Hi guys

My car (53 reg STI) just came out of warranty there on 1 November 2006. I've had the usual problems with strut failures.

To date I've had 5 new ones fitted!!! The 4 are now gone again!

Last time they went in was about 18 months ago. Subaru parts carry a 3 year warranty I'm told. Subaru have done all fittings to date.

I approached Subaru as I thought they should cover this failure under warranty. After much "argy-bargy" they have agreed to supply the 4 new struts under warranty, but not the cost of fitting them??? I rang Subaru UK customer service who said that even if I got new struts fitted on the day before my warranty lapsed, they would only be under warranty for the period the car is under warranty -i.e. i day - after that I'd have to pay for my own labour.

I rang my dealer who said that if the struts were fitted outside car warranty, the warrantly in the parts would also cover the labour!

Anybody got any advice on what I should do so that I don't have to pay for the labour component now for the re-fit?

Cheers
Ronan

 

I would argue that, as the problem was identified within the warranty period, they are liable for fixing the problem to a standard that you are happy with....not just throwing a few sets of dampers at you which they know will fail again.

You could also argue that it is a well known and very common fault with these cars and as such should be taken care of.

 

Tell them that shocks have been proven to be "not fit for purpose" and as such they are responsible for rectifying the defect. If you get no luck contact your local trading standards office. Any consumer good, which a car is, must be fit for the purpose it was designed. The shocks fitted to WRX and STI impreza's are crap and have been proven to be so and as such it is quite clear they are not fit for the purpose they were designed for. I have just had to have both rears changed on my 55 WRX, just over a year old with 11000 miles mechanic admitted shocks were crap and the STI ones were the worst.
Trading standards should be your next port of call, costs you nothing and if you have a valid arguement they will take it up for you.