Hello,

 

I am hoping someone can help here…

 

 

I purchased a 2018 DSG TDI Sportline 4x4 7 Seat Kodiaq from my local dealer 3 weeks ago and in all honesty I have had so many issue with it!

 

 

it all started to e day AFTER I collected the car, I was travelling at around 40mph on a straight and VERY clear road when out of nowhere (and with no warning) the car emergency braked on its own! 
 

There was nothing on the road, no cars, objects or people and thankfully nobody behind me! 
 

I called the dealer and got them to look at it and apparently there’s ‘no fault’? 
 

 

This coupled with:

 

Apple Car play intermittently working

 

Faulty drivers side window 

 

Volume Control on the steering wheel intermittently working 

 

Keyless entry intermittently working 

 

and knocking from the passenger front suspension 

 

 

Has really made me loose confidence in the car.

 

 

It’s been back to the dealer 4 times in the three weeks I have owned it and I wrote to them on Friday stating I wish to use my ‘short term right to reject’ the vehicle due to the very random and in my option extremely dangerous random Emergency Braking (with I am assuming is part of Front Assist), the dealer have refused and are only offering me an exchange to another vehicle.

 

It absolutely blows my mind that they cannot see how this issue doesn’t qualify the car as ‘unfit for purpose’ or of ‘unsatisfactory quality’ 

 

 

I am at a total loss of what to do? 
 

They wanted me to go out with a technician for the second time to try to make it fault (as the issue is so intermittent and I frankly have no idea when it will happen) this hasn’t been possible? 
 

 

Can anyone offer me some advice as to what the hell I do next?!

 

I am at my wits end! 
 

 

Thanks

51 minutes ago, ZedBee1990 said:

very random and in my option extremely dangerous random Emergency Braking

First time I've heard of this on a Kodiaq, but it's not uncommon, and I agree it's actively dangerous.

1 hour ago, ZedBee1990 said:

It’s been back to the dealer 4 times in the three weeks I have owned it and I wrote to them on Friday stating I wish to use my ‘short term right to reject’ the vehicle.

 

They wanted me to go out with a technician for the second time to try to make it fault (as the issue is so intermittent and I frankly have no idea when it will happen) this hasn’t been possible? 
 

Can anyone offer me some advice as to what the hell I do next?!

 

If you bought the car from the dealer rather than online then you can reject the car within the first 30 days if it has a significant fault.

 

Try to look at this objectively ( it's hard when you've just spent ££££££'s )  You list the number of faults but I'm I correct in saying that on each occasion you've visited, the dealer hasn't found anything wrong? Put yourself in their position:

 

1:  If that's correct then you'll struggling  to describe the fault as 'significant'.

2: Look at this from the dealer's view - if they can find no fault how is he to know the customer isn't just trying to return the car because it's too big, or the wrong colour, or... well whatever ?

3: You say they wanted you to go out with a technician. Did that ever happen?

 

What you need to do is prove those faults exist so how do you do that?   Dashcam?  or better still a dashcam set up to point at your instument panel. You can also take video on your phone when the volume control / window / etc occurs.  What's the problem with the window?

 

You say Keyless entry sometimes doesn't work. My first thought is when was the battery last changed. That's very easy and cheap to prove - just install a new keyfob battery. 

 

Intermittent problems are the worst but you say you've visited the dealer four times in three weeks? Those problems must happen relatively often then.

 

 

 

Edited 19 June, 20223 yr by kodiaqsportline

Yes the faults do seem to be intermittent but it’s getting to the point where every morning when I get into it, my first thought is ‘what’s not going to work today….’ 
 

 

Which isn’t something I feel I should be having to consider given the car is a ‘premium vehicle’ one from a reputable manufacturer and I have only owned for 3 weeks.

 

 

I have been out with a technician already and in their defence some issues they have indeed sorted, however these were as I mentioned fairly insignificant, the issue with the emergency braking is appearing to be an intermittent fault and not even able to be predicted (hence why I was not able to replicate it with the technician) which in my eyes makes it all the more dangerous, as there is zero warning.

 

The issue I have and to the point where I feel the car is dangerous, is the intermittent emergency braking? I cannot for the life of me think why this wouldn’t be considered as an issue?

 

I had made it very obvious from taking ownership of the vehicle that this was a long term car (putting private plate on) deciding on a good deal PCP and even wanting to spend the money getting the towbar fitted.

 

 

I did take a video of the steering wheel volume control not working, however as the emergency braking activated the day after I purchased the vehicle, I haven’t been able to capture it.

 

 

The drivers side window had a fault where the window went down when trying to put it up and vice versa.

 

 

The battery in my key has been replaced by myself around 5 days ago, so unfortunately it’s not that that’s the issue.

 

 

 

My worry here (and I have heard it on other forums) is that the emergency braking activating without warning, does seem to be a fault and dangerous but for whatever reason isn’t flagging up?

