Engine failure

The consumer’s issue:

“I took my vehicle to a franchised dealer for a service, MOT and the replacement of an expansion tank. Shortly after driving away from the dealer, my car suffered a catastrophic failure which required the engine to be replaced. This was noted as the result of a loss of coolant from the main intake pipe which caused the engine to fail.”

The accredited business’ response:

  • Our work was to a different section of the vehicle and would not have disturbed the intake that subsequently failed.
  • We undertook due diligence tests which showed no operational faults.
  • We concluded that the failure was coincidental and was not related to our workmanship.

The adjudication outcome:

  • The adjudicator requested further evidence from both parties, including a report on the vehicle from an independent engineer. The dealership was also asked to provide documents from the tests, as well as the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended method of repair.
  • On review of the submissions by the adjudicator, no recommended method of repair by the vehicle manufacturer was ever suggested.
  • The customer’s engineer noted that best practice had not been followed, and that evidence of the failed part suggested an issue had been developing prior to failure and was not checked.

Conclusion:

  • It was concluded that the repair would have likely caused disturbance to the failed area and that it was a simple procedure to check the failed part.
  • If this had been undertaken, it would have been relatively simple to advise the consumer of this and give them the choice of whether to replace the failed part.
  • In the adjudicator’s opinion, due diligence was not undertaken. Because the consumer paid for the work, and the business did not provide the standard of work the consumer or the adjudicator expected, the adjudicator felt that a breach of the Service and Repair Code of Practice had occurred.
  • The adjudicator upheld the customer complaint in respect of this Code breach, and made the recommendation that the business meets the full cost of repair.