Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EMD]

My daughter had an accident in her recently bought Corsa , the brakes and steering failed an she went straight into the curbing at 20 mph  Luckily it was there an not on the motorway .

Anyway does she have any come back on the bloke who sold her it ? He is a dealer but i advised her not to buy from him as there was issues with the car and he tried to sell her it with a broken drive shaft until i intervened  She's a bit shook up but i dont know what we should do 

[flyer 0712]

Did it have a recent m.o.t.on it when she purchased it......did he explain any faults to her on purchase..was it sold to her as...trade sale....

[Varche]

Private seller or dealer?

Brakes and steering failure!! We Corsa owners are concerned. I hope it was something simple like a track rod end becoming detached.

[EMD]

Did it have a recent m.o.t.on it when she purchased it......did he explain any faults to her on purchase..was it sold to her as...trade sale....

Mot yep

Said it had all been checked and all advisories were dealt with .

One of the advisories were brake pipes 

Trade sale and he is a Dealer .

[flyer 0712]

how much m.o.t was on it....if it was a full year then contact vosa and make enquiries as to what you can do. ......if it waqs a full m.o.t then it could not have been inspected properly and i would tell the guy that unless he sorts it out you will inform vosa and if they find anything funny going on they will come down on the m.o.t station like a tonne of bricks,

[EMD]

how much m.o.t was on it....if it was a full year then contact vosa and make enquiries as to what you can do. ......if it waqs a full m.o.t then it could not have been inspected properly and i would tell the guy that unless he sorts it out you will inform vosa and if they find anything funny going on they will come down on the m.o.t station like a tonne of bricks,

Im sure he put a full mot on it . I told him about the drive shaft and he said oh its only making that noise cos its been standing . I demanded it to be checked an he came back and apologised as his mechanic had overlooked it  Then he said if anything goes wrong with the car i will fix for you at a discounted rate 

I feel like knocking his lights out but obviously i wont ..

[Crazycarzowner]

Only speaking from my professional experience (did police attend?) I was sent to a similar situation a couple of years back and had the car examined by our vehicle examiner. Once the results were in it was straight to  Vosa & they dealt with the garage and  worse than anything I could throw at them!!!!

[EMD]

Im trying to find out from my daughter if he put a full mot on it , even if he didnt the fact he said to me that all the advisories were dealt with should give me some sort of come back .. no ? 

[EMD]

Only speaking from my professional experience (did police attend?) I was sent to a similar situation a couple of years back and had the car examined by our vehicle examiner. Once the results were in it was straight to  Vosa & they dealt with the garage and  worse than anything I could throw at them!!!!

Are these examiners available to look over the general public cars Jason ?

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I hope Im not speaking out of turn, but have you examined the car (or had it examined by a professional) to determine brake and steering failure ?
I have heard drivers who were a bit short of experience describe terminal understeer in a very similar manner.

[EMD]

She had just come off a slip road an down to a roundabout , braked .. brakes failed .. steering loss , she went in a straight line into the roundabout .

I drove the car once and all seemed fine apart from what i would describe as a worn drop link noise 

[Nick W]

She had just come off a slip road an down to a roundabout , braked .. brakes failed .. steering loss , she went in a straight line into the roundabout .

I drove the car once and all seemed fine apart from what i would describe as a worn drop link noise 

does it steer and brake now? Because I've had those symptoms described to me when the real fault was the engine stalling.

[EMD]

She had just come off a slip road an down to a roundabout , braked .. brakes failed .. steering loss , she went in a straight line into the roundabout .

I drove the car once and all seemed fine apart from what i would describe as a worn drop link noise 

does it steer and brake now? Because I've had those symptoms described to me when the real fault was the engine stalling.

Ive not seen the car yet nick but from what she described , it starts but wont steer or brake

If it makes any difference its a 2002 1.2 manual sxi

[dad1uk]

Where is the car?
As Jason said, are the Police involved?
If not I think an independent assessment as to the state of the car is needed before you think about going after the garage.
If it is that bad you will need a written assessment by an MOT garage.

[Crazycarzowner]

Only speaking from my professional experience (did police attend?) I was sent to a similar situation a couple of years back and had the car examined by our vehicle examiner. Once the results were in it was straight to  Vosa & they dealt with the garage and  worse than anything I could throw at them!!!!

