Before you drive or buy a Mazda CX-5 be really careful.
Mike Dare’s daughter has a three-year-old Mazda CX-5 and two young kids. Mike told my colleague, News Motoring star Paul Gover, that the kids, the Mazda and the mother were driving along one of Melbourne’s always busy freeways when the warning lights started flashing, warning sounds started sounding and the drive system disengaged.
Drive system disengaged is a nice way of saying the engine is in neutral and the car is rolling along by itself, no doubt with a big B-double truck racing up behind. Of course it goes without saying that young mothers of young children aren’t all that pleased about their cars rolling along car and truck-infested freeways.
OK. Three hundred dollars later, the Mazda CX-5 was towed to the dealership where Mike’s daughter was told that for a big cheque and a few days in the Mazda hospital she could have the car back. She did get the car back but of course you know the story.
Thank God we have the car consumers friend, Rocket Rod Sims, running the ACCC. Yes, readers, while the dealer people said they had never seen the problem before, one of the mechanics let slip that indeed they had. But wait, there’s more. After the big cheque and the few days’ wait, Mr Mazda said he wasn’t sure he had fixed the problem and that it could happen again.
Just this week Rod told the 2017 Australian Automotive Dealer Association National Dealer Convention: “The ACCC believes that some car manufacturers have policies and procedures about how dealers respond to consumer guarantee or warranty claims which may limit a dealer’s ability to provide a car refund, replacement or repair to a consumer.”
But there’s more to this story than just another bad dealer story. Paul Gover and I separately asked Mazda PR operative Sonia Singh what was going on. Sonia (separately) told us: “Mazda does not comment publicly on matters relating to its customers.” Well, that’s strange because usually when you ring a car company with a reader’s complaint, they get it fixed straight away and the PR problem disappears.
Can I give you my opinion of what’s happening?
Four years ago VW was forced to recall 25,928 Polos, Golfs, Jettas and Caddys because “an electronic malfunction in the control unit inside the gearbox mechatronics may result in a power interruption”. Yes, that means the car loses power while driving. And “forced” means that after a coronial inquest into the death of 32-year-old Melissa Ryan, who was killed when her Golf was struck from behind by a truck when the Golf suddenly slowed dramatically, VW started getting heat.
Here’s the thing: VW knew about the problem with the gearbox from 2009 (four years before it owned up in Australia). How do I know that? Because in 2009 VW in the US was forced to recall 13,500 cars because of gearbox problems. In Australia it was the combination of the coroner’s report, irate owners and the motoring media that forced the recall, with VW subsidiary Audi following soon after.
On Monday I’m sending Simmsy a copy of this column and Paul Gover’s. The similarities both with the problem and Mazda’s response are just too close for comfort, and your safety.
And we’ll also be talking to Rod about Avis.
In July a young (well, young compared with Michael McMichael, Tim Cooper and me) Australian couple went off on the usual European tour. Being good Weekend Australian motoring readers, they decided to drive where possible. They hired a Dacia (made in Romania, what could possibly go wrong?) from Avis in Bastia, Corsica. I have a great story to tell you about my time in Corsica but we will have to wait until there are less pressing issues. But it does involve suppositories that I thought were normal tablets.
OK, they paid €230 ($345) upfront, off they went, dropped the Dacia off unharmed and got on with the rest of the trip. Six days later, as if by magic, a charge of €340 appears on their plastic. There was no documentation or contact from the Bastia office explaining what the charges were. We all guess they were for damages to the car. Ms French Avis said she would contact Bastia and the details would be on the way. You know the rest. Six days after receiving the car, the Bastia office had still not sent any record of the charges. About 60 days and 10 emails and phone calls later, and nothing has happened.
Let me give you my opinion of what happened. My young friends took out damage insurance with Avis for €1000. So by charging them under that everyone except young friends are winners. Avis gets to keep the €340, making it a €570 car hire, and the Costa Smerelda panelbeaters don’t have to do anything.
Finally two special buys: next month Mossgreen will be selling the former Bib Stillwell Jaguar D-Type. The only genuine D-Type in Australia, it’s yours for only $8 million. In November H&H Classics is auctioning Pete Waterman’s “Ghost E-Type”. Pete is the most successful producer-songwriter in British history. This car was called the Ghost because it was lost for 30 years. It is the first left-hand drive Series III 2+2-seater made and the only example fitted with a 4.2-litre XK engine. Pete also collects locomotives. Toot toot.
