broken isuzu alloy

[mub996]

Hi my name is Scot Greer

I contacted you about a problem with a wheel on my Isuzu Trooper Citation SWB

the problem started as I was driving home from Edinburgh. I was driving and my girlfriend was in the passenger seat. The car had no-one else in the car, and was not carrying any other weight apart from her and myself.

we had just came of a busy dual carriage way where we had been travelling at 70mph, thank god it didn't happen here. We had just came off the carriage way and 200 yards from the junction we travelled on to the roundabout at around 20 mph. we were turning, when the car dropped to the one side and I was unable to steer the car round the roundabout...After scraping the road it came to a halt. We both sat as the wheel rolled passed the front of the car. After a few seconds my girlfriend got out of the car and headed to where the wheel was. A car which was behind us also stopped. I have to admit at first I thought the wheel had come loose and fallen off, until I saw the outer of the wheel ......I then looked at the hub and saw the inner part still attached. After changing the wheel I reluctantly drove home some 5 miles away at under 20 mph for fearing something similar.

The next day I contacted the main Isuzu dealer down south the told me to go to the local dealer in Perth. Everyone I spoke to on the phone about the wheel, i.e.. insurance (Admiral) and Isuzu themselves all thought the tyre had come of the wheel. After travelling up to Perth with the wheel in a borrowed van from a friend on the Tuesday. The dealer Chris was totally shocked. He actually stood there for about a minute saying he couldn't believe what he was seeing. We took the wheel inside and he asked to keep it. I refused to allow this as the insurance company was sending an engineer out to see the wheel as the had reservations about a wheel falling apart like how I had said. I came back home after the dealer had taken digital photographs of the wheel. I agreed initially to giving the wheel to the dealer so the could find out what had happened to it. I also asked at the time was the car safe to drive as me and my girlfriend wassent sure now it was. i told them how my car was still sitting outside my house as we had concern about the reliability and safety of the car. Chris contacted me about 3 times on the Tuesday night about getting this wheel and how they now needed the wheel nuts as well. He explained to me that the photographs which he had taken had gone straight to Isuzu UK who had been so concerned with what they were seeing sent the pictures straight to japan for the technical guys ther to have a look. They instructed Isuzu UK to get that wheel. I was also told that plans had already been made to ship it to japan for testing...

Wedensday came and Chris was back on the phone about the wheel twice before 3pm. Each time I told him that the wheel was staying till the insurance company engineer had seen it. The engineer came and advised that in his report to admiral that he was putting the wheel down to wheel defect in the casting and that in 22 years of accident inspection, he had never seen anything like it before. He told how Admiral probably wouldn't pay out. I contacted admiral 8-9 times that day, very concerned that not only was this going to cost me my £310 excess on my insurance but would now cost the whole cost of fixing my car. I was then told to go back to Isuzu and tell them of the indecision of the insurance company. their reaction was "when can we get the wheel". I explained again that I still didn't feel my car was safe and reliable and asked Isuzu as about this again. I was again and again told that they were deeply concerned about both mine and my girlfriends safety. however they were not prepared to do anything at the moment until they had the wheel. I explained again that we had no other means of transport and asked if they could help out. after all the accident wouldn't have happened if the wheel hadn't split....they told me they would talk about it, after they had the wheel. I told them that as far as I was concerned I just wanted my car back on the road safe and reliable and asked them to help put it this way at least till they had inspected the wheel. Once again I was told this was not a priority but getting the wheel was. this seemed strange that they kept saying that they were so concerned with my safety yet would do nothing to help ease my mind. At no time up till now had I been offered a replacement set of wheels on loan, a undercarriage inspection, or a replacement car, till this was sorted.......I was however offered a set of wheelnuts for the replacement of mine, how good of them eh

