To take this further with car company even though I'm out of warranty period?

[ICantThinkOfANameSorry]

I have a 3 year old car. It is a very well known and supposedly good make.

So far it has only done 18,000 miles and I have never had an accident or any form of bump in it.

Last week, my airbag light came on and my horn stopped working. I now know from the local garage that a part has gone in the steering wheel and my airbag is likely to not inflate in an accident because of it. He also told me he would not expect to see this in a car this age as it's quite a major fault.

My car is one month outside it's warranty. I called them and explained the situation and what the garage had said. They were beyond unhelpful and just said its outside of warranty they will not do anything, they didn't ask anything further or offer any form of explanation as to how this could happen.

I know it's outside warranty technically and car dealers are notorious for being arseholes but AIBU to take this complaint further? Its a practically new car which has hardly done any miles that is now potentially dangerous to drive / life threatening if I were to have an accident and whilst it isn't a Lamborghini, it wasn't 'cheap' either.

I'm not usually one to complain but I think this is so wrong (and bloody annoying!).

Last week, my airbag light came on and my horn stopped working.

That's a fault which would fail the car at MOT, whether having an airbag matters to you or not.

My car was just out if warranty when I was driving along one day and the car felt like it had just gone into neutral and started coasting along. The gear box just wasn't responding so I couldn't get it to move again once I had stopped. The dealership (vauxhall) took it back when I explained because they wanted to investigate what on earth had caused it incase it was something that would trigger a recall, so even out of warranty they accepted that that shouldn't have happened on such an unused car.

It's worth calling again as you'd expect something like that to last longer, and warranties do not override consumer rights.

Hev you checked with the manufacturer to see if there is a factory recall on that model for the airbags? If it's a fault particular to the make/model it's entirely possible they'll replace them free? I'm in the USA so it may not work like that there but our Mustang was recalled to replace the airbags when it was 11 years old ie long long out of warranty because the airbags had been found to be faulty in many different cars. It's worth a call to the actual manufacturers to alert them, you may not be the only one.

Hev? Have. Really autocorrect!

OP will have a bigger problem then a failed MOT if she drives her car with a broken clockspring.

Maybe google your make, model, year of car and the fault. If it is a well known issue you may have power

Go back to the main dealer and push for some recognition. It's a few years ago now but I had a landrover discovery that the head gasket went on at 3 years 3 months and about 45k miles. I got a 70% parts and labour discount as a" gesture of goodwill, not an admission of liability" and then they discovered a whole host of other major failures which all got fixed FOC. I had always had main dealer services etc etc. Go on, push back a bit and see where it gets you.

Thanks all.

Okay I hold my hands up IABU to say the car is new. I guess it's my frustrated way of saying it isn't old!

To answer some of your questions, I didn't really want to be completely identifiable to someone who knows the situation and say the exact make and model of my car however, considering I've NC anyway, it's an Audi Q5.

Yes, the garage said it is the clock spring that has gone.

My car has never had an issue with the steering nor has is ever been messed with/repaired.

I bought it new directly from an Audi dealership and it passed it's MOT about 3 months ago. It has also been serviced by a reputable garage.

I appreciate it's outside of warranty. It's just very annoying when the few people I've asked about this all agree this should not be happening on a car this age or with this mileage (local garage and family friend who is very into cars).

I would at least expect them to acknowledge the fact that this shouldn't have happened but they weren't interested at all which is why I want to complain.

Usually the big German marques will continue to assist for faults well beyond the warranty period (even into classic-hood) if you have had the vehicle serviced at required intervals at the main dealer. One of them I know of simultaneously assisted the owner of a 30 year old car (serviced from new at the dealership) but refused a warranty claim for a car of 2 years old because the vehicle had been self-serviced with incorrect oil.

It is definitely worth pursuing possibly via social media but if you've had some work done that could've caused this and/or omitted something that could have prevented it (however unlikely) you may not be successful.

Ring trade and standards, there is consumer protection that can last for 6years.

It's never had any work done to it other than MOT and servicing. Neither were done by Audi but they were done by proper garages and I have the proper certificates etc... Not self serviced or anything.

@Crockof

I'm hoping that's a type and you know it's called trading standards. But also, trading standards no longer deal with complaints from the public about specific businesses. You need to call citizens advice consumer helpline.

If you bought it from a dealer go and talk to them, especially if it's a brand that trades on its reliability. We have a Toyota that had an aircon pump problem just after the warranty was up. We did have to pay to get it repaired but after contacting Toyota head office the dealer was able to replace the part for nothing so we just paid for the labour (or maybe it was the other way round - I can't remember - but either way they knocked a very big chunk off the bill).

I have spoken to the dealership, they don't want to know. I have also spoken to Audi UK who refer me back to the dealership unless I want to make a formal complaint which I'm considering.

Complain to the manufacturer. I had to do this under very similar circumstances. The repair was done free of charge and the dealer’s knuckles were rapped.

My experience with Audi dealerships has been uniformly depressing and so has DH’s. In my experience, theyr rude and unhelpful. I think it’s tricky too, that, although it’s been regularly serviced, it hasn’t been at an Audi garage. Mind you, Audi charge several arms and legs for servicing.

Foxyloxy1plus1 God yes, don't get me started on the prices for their services. Awful.

Surely no-one expects Audi to be reliable? Mine wasn't.

Then you've been back to the dealer, no joy, and now you're putting in the formal complaint per the manufacturer's instructions, right? Get on the manufacturer's twitter too and ask if it's a recall fault.

dealership, they don't want to know... Audi UK refer me back to the dealership unless I want to make a formal complaint which I'm considering.

I think that the problem with making a formal complaint is that doing so will prevent/delay you getting your car fixed by someone else. If Audi were to agree to fix it they would expect to use their own dealer network, not just refund the cost of someone else's work.

This means that you need to be able to manage without the car until you get a response to the complaint as other folk have flagged it as unsafe.

On balance you need to get a couple of quotes for doing the work (from non-Audi dealers) and make a judgement call about whether to wait or not.

Then make sure that you factually report the damage and attitude of dealer and Audi in your social media channels .

This link shows the UK rcalls for Audi Q5:
www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/search.asp?whichpage=1&pagesize=10&resultString=(AUDI%20Q5)%20%20for%20the%20date%20range%2001/1/1992%20to%2001/1/2020&tx=0.3116266

Doesn't seem to include clock springs, but may be worth checking that there's nothing else that you are entitled to have fixed.

Are you sure your warranties weren't invalidated because you didn't have the scheduled services done by an official brand dealer? Maybe that's your problem right there, OP? Thing is any work done by someone not authorised by the manufacturer, yeah, it's often cheaper but in the long run can work out way more expensive when the thing breaks.

Contact the manufacturer directly I've seen similar claims paid whilst a service advisor

WarpedGalaxy no I checked that prior to having it done. I can use another garage so long as any parts are genuine Audi parts.

Are you sure your warranties weren't invalidated because you didn't have the scheduled services done by an official brand dealer? Maybe that's your problem right there, OP?

The warrant has expired. It has not been 'invalidated'.

OP get legal advice, the clock spring should not go at that mileage. They should be helping you.