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Well I can tell you that the car has gone to a repairer in Brisbane and will be ready on the 29th. The insurance company involved at first sent it to the closest approved repairer to me so they pick it up and take it down there. Then the assessor rings me up as I am in Adelaide working for a week. Anyway he said that the repairer in Wynnum can’t do as he does not have a cold press and chassis aligner we will have to take this to another repairer as it needs to be put in an industrial cold aligner. I said “so what happens now?” he said no worries mate we will take to this other bloke he has already done a couple of these?” I said how many have you seen he said oh a few.
Then I asked him about reinforcing the Chassis and his reply worried me some what he said the Queensland Transport would not allow it.
I said wtf; he said yep no dice mate.
I thought well that f***in great. Straighten out the chassis cold that’s fine, but I would have thought it would need to be strengthened a bit just to bring it back to standard.
Well I am not an engineer and they have a life time warranty on repairs so that ball is in their court.
As a point of interest EVERY thing on the truck was listed on the insurance policy so there are no problems there.
OK bigger news I spent an hour and a half with a Mitsubishi customer advocate yesterday in head office in Adelaide. We spoke about the whole after market thing and the FACT that the dealer did not at any point say to me that any of this stuff would void my warranty, And I DID NOT sign any waver or the front page of the warranty and service book. I did not know that page even existed until after the failure when the dealer that I took the car to for Mitsubishi to look at pointed out that the page had not been signed. The dealer where I purchased the car from should have gone through the page with me and we were both to sign off on it and that is where it says that AYTHING that is not genuine Mitsubishi could possibly void your warranty. Now they acknowledge that I may not off known that but as far as they are concerned it is not there issue it is the dealers’ problem and I have to take it up with them.
I argued that they have a moral responsibility to help me with the dealer; they said they would try but under the Trade Practices Act they cannot tell a dealer how to run their business. As MMAL are only wholesalers the dealers are independent businesses.
I argued the point about the Hayman Reece Tow bar that the fact that it was still ADR approved and it comes out of the same jig as the genuine bar the only difference is the paint used to put the part number on it. They said does not matter MMAL policy is that ANY thing you put on a Mitsubishi that is not a genuine item with a MMAL part number. Will possibly void your warranty. Then I said about the fact that for my job the standard springs and shocks just can’t cut the mustard. They kept using the defence that the vehicle is ADR approved as it is and testing has shown that nothing is needed to do the job.
Now I did raise my concerns about the chassis and my belief that is under engineered for the job they purport it to be able to do. I asked the engineer that was there have MMAL done any real world testing, by that I mean load a car up as if Mum Dad and a couple of kids were going camping and touring for a few weeks with a caravan or camp trailer on the back, over the sort of roads that we as 4x4 tourers expect the car to be able to travel. They said I do not know, But that is a very good question. They said they would find out.
They did try and use the excuse that my car has very high KLMS for is age and that the flexing over so many klms in such a short time may have been a factor. And the fact that I have done so much towing with it. I just looked at them and said don’t even go there.
At the end of the day they will help me with the dealer as much as the law will allow them, I told them that IMO the dealer has made my car useless to me as I can no longer trust it to be loaded and do the miles I need it to do, I do Around 80,000 ks a year and a lot of the over very rough road, and with around 300-400kgs on board at all times. Even taking the rear bar of and the airbag out. I still have no faith in the car and that is very sad because as far as drivability and comfort go’s I love it they are a great looking car and hi-way cursing is a breeze.
The upshot is that MMAL have said they will look into all the failures that have been reported and they will keep me informed of what comes out of it. They said that the engineering section would also look into my concerns, and look at what testing has actually been done.
I also raised the fact of the reduced tow ball down load in England, and the reduced towing capacity in South Africa they were some what shocked. And said were did I get this info from? I just said the web. All they said was they could not comment on other countries, I said mate it is the same friggin car we need an answer for this question. To which he agreed that he would look into it.
Well Maybe some of you could do your own chassis flex test. Pretty easy really.
Get two bits of blue tack put on the roof of the truck and one on the roof of the canopy then get a piece of string or cotton put it in the blue tack make sure that if it is pulled it will slide through the blue tack but with some resistance. Now unloaded make sure the string has no slack in it, now start loading the tub with stuff about the amount a weight you would take on holidays then Hook up the camper or trailer fully loaded again as if on holidays then go for a drive not a smooth drive make it a bit rough even over a gutter or two to simulate of road use. Then at the end see how much slack cotton there is that will give you some idea how much flex there is in the chassis. I will be doing it when I get it back that is for sure.
Ok sorry if this is a ramble but just typing has it is coming out of my head HAHAH.
Cheers
Rat
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