Airbag fault and loss of steering power

[Dyldo]

Shouldn't be too difficult to come across an RCD300 head unit to try as a temporary replacement. :>)

well if anyone has one in Sydney i'd be super grateful. might have to put the word out on the WTB section too.

[Dyldo]

she's been towed to Moss Vale VW Dealership (a mixed dealer of VW, Holden, etc) and so will wait and see what they say....

[Maverick]

wowsers - you think the AVC is causing the fault? wtf? never heard of a stereo causing a fault like that.

CAN bus is just a data bus and whilst it's designed to withstand short circuits and transient surges it can still be damaged over time by a poorly designed/built interface (It can also deal with one of the pair of wires being broken or shorted to ground or 12v by using the other wire at a reduced speed). Not sure if your head unit has the relay setup where it disconnects and reconnects the head unit from the CAN bus multiple times each time the car is started/stopped but this would certainally increase the likelihood of failure.

[Dyldo]

Not sure if your head unit has the relay setup where it disconnects and reconnects the head unit from the CAN bus multiple times each time the car is started/stopped but this would certainally increase the likelihood of failure.

Failure meaning i'll be hit with the bill?

[mikinoz]

I think you are a bit ahead of yourself Dylan. If it fails, they then have to blame the AVC unit before you have to pay. They need to not just blame but prove it is to be at fault to deny you service.

I'm guessing that it is intermittent fault, clear the codes and nothing else will come of it.

[Maverick]

Failure meaning i'll be hit with the bill?

I wouldn't worry about it but if they replace the gateway (assuming it is that) and it fails again they might look at the head unit as the cause.

A gateway replacement isn't that expensive either

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[Maverick]

I think you are a bit ahead of yourself Dylan. If it fails, they then have to blame the AVC unit before you have to pay. They need to not just blame but prove it is to be at fault to deny you service.

It's the other way around. If the dealer or volkswagen make that call it's up to the owner to prove it wasn't.

All they have to do is explain why.

I'm guessing that it is intermittent fault, clear the codes and nothing else will come of it.

If it's the gateway the car will still operate even without coding or with fault codes, only a failure would give him the symptoms he has.



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[Dyldo]

Moss Vale are so busy cause they had 5 tow-ins yesterday that the car hasn't been diagnosed yet. They are a multi-brand dealership so not all the tow-ins were dubs.

I can see a long delay in my future...

[Dyldo]

Looks like Maverick is right - the AVC unit was causing the faults. When i called up to get an update, as they didnt call me, they said the unit was causing the faults and were now putting my car back together. she didn't have the paperwork and so i get to get a call back with the cost as its not covered by warranty.

Great. What is the cost going to be do you figure?

[Dyldo]

Update - They called me again and said they took the radio out, cleared the codes, and yet the problems came back again. so back to the workshop she goes to try and get fixed.

I think this might show that the AVC isn't the issue. Might know more tomorrow.

Surely, however, if it somehow turns out to be the AVC that i won't be stung for the extra workshop costs now. bah, i dunno.

[Dyldo]

Called them up again today, and after having the car since Thursday afternoon they still haven't diagnosed the issue. I had to call them again today to see if they had any news, and all they could tell me was they were "having problems communicating with the car".

I bet some of you are giggling, but i'm not smiling much. I just want my ride back. Whats so hard about scanning it and finding out what the codes mean?

[Dyldo]

OK, today's update is an interesting one. Just spoke to them (right on 5pm) and it looks like there are watermarks on "all of my computers" and that the driver footwell is soaked.

They asked if I have ever had the windscreen replaced? No.
They asked if my car ever leaks or has had water issues? No.
They asked if I park the car near leaves? No, carport at night and underground carpark for work, so no danger of leaves or gunk in the airvents.

Anyone have any thoughts? The service guys seem stumped, and by COB tomorrow they would have had my car for a week, so any help this community can give them would be good. I want my oiler back.

[Dyldo]

I had to drive down to the dealership to see what was happening, though I must admit they have been great on the phone and quite helpful. Although, they still haven't diagnosed the problem let alone fixed it.

