Can I reject my Ford C-Max following a hesitation problem under acceleration?

I bought a Ford C-Max 1.6DCI Titanium in April 2011 and since its first service in December 2011 I have had acceleration problems. The main issue is when I am accelerating, when there is a flat spot with no acceleration until I change down a gear. This has been happening over the last nine months, it has visited the garage six times for computer upgrades, and it is still happening. The garage has no idea what it is because they cannot replicate the problem when it comes in.

I have logged all the times it has been happening and given this information to them, but it is still not fixed. I wrote to them on Friday 5 October and stated that I would like to reject the car and to either have a replacement new vehicle or a full refund, because it is not fit for purpose. They have told me that I am not allowed to reject the car, I have to bring it into the garage again to get repaired or investigated further.

What is a reasonable amount of time in a year that a garage has the opportunity to repair the same problem? Can I legally reject the car? Have they lost the right to make any more repairs to the car itself? Is the problem linked into the turbo, fuel mapping, fuel injectors/sensors?

Asked on 12 January 2012 by KW, Bedford

Answered by Honest John
This must have the 8v 115PS 1.6TDCI that I ran for a year April 2011 to April 2012 in a Mazda 5 with absolutely no trouble. If you gave it a first service in December 2011 you must be clocking up a lot of miles, so I can't blame start/stop syndrome blocking the DPF or EGR. You can't reject the car because you have had it for far too long. I suspect a turbo problem.

What you can say to the dealer who sold it to you is that if they can't fix it you will take it to a specialist and will send them the bill. If they refuse to pay, you will sue for the payment using the small claims track of the county court. Or, of course, they can take it to a specialist who knows more than they do and get it fixed. An alternative is to try it on Shell V-Power diesel and see if that alone cures the problem.
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