"I purchased a used 2000 Holden Astra City Sedan
in August 2004 which had done 80,000KM and have had quite a few problems.
The problems represented are all common faults with the Holden Astra
which I find very annoying. When I first test drove the car from the
used car lot, it drove very well and I was quite impressed and proceeded
to purchase the vehicle. After about 87,000KM the car started to make
a severe grinding sound from the brakes. I took the car to a brake
repairer who said the pads were worn and so were the rotors and would
require an $800 replacement. I took this on the chin as the car was
second hand. A few weeks later I spoke with a friend who works for
Holden and he informed me that the brake pads provided with the Astra’s
are absolutely terrible. The pads are so hard he said, they will ware
the rotors before the pads even feel it. He warned me to have the
cam belt in the car checked as the manual with my model is so wrong
about the maintenance schedule. I was sort of over it by this stage
and let it go and didn't pay any attention to the cam belt story.
Sure enough the next day on the way to work I started
to hear a vibration from the motor. My service was a week away so
I left it till then to have the sound checked. The mechanic told me
that the cam belt in the car needed replacing and that I should have
it attended to straight away. That night I sat down at the computer
and started to Google and find out how much this problem would cost
me. Lucky I came across some reading about the problem in New Zealand
and found this was actually a manufacturing fault with the car. My
car was at 87,000KM and the manual said the scheduled change was 120,000KM
or 8years which meant this little Astra was failing 33,000KM short
of what Holden state.
The next morning I was straight on the Holden website
and started to email the Holden Customer Care Centre. A few emails
back and forth and I was told that Holden stick by their manual and
if anything does go wrong they would treat it as a manufacturing fault.
I thought that was ridiculous as the cam belt, tensioner and whatever
else they change would only cost $670.00 though I took Holden’s
advice and continued to drive the car.
At 102,000KM the cam belt on the car snapped. $100
later and a tow to my local Holden dealer, I was told the cam belt
had snapped and the valves had gone through the head which would cost
$4000 to fix. I was furious as I had told Holden this would happen
in the first place and they didn’t do anything. So I found myself
on the phone waiting on hold having the conversation in my head and
planning what I would say to the person on the end of the phone. A
lady picked up and asked for a case number which I had from my initial
emails. She then went through the details on her computer screen then
several minutes went by. I was placed on hold then told an area manager
would contact me regarding the damage to my car. Sure enough a guy
called late in the day and asked me to go to the dealer where my car
was towed to so I could have the service history copied and faxed
to Holden for verification. The next day I got a call from Holden.
I was ready to get on my soapbox when the voice on the end of the
phone said “Holden have evaluated the damage to your car and
we will pay the $4000 to have it repaired. All you will have to pay
is sundries which include brake fluid and filters which should not
come to more than $100.00” I agreed and now my broken car is
being fixed.
I am very happy with the way Holden handled this
situation I just can’t understand why they didn’t fix
the car in the first place and why it took my car blowing up before
anything happened. My girlfriend was driving the car when it stopped
and was considering overtaking a truck before it failed. This could
have led to a terrible incident, it is just lucky It didn’t.
All in all thank you Holden for the service, just wish you would admit
there is a manufacturing fault with these cars rather than dealing
with them on a case by case basis. There should be a recall not a
cover up."
J Mackay