Thursday came and my car had been sitting at the door since Sunday night. I called a guy called Steven Gillhead, the customer service manager at Isuzu UK he told me that there was nothing he could do till I gave them the wheel.......arggghhh.
He told me that I was to put on paper what was it I wanted and when by, in order for him to pass it on so that they could get the wheel. I wrote an email (attached steve.doc) I called back to make sure it had arrived and asked to be passed on to the person it had been giving to.......after a while of waiting I was told they would call me back......I waited, and waited. Eventually I called them back. I asked to speak to the man at the head of the tree of Isuzu UK, who I had been told was Mr Ed Swapman, He wisent there so I asked to speak to the next in charge....Mr Burton. I didn't get to speak to him but was them told someone would call me back. I told MR Burtons assistant that if I didn't get some kind of result today that I would have no alternative but to contact Japan myself Monday morning ......within 2mins I was then called back by a Mr Phil Evans (the General Manager of Isuzu UK) I explained the situation to him and told him that despite what I was being told I and my girlfriend both felt Isuzu were being unhelpful I also told him again and again that all I wanted was my car to be returned to a safe manor. I asked him if he could authorize an inspection of my car and a replacement set of wheels until even the wheel had been inspected. He refused saying that he could do nothing until he could get this wheel back, and told me that I had been offered help with the offer of replacement wheelnuts. I told him there wisent much need for wheelnuts when I didn't have a wheel to use them on. He also said put yourself in Isuzu situation, if I give you 4 wheels and an inspection which would insure the cars safety, would I then pay for these, if the wheel was then found to be damaged in an accident and not by a casting defect. I told him that if Isuzu were so concerned with the safety of the car, he wouldn't have asked that to this he replied well if we cant have the wheel then we cant help you. He then said that obviously we were only wasting each others time and that he felt this conversation was over. I told him that as far as I was concerned the matter wasent over and would take other matters.....to which I was told that is entirely up to you, goodbye, and hung up.

Many people have giving their opinion that i should contact a lawyer as this could have been fatal if it had happened on the motorway or dualcarrageway. i myself however at this stage only want my car returned to its safe and reliable self. what do you think?

Thanks for listening
scot greer

[mixerone]

It seems Isuzu has a different approach to handling problems than other manufacturers do. I understand the irritation your feeling with them. My 98 Amigo had ABS problems many times. First time dealer checked it out -said there was nothing wrong with it. Second time -said a wire was bad. Third time complete ABS rear harness was replaced. Ok each time the ABS light was on. When I left the first time it was still on. The next 2 it was off, only on the third it stayed off. Doesn't seem like much ...right. When the light was on the ABS was shut down. Isuzu never has had a relliable ABS anyway but I still felt it was a safety issue. Now I had problems with a flutter while driving and each time EACH dealer could not find the problem. I even overheard a tech tell his supervisor "I bet this guy goes to the emergency room when he just sneezes" . They nearly called the police after that. They also told me to never come back to that dealership to waste their time. I called Isuzu of America... NOTHING. I later took it to an out of state dealership who told me over the phone that they could help...yea right. I went down there with only the flutter and ended up with a dead fuel gauge. The tech came out and told me he had some good and bad news. The good-he could get it to flutter so there was a problem. The bad news-he had the laptop connected while testdriving it showed nothing and when finished the PC asked him if he wanted to upgrade???? He clicked the yes button not knowing what would happen. BOOM - he just reset the computer for the upgraded fuel sender which it did not have installed. This is IRREVERSIBLE. His boss then denied the tech said this and told me he ordered the new sending unit. I thought great deny but fixing it anyway. NOT, he then gave me the bill for the work done(???) and for the future sending unit. Service work $95.00 sending unit $ 169.00. I told him I wasn't paying a penny. I imediately called Isuzu They were shocked by the handling of this but advised me to pay. I said no. Once again the police were called but I ended up paying only the basic shop fee $70.00 . That was a year and a half ago and still have no gas gauge. The flutter ended up being a $40.00 part. There has been numerous times of calling Isuzu of America from a leaking seam on the softop(warranty) to a defective replacement rear window(which is bad again due to the defective zipper). For a dependable manufacturer they sure have attitudes with people. I would talk to an attorney (because of the safety issues involved) becuase if one wheel broke what will happen if another does? Or go to another set of rims from a salvage yard. I would go with the attorney though.