AIBU to think that the garage damaged my car?

[Raaaadley]

Took my 5 year old car for cambelt to be replaced a couple of days ago. The car was working perfectly but they advise you to replace a cambelt as a precautionary measure after 5 years. The job was done and I drove the car home with no problems. They did an overall health check of the vehicle at the same time as replacing cambelt and advised that the brake pads were 80% worn and would need replacing reasonably soon, but car otherwise fine. They emailed the outcome of the health check to me also.

The day after I had got the car back, they phoned to say that the mechanic was having problems with the tool he used to work on my cambelt. He wanted me to bring my car back just to check that everything was tightened up properly (just for his piece of mind).

I took the car back today for the cambelt to be checked. I waited at the garage while they did it. While I was waiting, the man on the desk asked if the air bag light had been on before. I said no. So in 15 minutes of the car being at the garage, there was an error message coming up on the dash on starting the engine "Air Bag error" and a yellow light on the dash which is now on permanently showing a problem with air bag.

The garage said it could just be a big coincidence that the airbag had failed in the few minutes they were working on it. They said to bring it back another day so that they could check the air bag. They claimed that it wasn't dangerous to drive but the car would need to be checked soon.

They couldn't fit me in for tomorrow, but the car is now booked in for Monday. When I drove it home, the electrical controls on the steering wheel no longer work either. I can no longer use the volume control for my music system which is on the steering wheel as it now doesn't do anything. This definitely did work on my journey to the garage today to get the cam belt checked.

The garage are saying that the air bag light may have been on before my visit to them and I didn't notice it. This is ridiculous as you couldn't miss the error message and glowing yellow light on dash. Also, it seems strange that the controls to my steering wheel have also stopped working.

Garage say that they will look at it Monday and if they don't think their work has caused the airbag problem, then I will need to pay to get it fixed as car is not under any warrantee.

I feel like that I handed my car into the garage in perfect working order and within 15 minutes of them working on it the airbag was faulty and the electrics to the steering wheel no longer worked.

AIBU to think the garage should fix the problems at their own expense as whatever they did to my car almost certainly caused them?

My guess is a fuse has gone.

If all they’ve done is the cambelt it is an unfortunate coincidence, however given you took it back for their piece of mind - which rings alarm bells, but they did check it rather than let you go on, I’d just be nice and try to get them to repair it FOC.
There’s even mechanic Facebook groups due to things genuinely going wrong at any awkward time e.g when they had it. It’s called since you’ve fixed my car.....

As a side note, they’d have noticed your airbag on the first time it was in and should have advised on it.

@EvilPea

As a side note, they’d have noticed your airbag on the first time it was in and should have advised on it.

Hi. Many thanks for your two replies. The airbag fault message and light on dashboard to indicate the fault wasn't on when they first replaced my cambelt two days ago.

The man at the garage came out while I was waiting for them to recheck the cambelt today and asked me if the airbag error message and fault light had been there previously. It definitely hadn't. It seems to be a bit of a coincidence that it happened for the first time within minutes of them starting to work on my car.

@EvilPea

My guess is a fuse has gone.

If all they’ve done is the cambelt it is an unfortunate coincidence, however given you took it back for their piece of mind - which rings alarm bells, but they did check it rather than let you go on, I’d just be nice and try to get them to repair it FOC.
There’s even mechanic Facebook groups due to things genuinely going wrong at any awkward time e.g when they had it. It’s called since you’ve fixed my car.....

I'll check out that Facebook group! Sounds like one I can relate to!

You need an expert mechanic to comment firstly to tell you whether the thing they told you about the tool and the cambelt is something that could happen. They might be trying to cover up something else

What's the mileage of the car and is this a chain or local garage

I'm extremely suspicious of anything garage related and would be gathering all the facts I could.

Cambelt has noting to do with steering wheel controls and airbags.
Sounds like a clockspring issue - is it VAG (SEAT, VW, AUDI, Skoda) by any chance?

This is almost certainly a problem with your contact reel, basically the wiring assembly connecting your steering wheel electrics with the rest of the car. Hence your radio buttons etc stopping working as well. The airbag light will have come on as it's detected a bad/missing connection to the steering wheel airbag. Unfortunately there is no way that replacing the cambelt has anything to do with this. But you may find they'll discount or even waive the repair costs as goodwill

Those sound like good suggestions above but them not having anything to do with the cambelt might not mean the garage still aren't at fault

Are the spring/contact reel parts that are physically accessible? If so they could have been damaged by poor workmen

@DynamoKev

Cambelt has noting to do with steering wheel controls and airbags. Sounds like a clockspring issue - is it VAG (SEAT, VW, AUDI, Skoda) by any chance?

Bang on DynamoKev! It's a Skoda Yeti!

@ChampagneJam

Those sound like good suggestions above but them not having anything to do with the cambelt might not mean the garage still aren't at fault

Are the spring/contact reel parts that are physically accessible? If so they could have been damaged by poor workmen

This is what I was wondering. I was thinking that they have accidentally damaged an unrelated component whilst repairing cambelt.

@Stan1408

This is almost certainly a problem with your contact reel, basically the wiring assembly connecting your steering wheel electrics with the rest of the car. Hence your radio buttons etc stopping working as well. The airbag light will have come on as it's detected a bad/missing connection to the steering wheel airbag. Unfortunately there is no way that replacing the cambelt has anything to do with this. But you may find they'll discount or even waive the repair costs as goodwill

I do hope that they waive repair costs or at least discount! Thank you for your tip about the fact it is probably the contract reel. I will google this so that I am armed with further information before I take car back on Monday.

@ChampagneJam

You need an expert mechanic to comment firstly to tell you whether the thing they told you about the tool and the cambelt is something that could happen. They might be trying to cover up something else

What's the mileage of the car and is this a chain or local garage

I'm extremely suspicious of anything garage related and would be gathering all the facts I could.

@ChampagneJam

Hi. It's a Skoda dealership and the mileage is 44000 miles.

Does sound like a clockspring issue. This is located at the top of the steering column where the steering wheel attaches to it. Can’t see how they’d have caused this doing anything cambelt related but you never know.

@Shade17

Does sound like a clockspring issue. This is located at the top of the steering column where the steering wheel attaches to it. Can’t see how they’d have caused this doing anything cambelt related but you never know.

I've googled clock spring problems and agree that it sounds like this must be it. I haven't tried my horn, but I will go out and do it as no horn is another symptom of a clock spring issue.