Hello all,
I am posting on here due to a serious problem I am having at the moment with Renault regarding the suspension on my Trophy. The front right damper has cracked causing it to leak and it therefore needs replacing. Unfortunately, both my dealership and Renault Customer Services have told me that it is down to 'wear and tear' therefore it is not covered under warranty - they have quoted £1600 for a new one.
After a bit of research, it turns out that quite a few people have had the same problem with the dampers - I am keen to find out how many people have been in my situation?
There are several reasons why I am not accepting responsibility for payment and they are as follows:
1) This has already happened to me before after 12,000 miles and the damper was replaced under warranty.
2) 10,000 miles a year is low usage - dampers specified for road use should be able to cope with this.
3) It seems to be a common fault with the damper - I have read several reports on here of people with the same problem (hence why I am keen to gather your experiences). Plus not every Trophy owner uses this forum or bothers to post such issues on here, so there will be more cases.
4) The damper has failed, it has not worn out. It should not crack from wear and tear.
5) It is unsafe - a car supplied with faulty suspension is not safe to drive. Luckily, I was able to detect that the damper had broken and slowed down accordingly. However, if someone does not notice this fault whilst driving, they may continue to drive as normal thus putting their safety at risk.
6) According to Renault Mansfield, each damper costs £1600, which means £6,400 worth of dampers per Trophy. I paid £13,300 for my Trophy brand new which means almost half of that cost is the dampers alone, which I find extremely hard to believe. Alternatively, I was quoted £274 for the standard 182 dampers, which means the dampers on the Trophy are £5304 more, yet the list price of the Trophy wasn't £5300 more than the 182. Again, the figures simply don't add up.
7) Renault Mansfield also told me that the Sachs dampers had a warranty of up to 3,000 miles - my first damper was replaced under warranty after 12,000 miles.
I am intending to write to the Managing Director of Renault UK, Roland Bouchara, about this issue as I believe it is serious. It is not uncommon for car manufactuers to issue a full recall for thousands of cars over possible safety issues or faulty parts, therefore I don't think recalling 500 cars is beyond Renault's capabilities.
Furthermore, I simply can't afford to pay £1600 on a new damper now and inevitably for others in the future. Plus noone is going to want to buy a second hand Trophy, knowing that they're going to have to pay £1600 every time a damper fails, which it evidently will. As it stands I am probably better off stripping the car and selling it for parts.
I am going to suggest to Roland Bouchara that Renault recall all 500 Trophies, which really isn't many, and they should have their dampers checked and refurbished free of charge if necessary. It is time Renault took responsibility for the faulty parts they have supplies.
I know getting a positive response from Renault is unlikely, but I feel we have a genuine reason to complain here, and the more people I can get on my side the better chance we have of being taken seriously. I have got nothing to lose as I'm not paying for the repair anyway.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, please reply with your thoughts and/or experiences and details (mileage, warranty etc)
Jordan
I am posting on here due to a serious problem I am having at the moment with Renault regarding the suspension on my Trophy. The front right damper has cracked causing it to leak and it therefore needs replacing. Unfortunately, both my dealership and Renault Customer Services have told me that it is down to 'wear and tear' therefore it is not covered under warranty - they have quoted £1600 for a new one.
After a bit of research, it turns out that quite a few people have had the same problem with the dampers - I am keen to find out how many people have been in my situation?
There are several reasons why I am not accepting responsibility for payment and they are as follows:
1) This has already happened to me before after 12,000 miles and the damper was replaced under warranty.
2) 10,000 miles a year is low usage - dampers specified for road use should be able to cope with this.
3) It seems to be a common fault with the damper - I have read several reports on here of people with the same problem (hence why I am keen to gather your experiences). Plus not every Trophy owner uses this forum or bothers to post such issues on here, so there will be more cases.
4) The damper has failed, it has not worn out. It should not crack from wear and tear.
5) It is unsafe - a car supplied with faulty suspension is not safe to drive. Luckily, I was able to detect that the damper had broken and slowed down accordingly. However, if someone does not notice this fault whilst driving, they may continue to drive as normal thus putting their safety at risk.
6) According to Renault Mansfield, each damper costs £1600, which means £6,400 worth of dampers per Trophy. I paid £13,300 for my Trophy brand new which means almost half of that cost is the dampers alone, which I find extremely hard to believe. Alternatively, I was quoted £274 for the standard 182 dampers, which means the dampers on the Trophy are £5304 more, yet the list price of the Trophy wasn't £5300 more than the 182. Again, the figures simply don't add up.
7) Renault Mansfield also told me that the Sachs dampers had a warranty of up to 3,000 miles - my first damper was replaced under warranty after 12,000 miles.
I am intending to write to the Managing Director of Renault UK, Roland Bouchara, about this issue as I believe it is serious. It is not uncommon for car manufactuers to issue a full recall for thousands of cars over possible safety issues or faulty parts, therefore I don't think recalling 500 cars is beyond Renault's capabilities.
Furthermore, I simply can't afford to pay £1600 on a new damper now and inevitably for others in the future. Plus noone is going to want to buy a second hand Trophy, knowing that they're going to have to pay £1600 every time a damper fails, which it evidently will. As it stands I am probably better off stripping the car and selling it for parts.
I am going to suggest to Roland Bouchara that Renault recall all 500 Trophies, which really isn't many, and they should have their dampers checked and refurbished free of charge if necessary. It is time Renault took responsibility for the faulty parts they have supplies.
I know getting a positive response from Renault is unlikely, but I feel we have a genuine reason to complain here, and the more people I can get on my side the better chance we have of being taken seriously. I have got nothing to lose as I'm not paying for the repair anyway.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, please reply with your thoughts and/or experiences and details (mileage, warranty etc)
Jordan