Are these examiners available to look over the general public cars Jason ?

If you ask VOSA they will look at it for you (at a price usually MOT cost) ours are trained to the same standard and do the equivalent job to the VOSA ones but are in house & work for us. DON'T take it to a normal testing station, make inquiries with VOSA, once you've had chance to see it & get the lowdown from ya daughter.

[TheBoy]

Simultaneous brake and steering failure suggests 2 completely unrelated simultaneous failures. Which is more than desperately unlucky, no matter how much of a death trap the car was.

A question has to be asked, are you sure you are getting the true, full story of the incident?

[EMD]

Simultaneous brake and steering failure suggests 2 completely unrelated simultaneous failures. Which is more than desperately unlucky, no matter how much of a death trap the car was.

A question has to be asked, are you sure you are getting the true, full story of the incident?

That is true , dont suppose ill ever know that . I am getting the car examined next week so will take it from there .

[Andy H]

Simultaneous brake and steering failure suggests 2 completely unrelated simultaneous failures. Which is more than desperately unlucky, no matter how much of a death trap the car was.

A question has to be asked, are you sure you are getting the true, full story of the incident?

That is true , dont suppose ill ever know that . I am getting the car examined next week so will take it from there .

Does it have power steering & servo assisted brakes? Nick W may have it when he describes how the lack of assistance with a stalled engine can be a shock for a novice any driver

[chrisgixer]

Come on. She stalled it didn't she.

Lost pas and servo assistance, panicked, could to turn the wheel or apply enough brake pressure, the rest is history.


...or it stalled. ....?

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I had a similar experience in my Omega about a month ago. Tight right hand bend (luckily with a dropped kerb onto a driveway on the outside), turned the wheel to the right but nothing happened,panic braked and still nothing happened.
Car stopped on the driveway of someones house. Got out and had a look around to find lots of diesel was sloshed all over the road.
Might be worth revisiting the accident site to take a look ?

[YZ250]

Glad she's ok, could have been nasty. 

I had a similar experience in my Omega about a month ago. Tight right hand bend (luckily with a dropped kerb onto a driveway on the outside), turned the wheel to the right but nothing happened,panic braked and still nothing happened.
Car stopped on the driveway of someones house. Got out and had a look around to find lots of diesel was sloshed all over the road.
Might be worth revisiting the accident site to take a look ?

This happened to me recently. I was exiting a roundabout and passed over what I thought was a trail of water but was indeed diesel. The front wheels under-steered, I hoofed it to bring the back end around and childishly left the roundabout sideways. If I hadn't been in a hurry I'd have gone back for another go. 

[Vamps]

Glad she's ok, could have been nasty. 

I had a similar experience in my Omega about a month ago. Tight right hand bend (luckily with a dropped kerb onto a driveway on the outside), turned the wheel to the right but nothing happened,panic braked and still nothing happened.
Car stopped on the driveway of someones house. Got out and had a look around to find lots of diesel was sloshed all over the road.
Might be worth revisiting the accident site to take a look ?

This happened to me recently. I was exiting a roundabout and passed over what I thought was a trail of water but was indeed diesel. The front wheels under-steered, I hoofed it to bring the back end around and childishly left the roundabout sideways. If I hadn't been in a hurry I'd have gone back for another go. 

 

[EMD]

Come on. She stalled it didn't she.

Lost pas and servo assistance, panicked, could to turn the wheel or apply enough brake pressure, the rest is history.


...or it stalled. ....?

It does sound to me like it stalled  But not being there she says the car was running all the time  I presumed she went head on into the roundabout but she says the car went sideways into it 

I never learnt her to handbrake turn 

[Andy H]

Come on. She stalled it didn't she.

Lost pas and servo assistance, panicked, could to turn the wheel or apply enough brake pressure, the rest is history.


...or it stalled. ....?

It does sound to me like it stalled  But not being there she says the car was running all the time  I presumed she went head on into the roundabout but she says the car went sideways into it 

I never learnt her to handbrake turn 

Taken at face value (roundabout, travelling slowly, no retardation, no steering, getting it sideways) it looks like another diseasal spill. Filthy stuff 

[EMD]

Come on. She stalled it didn't she.

