-tech factory and some old buildings had been spruced up for the visit....the Queen & D of E always get a smell of fresh paint wherever they go!

Time was dragging a bit when the DofE spotted a bit of "old wiring" coming out of a box which was anything but level with the walls around it.

Not known for holding back on his opinions the DofE pointed this out & described it to all within 10-15 yards as a "Bit of an Indian Job!!!!!

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Leif

re Indians and the banks...

yes and breaking the immigration laws, employment laws, and copyright laws daily. yet the government still gives them uncapped ICT work visas to flood this country with cheap workers.

In some areas of software work was given to Indians from body shops, brought in to the UK. They displaced UK staff. Now the only people with the skills and experience are Indians, and lots of them are contracting, and being paid as much if not more than UK workers would be were they still in place.

There were claims of shortages of trained staff. The truth is that for a few years Indians from body shops were cheaper, so what the government was doing was giving out work permits so that companies could import cheaper foreign workers to displace our own. There is something decidedly wrong with that policy. In the long term it has damaged this country.

A lot of work is outsourced to India, expecially bank work. And yet India is renowned for being very corrupt. Do you want your bank details stored in the UK, or overseas in Europe, or overseas in India.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - doctorchris

Brake unions have not failed, the recall was to check tightening torques on them which I think were OK on the whole.

One case of cooling fan failure, mine! The part is now available and will be fitted very soon. Courtesy car offered but not needed since the Duster fan is hardly ever needed. Dacia Customer Services were very helpful in sourcing the required part and their communication was excellent.

Missing bungs in chassis rails a bit of a storm in a teacup.

There are a few disillusioned people posting on the Dacia Forum, they are mostly folk who do not own Dusters or who cancelled their orders.

There are those with genuine grievances who are, on the whole, finding solutions through their dealers and Dacia Customer Services.

My Duster has not been perfect but has clocked up 8,000 miles in 6 months and I'm still pleased with its practicality despite its faults.

I feel this thread needs to be balanced by the opinion of a reasonably happy Duster owner, particularly since the OP cites my problem in his list of complaints. I have decided not to deal with some of the other matters raised by the OP, even though there are errors and exaggerations, as I either do not have sufficient personal experience or knowledge about them.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - daveyK_UK

Sorry if there are any exaggerations or errors, thats not my intention.

The fact remains there have been various problems due to a lack of quality control during the manufacturing process.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - arnold2

How do you know when you order if your Dacia is Romanian, or Indian?

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - RT

How do you know when you order if your Dacia is Romanian, or Indian?

It's generally not possible unless you know which model variants are built where and only order that variant.

In Ford's multi-plant days when Escorts and Cortinas were built in several plants, a few variants were only built in one plant so it was just about possible to guarantee a German-built model on one or two variants - I don't think Ford have enough plants left ion Europe to multi-source!

Opel/Vauxhall are the same - Ellesmere Port, the lead Astra plant, makes many lhd Opels as well as rhd Vauxhalls as certain versions are only built there - other versions are only built in Poland.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - doctorchris

How do you know when you order if your Dacia is Romanian, or Indian?

Easy, if you are in the UK. If it's a Duster it's made in India, if it's a Sandero it's made in Romania.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - primeradriver

The Dacias built in Romania aren't that good anyway, if TUV are to be believed.

www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-model/dacia-logan

www.anusedcar.com/index.php/tuv-model/dacia-sandero

I think the alleged Dacia quality we've been told about from our friends in Europe is a myth, and this thread is further evidence.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - thunderbird

Its a miracle to me that people have fallen for this PR that Dacia is brilliant as are their dealers.

Think about it:

Dacia is owned by Renault.

Renaults are not recognised as being the best made cars on the planet.

Renault dealers are not know for being the best dealers on the planet.

Why would Renault want to sell "budget" cars that are better than the main brand and have their dealers somehow perform faultlessly after years of doing badly.

But there again Nissan are owned by Renault and we have always had 100% reliabilty from the cars and decent service from the dealers (with one exception).

Explain that one.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Auristocrat

But there again Nissan are owned by Renault and we have always had 100% reliabilty from the cars and decent service from the dealers (with one exception).

Not correct. It's an alliance with a cross-shareholding between the two companies - Renault own 43.4% of Nissan and Nissan 15% of Renault (which is the maximum allowed under French legislation).

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Dacia warrior

Sadly it isn't just the Indian built cars that are the problem, Romanian built are having most of the same problems, rust on white cars being the worst, The paint is soft and can be scratched without much effort, seem to be white underneath other colours? Rattles on Sandero stepway and Logan from seatbelt pillar, no spares for weeks, faulty wiring and display problems on dash. seat adjustment is not good, expect it to break, airbag issues from European Dacias not deploying in an accident. The front suspension is soft and can bounce along at 50mph. Fuel is a poor 35.5mpg not claimed 47mpg, according to some owners on the Dacia forums dealers are re setting display to read more mpg after complaints, a fill and refill is the only test worth doing to accurately work out your mpg. 15 weeks for an exhaust is ridiculous, no wonder cars are being written off by insurance companies due to no parts. Water leaks are common with the latest duck tape being used instead of grommets, which is then spray painted, this poor cheap trick will only last a few weeks before your feet get wet. Plastic trim around the wheel arches is very poor and the glue comes undone after a couple of weeks. Door locks are failing after a little use, door seals absorb water and freeze onto the doors. Will second hand prices be good after quality issues?

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Avant

Clearly yer gets wot yer pays for.

To sell cars at this price and still make money, corners have to be cut, as described above. I suspect that Kia / Hyundai have found this out and gone the way of better quality. They make good cars, but they're no longer cheap. The i10 and Picanto are still comparativel cheap, but they cost more than the larger Sandero.

The strategy, if it is so, seems to work. There are quite a few people on here who are very happy with theirs.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - BeeJay71

Took delivery of my Dacia Duster 1.5 Diesel 4wd 8th October 2013. 2.5k now on the clock & only gripe was an exhaust vibration at app 38 mph in top. My dealer, after road testing the car decided to order an exhaust system. Okay it took some time to arrive, but I wasn't off the road, had I been, a courtesy car was available. The part duly arrived & a courtesy car was provided, but the job was completed in under 3hrs. I even had head office & the dealership keeping me informed of the progress by phone & email. After I collected the car, I had a text from them apologising for the inconvenience & if I had any issues, to contact them. Not bad for a crap company!!!!!!

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - groaver

I'd take the last poster seriously if only they weren't called Dacia Duster!

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - Hamsafar

Renaults aimed at the developing countries are a bit ropey, who'd o' thunk it?

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - BeeJay71

Crickey, it's a user name, that's all. I used to contribute to this forum when I towed with a Isuzu Trooper, I used the user name "trooper" in those days. I then changed to Motorhomes & among others we had a Chausson MH, guess what my user name was then, not necessarily on this forum, but on the Caravan Club forums.

FAO Honest John, the Indian Dacia Duster Problems - oldroverboy.

Crickey, it's a user name, that's all. I used to contribute to this forum when I towed with a Isuzu Trooper, I used the user name "trooper" in those days. I then changed to Motorhomes & among others we had a Chausson MH, guess what my user name was then, not necessarily on this forum, but on the Caravan Club forums.

And I am oldroverboy. wonder why? could of course be oldjagboy but never owned one myself so stuck to something realistic.

If you are satisfied with the car (Duster) ok with me, Would be a dreary old world if HFord had his way.

And, Please keep us updated.