Does Australia have a vehicle defect register?
QUESTION
Hi John,
I very much enjoy your weekly reports and reviews of new vehicles.
Are you able to advise if there is any organisation / internet site that publishes the reported faults with newer vehicles.
I realise you mention common faults of those vehicles that you do not recommend, but is there any national listing of common faults of various makes and models of newer vehicles such as the electronic park brake many models are now using?
There are reports in Newscorp papers of vehicle owners having to replace such items outside the warranty period for amounts up to $4000.
I appreciate your view on ACCC law concerning reasonable durability. It would be better to dodge the bullet in the first place than be in a dispute with a manufacture after the warranty has expired. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Phil
ANSWER
Hey Phil,
Thanks for the kind words mate. Appreciate your interest in my reports.
A couple of points. I don’t have a “view” on reasonable durability. I report what the legislation says in regards to Consumer Guarantees. It’s not my opinion. If a part fails prematurely in the context of the expectations of a reasonable consumer, the consumer has a legal right to a free repair or (in extreme cases) a refund in full. If the seller and customer can’t agree on this, a court adjudicates. That’s how this works. It’s not perfect but it is better than the pre-2011 legislation.
Your concept of a national repository of defects sounds like a really good idea - until you try to define ‘defect’. (How serious does it have to be? How many times does a particular failure have to occur before it qualifies as a ‘common’ fault? How far back in time will we go with this? How are we going to manage/police it?) This is a good idea - but almost impossible to do in practise.
Recalls are the only nationally tracked and homogenised system for defects - and they only apply to serious safety-related safety defects. (Such as fire risk, steering and brake failures, major suspension failures.) Interestingly, recalls work really well in Australia and it’s basically an honour system where manufacturers get out in front of the problem well before lives are lost or safety is actually compromised, in the vast majority of cases.
All one can do over non-safety related defects (such as the Toyota 2.8 diesel DPF failures or the notorious Ford ‘PowerShit’ transmission) is keep one’s ear to the ground.
Hope this helps mate,
JC
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