Curiously, they suggested to contact VW Customer Assist (but gave me the roadside assistance number instead...) and ask VW if they could call their dealership's technicians and see if they couldn't solve the problem. I thought to myself "why not call up yourself" but whatever. They also said that they don't have any courtesy cars left and that I'd have to sort that out with VW.

The only thing they can think of is that the car is leaking from around the windscreen somewhere and down the firewall, apparently on both sides. I definitely want this fixed and not band-aided as if this happens out of warranty it would be expensive.

So, waiting on VW to phone me back. Getting pretty annoyed.

[Dyldo]

I have spoken to my lease company (Fleetpartners) and Volkswagen Australia and VW Roadside Assist and VW Customer Assist and the dealership. Thats 5 separate entities. And yes, I got 5 separate answers as to how to proceed and what will happen. Not to mention the fact that the car still hasn't been officially diagnosed, nor have I been called by the dealer to have explained whats happening.

Getting very frustrated.

As far as I still know from yesterday's answer, it appears there is water entry into the control modules and computer gear behind the dash and firewall. How it is getting in and why, they don't know. Now this to me is sounding like a manufacturer fault, and as such clearly claimable via warranty.

So, my question now becomes at what point do I get a new car? I have done 76K kms over 2 and a bit years but when do i get the right to ask for a new car? I mean, if they don't fix it properly then I'll soon be out of warranty and if it happens again i'll be up for the work, which wouldn't be cheap. Not to mention the massive inconvenience.

The other issue is that this is a novated car, meaning I clearly need the car for my employment. The way that everybody has been approaching this issue (a courtesy car) has been terrible. Luckily my work has been understanding, but i am an on-road sales guy and definitely need my wheels to pay the bills. The dealer claims to be 3 weeks behind in their courtesy cars and won't give me on. VW Aust didn't really care, and intimated I might have to pay for it anyway?

This is all getting crazy.

[Maverick]

I have spoken to my lease company (Fleetpartners) and Volkswagen Australia and VW Roadside Assist and VW Customer Assist and the dealership. Thats 5 separate entities. And yes, I got 5 separate answers as to how to proceed and what will happen. Not to mention the fact that the car still hasn't been officially diagnosed, nor have I been called by the dealer to have explained whats happening.

Of course you received five separate answers, the lease company has nothing to do with it, roadside assist has nothing to do with this, customer assist is not able to do anything and it's only the dealer and ultimately VW Australia that have the ability to do anything to resolve this.

As far as I still know from yesterday's answer, it appears there is water entry into the control modules and computer gear behind the dash and firewall. How it is getting in and why, they don't know. Now this to me is sounding like a manufacturer fault, and as such clearly claimable via warranty.

It'll be covered under warranty unless you've done something to compromise the integrity, ie running a power cable through the firewall or similar.

So, my question now becomes at what point do I get a new car? I have done 76K kms over 2 and a bit years but when do i get the right to ask for a new car? I mean, if they don't fix it properly then I'll soon be out of warranty and if it happens again i'll be up for the work, which wouldn't be cheap. Not to mention the massive inconvenience.

They won't give you a new car, they'll find the problem and sort it out.

If they don't fix it properly and it occurs again it will still be covered.

The other issue is that this is a novated car, meaning I clearly need the car for my employment. The way that everybody has been approaching this issue (a courtesy car) has been terrible. Luckily my work has been understanding, but i am an on-road sales guy and definitely need my wheels to pay the bills. The dealer claims to be 3 weeks behind in their courtesy cars and won't give me on. VW Aust didn't really care, and intimated I might have to pay for it anyway?

Volkswagen and in fact every manufacturer do not offer loan cars for repairs or faults, dealers do it as an act of goodwill for free or a small charge but generally not for longer periods.

If you need it for your work you'll need to hire one which will be a tax deduction, it sucks but that's the way it is. Volkswagen are not a premium brand and you'd probably have more luck getting a loan car out of somewhere like Audi, Lexus, Mercedes or BMW where you pay for better service.