Hi, I just had a problem with my oil pan (punctures! on city potholes!). It seems also that the engine is dead. Has anybody had any experience with this situation? Am I going to be covered? I stopped the car as soon as the oil light came on.
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Suggest you take a picture of the offending pothole and inform your insurance company PDQ, together with the relevant local authorities. It is an \'accident\' so I would expect you to be covered......
Where (city-wise) did this occur?
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we\'re in NY and we don\'t have insurance. Our plan is to sue VW for their initial design flaw, the car is too low for urban existence and the oil pan is punctured quite often by urban potholes especially since we suffered 40 inches of snow this winter. Our goal is to gather as many people as possibile with similar situations.
Thank you for your time!
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Ah yes, the great American tradition of where there is blame (or even not) there is a claim!
I'm sure VW's lawyers will look forward to that...
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Oh, right.......I see....
Good luck.....
I think you're wasting your time, being brutally honest.
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Happened to me last year on a back street near strangeways, Manchester. AA driver took me to back street garage and got it fixed for £40, using a hardening compound, rather than aluminium welding.
Didn't bother chasing the council over it even though I took the effort to take pictures.
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Thanks for the, er, support. In New York city, where we\'re from, we have the most sewer lids of any city in the u.s., and if you think the audi 5000 suffered in the 80\'s with 3 justified claims, think of nyc with 644 claims, in one year, not counting the people who didn\'t claim and wrote it off because of persons they were/are scared of corporate lawyers?! Julia\'s \"erin\"? Don\'t be afraid to fight for clean water or in this case, design flaws not fit for urban areas with 4 seasons. We have pot holes the size of small countries here and vw beetles and jettas lead the list because the design is too low and the oil pan is even lower(obviously). But thanks for your time, respectfully, luna.
post amended. Typing soley in caps is considered rude as it\'s classed as SHOUTING. DD.
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you have my sympathy but eh????? I think the right to clean water is a bit different to the right to buy a car suitable to NYC roads.
If you live where roads are poo then buy a car capable of coping
thats why farmers drive landies not lambos, etc.
apologies for patronising and generalising but...American's!!! literally minutes of amusement
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I hope you dont mind me asking I dont wish to appear forward but is your log in name luna short for something longer,,,,,
no on second thoughts perhaps I best not ask.
as ever
Mark
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If you were going to sue anyone - I'd sue NY State for allowing
the road system to become unfit for vehicles.
You can't expect VW to release a NY Special Edition cos the state of your roads are so poor, sounds like a 4x4 with better ground clearance is your best bet.
Best of luck
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Please forgive my ignorance.
I am but a helpless Graduate Engineer and would really appreciate being helped by our brighter posters here.
Luna99, if you were driving your VW along and, inadvertently ran over a one foot diameter boulder in the road, would that be the fault of VW for not designing your car to take it in it's stride?
If you run over a pothole, please tell me, similarly, how that is VW's fault.
What you have there, NOW, will come here SOON.
Truly,
Thanks for your help.
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......and there was me thinking the roads of NYC were super-smooth!
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Let me see now, YOU live in the city and YOU bought the car?
This is a joke, right?
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Sorry,
OK, we're off to Bulgaria next week, a country that also has 4 seasons, over 40C in summer and minus 10C and more in winter. The roads are terrible, potholes, cracks, you name it and this is in the capital, Sofia, never mind the rest of the country and yes I've been there and will be going again this time, to Varna on the coast and up into the mountains in the south.
There the motorists have devised an innovative method of dealing with the potholes, they drive round them!
I see the point that you are trying to make but surely the key word here is 'urban'.
You are living in a city, not in a ploughed field however much it might seem like it.
I believe VW have made an extremely expensive 4x4 and there are plenty of other vehicles around with more road clearance than your average saloon, so why not go for one of these?
Or get the city to fill in the holes, they're the problem it seems to me, not the cars.
John
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what we are trying to convey here is that vw's research and developement dept. is aware of the problem of ground clearance in urban centers with 4 seasons for years and are still marketing the cars with design flaw! there are lives at stake here, much like cigareette companies denying the harm with additives in cigareettes, tests prove it's mainly the combination of additives that do the most harm and not the pure tobacco!when you purchase a car, new or used, you are trusting that company with your life! vw is a successful company, as they own audi, rolls royce,.. they could are might even now have access to higher springs or what ever it would take to rectifie this design flaw. remember, this is not toothpaste, the persons buying vws are people trusting someone with their lives they may never meet and paying for an item they assume is going to work to their standards!am i setting the bar to high? i think not.this is a life of inches(ahem)and none more important than safety for the only thing that really matters to most, family and friends, beep,beep. respectfully, luna.
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On the assumption that DD was referring to the sarcasm rather than the content, can I ask why VW are the principal target?
If you bought the car from new - is the dealer who sold it to you not more liable? If they are local, they must be aware of the prevailing conditions so are they selling an item not fit for purpose?
If they are not local, did you say "I'm going to drive in NYC" and they respond "That's fine"?
If you bought a used car (either private or trade) you must have decided it was suitable for your purposes, or were misled by the seller, so surely there would be your point of redress?
I think I might know the answer, but will keep an open mind for a reply.
Chris TD
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To backroomland afficiandos,
I (along with others I suspect), have been following the progress of this developing spat with interest and despite the intervention of DD, seems to be ongoing.
I don't really have anything more original to offer, other than to agree with many of the comments posted above in my amusement (nay amazement) of possible/intended legal action against VW.
The 2 or 3 models quoted by Luna99 (Beetles, Jettas and 1980 Audis) are now dated and it may well may that the state of the NY roads have worsened since their introduction....or is the damaged sump cover pan syndrome a recurring problem with current models being introduced onto the US market?
Either way I would have thought that pressure should be brought against the NY city fathers to improve the standard of their tarmac. It also beggars belief that the purchase of a car should be considered if this is a known problem or is this just the malaise of a litiginous society ?
Any other views on this ?
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I find it fascinating that you think it is VAG's fault that you cant negotiate round a manhole cover. My Merc E-Class sits a damn site lower than a Passat so I presume Mercedes have pulled out of the U.S. market altogether.
You say they have access now to higher springs etc and should fit them, but then you will have to turn sharply at high speed and because the car now sits higher due to U.S. customers moaning it will tip over and roll and then you will sue them again.
Where does this pathetic nonsense end?
I'm not having a go at you directly Luna, but the attitude in the U.S. has got to the point that I know of several high profile companies in the U.K. that will not set up in america due to this attitude.
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Yeap ! it's a known problem with VW and most (if not all) manufacturers.
I've got a VW Golf and if not extremly careful will easily catch the sump or front splitterover speed bumps or potholes.
My solution - I avoid the potholes, try to avoid speed bumps but if damage is caused I will go to the local council for restoration of damages. In the meantime I have taken further steps to prevent what could be a load of hasssle considering the state of local roads
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www.elcats.ru/audivw/vag5.asp?subm=%CF%EE%E8%F1%EA...6
£200 pounds and peace of mind, alot cheaper than continually replacing the plastic one.
luna99 - one question - why did you wait until the oil light came on before you checked for damage. If I hit something I always pull over asap to check things like brake lines haven't been damaged. My life in my hands!
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