Limp mode already

So, today my 2 month old car chose to go into limp mode as I was driving along. The glow plug light was flashing away merrily so I abandoned my trip to work and headed for the nearest Seat dealer. En route, I thought I'd switch the engine off and back on to see if the fault cleared. It did, for about 30 seconds until the flashing light came back.

Of course, when the mechanic came to start the car and take it for a test drive, no problems at all.

Apparently, there were 2 faults logged with a throttle sensor or something. The service guy was a lot more specific, it's just that I can't remember exactly what he said. Nothing was replaced and I've driven nearly 30 miles since with no problems.

Flashing glow plug light and limp mode again yesterday twice. Car is now at the dealer overnight waiting for a new throttle sender. Hopefully this will be the end of the problem.

Snarks said:

Hopefully this will be the end of the problem.

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Apparently not. Failed twice tonight. Fortunately it waited until I was in a supermarket car park and didn't fail 5 miles earlier when I was in the outside lane of a motorway going up a hill.

After keeping my car for a few days, the dealer upgraded the ECU software. It's now failed again twice so this will be my fourth trip to the dealer to get it fixed.

I was thinking of writing a letter stating that I would be rejecting the vehicle if it fails again. Given the car is less than 6 months old with 5000 miles, does anyone know what I am entitled to : full refund, brand new replacement? Honest John says that a full refund is possible within this time. I certainly want more than trade in value.

Also, there may not be any courtesy cars available. Am I not entitled to a free hire car or something from Seat?

Tracy, I might need to borrow your husband since he's our resident car rejecting expert. By the way, did you get a brand new car when you rejected it?

After further faults, got a new ECU fitted last week. Two decent runs on Thursday and Friday without any problems.

Saturday, went to North Wales and came home on the back of a lorry...





Fortunately, I'm getting a replacement vehicle in early September.

OLDOILER said:

Don't hold your breath we are still waiting for acknowledgement from SEAT to our letter 4 months ago for the door alarm fault [ many threads on THAT problem]
I believe SEAT sell the cars to the dealer and you have to take it up with the dealer - but this should not alter your purchasers rights under the terms of sale of goods act. Good luck

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I've already spoken to the dealer. He's getting me a 57 plate replacement ready for the 1st week of September. I've got the reg number, just waiting for it to be PDI'd and taxed.

Today, I picked up my replacement FR TDI. Hopefully, this one will be more reliable than the last one.

I'd advise anyone suffering from repeated faults to press for a replacement car. Intermittent faults are very difficult to track down and you'll just find yourself making endless trips to the dealers. My old car is still not fixed after 4 months.

I didn't get the car for free. I had to make a contribution to the cost since I had done nearly 7000 miles. The rest came from Seat, the dealer not making a profit on the new car and a more generous trade in allowance than I would normally have expected.

The alternative would have been legal action which would have been expensive and stressful.

I wrote a letter to the dealer principal (David Hobin at Preston) stating that I was disappointed that my new car was nowhere near as good as my old Cupra. After further failures, I called in to see him personally. He seemed genuinely concerned that he had supplied me with a faulty car and raised the issue of a replacement himself. I said that was the route I wished to take since I believed that we weren't getting anywhere trying to repair the fault. No threats of legal action, no shouting, just a friendly chat did the trick. I never raised the issue with Seat customer services as it never became necessary.

I was pleased with the service I received. Within 30 minutes of the meeting, a quote for a new car was in my inbox. When I accepted his offer, it was David Hobin who rang me to sort out the replacement rather than getting a salesman to do it. He read out a list of cars that were available and I picked one that was at the docks (wherever that is). It took 2 weeks from the meeting to getting the car. Following last Saturday's events, I also got a courtesy car for a few days until mine was ready for collection.

It's still an FR Tdi with Bluetooth but I went for metallic this time.