 

I have entirely lost all confidence in the vehicle and do class it as ‘unfit for purpose’ etc. 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, ZedBee1990 said:

I was travelling at around 40mph on a straight and VERY clear road when out of nowhere (and with no warning) the car emergency braked on its own! 
 

There was nothing on the road, no cars, objects or people and thankfully nobody behind me! 
 

 

Any bridges above the road? Or branches? Mine tends to brake sometimes on low pedestrian bridges.

3 hours ago, ZedBee1990 said:

Yes the faults do seem to be intermittent but it’s getting to the point where every morning when I get into it, my first thought is ‘what’s not going to work today….’
 

 

Which isn’t something I feel I should be having to consider given the car is a ‘premium vehicle’ one from a reputable manufacturer and I have only owned for 3 weeks.

 

 

I have been out with a technician already and in their defence some issues they have indeed sorted, however these were as I mentioned fairly insignificant, the issue with the emergency braking is appearing to be an intermittent fault and not even able to be predicted (hence why I was not able to replicate it with the technician) which in my eyes makes it all the more dangerous, as there is zero warning.

 

The issue I have and to the point where I feel the car is dangerous, is the intermittent emergency braking? I cannot for the life of me think why this wouldn’t be considered as an issue?

 

I had made it very obvious from taking ownership of the vehicle that this was a long term car (putting private plate on) deciding on a good deal PCP and even wanting to spend the money getting the towbar fitted.

 

 

I did take a video of the steering wheel volume control not working, however as the emergency braking activated the day after I purchased the vehicle, I haven’t been able to capture it.

 

 

The drivers side window had a fault where the window went down when trying to put it up and vice versa.

 

 

The battery in my key has been replaced by myself around 5 days ago, so unfortunately it’s not that that’s the issue.

 

 

 

My worry here (and I have heard it on other forums) is that the emergency braking activating without warning, does seem to be a fault and dangerous but for whatever reason isn’t flagging up?

 

I have entirely lost all confidence in the vehicle and do class it as ‘unfit for purpose’ etc. 

 

 

 

 

I hear what you're saying and sympathise with you but bottom line is this. The dealer say they can't find a fault and in fairness to them, you can repair a fault you can't find. As the dealer has said no to rejection then if you were to take it further, an ombusman or indeed legal team would want proof that the fault exists. For the car to be rejected, you need to proof there's a fault. As linni says, the system may be working OK, perhaps it just needs adjusting.

 

In the above reply you say the window had a fault. In your initial post you say it's faulty. Are you saying that's now fixed?

 

If you want a tip about having the problem(s) resolved with the dealer or even if it goes beyond that is not to do what you've written above and say things like "my first thought is what's not going to work today" - nobody will be intesrested in that. Be as precise as you can - don't list everything that didn't work, just list everything that doesn't work right now.

 

Rejecting a car will cost the dealer big time, swapping cars won't so that's probably why they'll have made the offer. If you have no confidence in your current car any reason you haven't taken them up on this?

 

EDIT - just a thought - have you tried contacting the previous owner? Is there any history of accidents? Rather then contacting your dealer, it may be worth asking Skoda UK about the history / service of the vehicle. Your insurer may be able to say if that reg has been in any accidents. Just thinking, the system may not have been calibrated correctly.  ( I hit a deer with my old car it it took me 3mths and Skoda two repair attempts to discover smart cruise control hadn't been calibrated properly ( it needed a factory techy to come up with a solution ).

Edited 19 June, 20223 yr by kodiaqsportline

Mrs. Avocet's 2017 Kodiaq does the "phantom braking" thing on occasions.  (As indeed, does my Peugeot 5008).  I don't think the technology on any of these collision avoidance systems is quite ready yet, to be honest.  Presumably, you have tried setting the front-assist to its shortest possible setting?  That's what we did and it hasn't braked by itself since, although we do get the occasional beep from the dashboard and the sign to "BRAKE"!  That, in itself, is quite alarming, but not as bad as actually applying the brakes.  Obviously, they do it when they think the car is going to have a collision.  In our case, there's one particular bend, which is also in a dip, so its little radar thinks we're going to crash, if we go in there at a reasonable speed.  Also, sometimes, when coming up behind a parked car, intending to pull out past it, but if the system thinks we've left it too late, it will beep at us.

I’ve had 3 Skodas with the emergency  brake thing. They’ve all been a bit keen, especially approaching roundabouts in the near side lane with a car ahead that’s stopped on the outside lane. 
 

The Kodiaq is no different. Only had one full on event and that was from pedestrians on the pavement ahead as I went around a bend at about 25mph. They weren’t doing anything odd, the car just decided the event met the criteria. 
 

For the odd occasion that it gets things a bit wrong, it has always covered the dodgy situations very well and I’m glad that I have it.