Brand new car broken down and no fault found
Brand new car delivered in October, chosen because of unsurpassed reliability record on warranty direct and JD Power data.
Driven towards the Alps, 2200 miles on the clock, for family ski holiday on 29th December. Car broke down at a filling station close to Geneva. Recovered by French depannage unit under instruction of Honda Assistance (AA) and transferred eventually to Honda Degeneve close to Geneva. No fault found, started again after diagnostics performed were clear.
Upon collection and driving towards the holiday apartment in which we were staying, same thing, car would not restart in supermarket car park 5km from destination. Recovered, local garage checked found no error codes, checked diesel fuel lines which were not obstructed, car restarted after that.
We fearfully drove it home and did not stop the engine (even during re-fuelling) until we reached eurotunnel on 6th January. It has started each day that it has been used since, and was checked by Crown Honda in Bushey, Herts. No fault found.
We consider this car to be unreliable, that a fault which caused two catastrophic failures, has not been discovered. We are both doctors and need to provide emergency hospital and general practice medical cover at night and at weekends.
Do we have grounds to reject the car and request a like for like replacement?
Driven towards the Alps, 2200 miles on the clock, for family ski holiday on 29th December. Car broke down at a filling station close to Geneva. Recovered by French depannage unit under instruction of Honda Assistance (AA) and transferred eventually to Honda Degeneve close to Geneva. No fault found, started again after diagnostics performed were clear.
Upon collection and driving towards the holiday apartment in which we were staying, same thing, car would not restart in supermarket car park 5km from destination. Recovered, local garage checked found no error codes, checked diesel fuel lines which were not obstructed, car restarted after that.
We fearfully drove it home and did not stop the engine (even during re-fuelling) until we reached eurotunnel on 6th January. It has started each day that it has been used since, and was checked by Crown Honda in Bushey, Herts. No fault found.
We consider this car to be unreliable, that a fault which caused two catastrophic failures, has not been discovered. We are both doctors and need to provide emergency hospital and general practice medical cover at night and at weekends.
Do we have grounds to reject the car and request a like for like replacement?
Asked on 10 January 2013 by Grimblet
Answered by
Honest John
Mo, because the problem was more likely to have been caused by a bad fill of fuel (and possibly low temperatures) than by anything else. If the fuel had some moisture content then that could have led to temporary 'waxing' in the fuel lines and the fuel lines temporarily blocking. Just a small change of ambient temperature, or even residual heat from the car, could melt the waxed fuel.
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