Lost pas and servo assistance, panicked, could to turn the wheel or apply enough brake pressure, the rest is history.


...or it stalled. ....?

It does sound to me like it stalled  But not being there she says the car was running all the time  I presumed she went head on into the roundabout but she says the car went sideways into it 

I never learnt her to handbrake turn 

Taken at face value (roundabout, travelling slowly, no retardation, no steering, getting it sideways) it looks like another diseasal spill. Filthy stuff 

Hm could be  It was miles away from me so no way of checking now 

[Andy H]

Could be a good time to treat her to a session on a skid pan

Have you had a chance to check whether brakes and steering are faulty?

[EMD]

Could be a good time to treat her to a session on a skid pan

Have you had a chance to check whether brakes and steering are faulty?

Will have a look tomorrow , she said the car starts and drives but when the steering wheel is turned there is a horrible clunking . Slamming the car into the curbing could have written the car of but ill have a look 

[05omegav6]

Could be a good time to treat her to a session on a skid pan

Have you had a chance to check whether brakes and steering are faulty?

Good shout First thing my mum did after in passed my test... been a very handy foundation over the years

[Vamps]

Could be a good time to treat her to a session on a skid pan

Have you had a chance to check whether brakes and steering are faulty?

Good shout First thing my mum did after in passed my test... been a very handy foundation over the years

We used to go to an old 3 lane road, now bypassed, or the disused hospital car park, when it snowed to 'play' great fun and nothing to hit, if it all went wrong, some great memories.......

[EMD]

So i went over to have a look at the car :

Clonk to the left on the steering The wishbone has snapped at the back end 

Brakes work fine and no imediate sign of anything wrong , good feel to the brake pedal and stops ok going foward and reverse slowly and sharply 

Drop links have play in them both sides an possible tie rod end play if not bent as well 

Everything else normal   

Me thinks she just ran into the curb or the wishbone snapped causing her to panic an lose control 

[TheBoy]

I don't think you have much comeback on seller.

[Andy H]

So i went over to have a look at the car :

Clonk to the left on the steering The wishbone has snapped at the back end 

Brakes work fine and no imediate sign of anything wrong , good feel to the brake pedal and stops ok going foward and reverse slowly and sharply 

Drop links have play in them both sides an possible tie rod end play if not bent as well 

Everything else normal   

Me thinks she just ran into the curb or the wishbone snapped causing her to panic an lose control 

Were you able to see if it was a fresh break or a pre-existing (ie rusty) failure/crack?

[EMD]

So i went over to have a look at the car :

Clonk to the left on the steering The wishbone has snapped at the back end 

Brakes work fine and no imediate sign of anything wrong , good feel to the brake pedal and stops ok going foward and reverse slowly and sharply 

Drop links have play in them both sides an possible tie rod end play if not bent as well 

Everything else normal   

Me thinks she just ran into the curb or the wishbone snapped causing her to panic an lose control 

Were you able to see if it was a fresh break or a pre-existing (ie rusty) failure/crack?

Couldnt see properly andy , will have a better look in the week ... general suspension components look pretty tired though  Seller said he would get discount on any repairs done at his garage he uses  Thing is the so called garage checked the car twice and the first time never found the busted drive shaft that i told them to fix  So it wont be going anywhere near that garage 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Busted drive shaft....how exactly, clicking CV joint yes (not that its a danger in anyway just annoying).

On Corsa (or any modern car come to that), total brake failure is pretty much impossible due to the split circuits plus they still brake pretty well without the engine running.

Power steering setup is a motor assist unit on the steering column so you wont lose total steering input.

Me thinks the basic failure was more likely the seat wheel interface (lack of experience?). 

[EMD]

Busted drive shaft....how exactly, clicking CV joint yes (not that its a danger in anyway just annoying).

On Corsa (or any modern car come to that), total brake failure is pretty much impossible due to the split circuits plus they still brake pretty well without the engine running.

Power steering setup is a motor assist unit on the steering column so you wont lose total steering input.

Me thinks the basic failure was more likely the seat wheel interface (lack of experience?). 

I thought as much . I was expecting the brake pedal to drop to the floor when i first inspected it but the brakes are working fine  With the story i was told i was expecting a burst brake pipe or something  Ah well