My fiance’s front brakes siezed after the first winter she had the car (she bought it new.) They replaced the disks and pads under warranty since it was obviously a defect in parts/manufacturing, not normal wear and tear.
After her second winter the rears siezed and chewed up the disks. I remember pointing out to the dealerships service manager in the middle of winter the back pads were starting to wear unevenly. He said it would be fine. By spring they were shot and they wouldn’t cover it under warranty because brakes are normal wear and tear. I argued on the phone with a rep at Mazda Northeast and the convo went something like:
Me: “The car is only 2 years old. This should be covered under warranty.”
Him: “Brakes are normal wear and tear. Only covered for 12 months.”
Me: “They didn’t fail due to wearing out. It should be covered under warranty.”
Him: “They wore out due to neglected maintenance. They should be cleaned periodically.”
Me: “I thought you said it’s not under warranty because of normal wear and tear, not failure due to neglected maintenance?”
Him: “Uhhh…”
Me: “For neglected maintenance to void a warranty, that maintenance has to be spelled out in the owner’s manual. Where in the owner’s manual does it describe periodic brake cleaning? What is the recommended service interval?”
Him: “Well it’s not the manual. It’s just that Buffalo has such extreme winters, and there’s something in the manual about environmental influences.”
Me: “Oh. Winters in Buffalo are always snowy and salty. I guess driving a Protege in Buffalo in the winter voids the warranty. Well then what car do you recommend for a Buffalo winter, since a Protege can’t take it?”
Him: “You can drive a Protege in the winter.”
Me: “But it voids the warranty unless you perform regular maintenace that Mazda does not formally recommend?”
I just kept talking him around in circles from “It’s normal wear and tear so not covered” to “It’s neglected maintenance so it’s not covered” to “There’s no formal maintenance recommendation, they are listed as a normal wear and tear item” changing his excuse every time I shot it down.
From a technical standpoint, yeah the car should be cleaned and the wheels/undercarriage hosed down like once a week in the winter, but from a business standpoint that should be spelled out in the owner’s manual if they’re not going to cover a failed part due to exposure to salt and whatnot.
The service manager at the stealership was a real prick abuot the whole thing. I’m especially pissed that they didn’t clean the brakes when I first pointed it out to them, but instead let it go until they got to sell us new brakes/pads/service.
:tdown: Towne Mazda
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On the other hand, I bought my Jetta used at Jerry Gradl Motors (Millersport/North French) and I brought it there once when my rear brakes were making noise in the winter so they got me in in about an hour, gave me a ride back to work, and cleaned/lubed my brakes even though they didn’t see anything wrong with them. I brought it there with a broken tensioner pulley later on and again, gave me a ride back to work, went to the VW dealership for a new pulley, and had my car ready by 5. Gave me a good deal initially too. ($10k for a 2001 Jetta VR6, stick, leather, heated seats, Monsoon, 57k, new brakes & tires, mint.)
:tup: Jerry Gradl Motors