Brake Failure -- Dealer to Blame?

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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:01 PM
  #31  
When did you have the work done? Seems to me we are missing some of the story, like how did you not notice a much stiffer pedal if there was no fluid movement?
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:17 PM
  #32  
Quote: When did you have the work done? Seems to me we are missing some of the story, like how did you not notice a much stiffer pedal if there was no fluid movement?
there were 3 other calipers that the fluid could flow too.

more then likely it did feel a bit more stiff, but that might be "normal" after you just had your brakes redone at the dealership.

I am sure there was no reason for alarm when driving the car, well, that is until the whole thing caught fire.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:21 PM
  #33  
Quote: there were 3 other calipers that the fluid could flow too.

more then likely it did feel a bit more stiff, but that might be "normal" after you just had your brakes redone at the dealership.

I am sure there was no reason for alarm when driving the car, well, that is until the whole thing caught fire.
Notice how he makes no mention of the mileage he put on the car. Based on that I am assuming that we are not getting the whole story here from the OP. If it happened within 100 miles then I can buy that, but if it was 1000+ I have a very difficult time believing that either 1) he didnt notice a stiffer pedal or 2) it wasn't actually Stevens Creek fault. I just want to know the mileage between the service and the brake failure before I rush to any judgement. Plenty of people mess around with their cars, screw something up, and then, not wanted to take any blame themselves or pay for the fix OOP, look to crucify the shop which did the last service.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:25 PM
  #34  
I dunno.. claming your brake line would be something that you "might" remember to take off if you are doing something DIY.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:26 PM
  #35  
Quote: So here's the update. The dealer in question is Steven's Creek Subaru in San Jose. I'm only naming them now because I wanted to give them a chance to make it right. They have not.

I'm outraged. Yesterday I had the car flatbedded from my house down to them. They called this morning totally disavowing any responsibility for the brake problem. They said that when they went to inspect the car, there was no clamp on the brake line and that they don't use clamps like the ones they had seen in my photos I emailed to them. They are refusing to pay for any of it. They claim either I did this to my car or someone sabotaged my vehicle.

Are you kidding me?

That clamp has been stuck on there since the day I picked it from their shop when they did the rear brakes. For it to all of a sudden "fall off" or disappear en route on the tow truck is absolutely impossible.

They want me to believe that I sabotaged my own car? What?! They want me to believe my car was sabotaged by someone else?! What a load of crap. The car has been sitting in my garage nearly the whole time I've owned it (a few months).

They are clearly trying to weasel their way out of paying for damage caused by their own incompetence and negligence. I'm trying to get Subaru of America involved, but this is an outrage.

Do not go to Steven's Creek Subaru in San Jose.

If anyone has any suggestions of other methods of recourse, please let me know. This is unconscionable.

Jonathan
You're story isn't making sense now...

I know several employee's there, and to say those things with such heat and anger somewhat tips me off that you aren't telling the whole truth here.

Who clamps a line for doing just pads?

And again, if your wheel locked, just one wheel like that, you'd have made an instant left turn into the median or other lane. I kept thinking about that over and over again, cause when with 4 wheels locked and some locked slightly more than others my car will want to turn left or right slightly. locking 1 rear wheel like that should've meant an instant turn.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:28 PM
  #36  
Quote: I dunno.. claming your brake line would be something that you "might" remember to take off if you are doing something DIY.
Ive done brakes several times and Im not exactly sure why you would clamp a brake line to begin with.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:30 PM
  #37  
Quote: You're story isn't making sense now...

I know several employee's there, and to say those things with such heat and anger somewhat tips me off that you aren't telling the whole truth here.

Who clamps a line for doing just pads?

And again, if your wheel locked, just one wheel like that, you'd have made an instant left turn into the median or other lane. I kept thinking about that over and over again, cause when with 4 wheels locked and some locked slightly more than others my car will want to turn left or right slightly. locking 1 rear wheel like that should've meant an instant turn.
I dont know if it would make an instant hard turn since it is a rear wheel, but it sure would pull that way, at least a little, not to mention under any previous hard braking you would think it would pull to the right since the left side doesnt have the same clamping force as the right side, at least I would think it would do that. As I said before, something doesnt seem right here and knowing the mileage between when the service was done and when the brake failure occured might shine some light on the situation.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:31 PM
  #38  
Quote: That's just a given for the past 6 years or longer. There are multiple older threads about Stevens Creek Subaru in BAIC. Search there for the threads, but most of the later posts (sometimes dozens) are just folks saying, "that's not right, that's messed up, yahda, yahda, yahda", so it becomes tedious to find later followups from the original member who posted the problem.
Their service and part dept are not the same anymore... I mean I was the one who nearly organized a boycott of them years ago, i hated that place... but I would go there for anything these days. It's NOT the same dealership it once was.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:33 PM
  #39  
Quote: I dont know if it would make an instant hard turn since it is a rear wheel, but it sure would pull that way, at least a little, not to mention under any previous hard braking you would think it would pull to the right since the left side doesnt have the same clamping force as the right side, at least I would think it would do that. As I said before, something doesnt seem right here and knowing the mileage between when the service was done and when the brake failure occured might shine some light on the situation.
It would turn a lot, I mean... at the speeds he's talking about, A LOT!

What I don't get is why he had the worried approach to post 1, but later this vendetta tone.

Also, I hadn't noticed that he doesn't post much here... troll?
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:34 PM
  #40  
Quote: Their service and part dept are not the same anymore... I mean I was the one who nearly organized a boycott of them years ago, i hated that place... but I would go there for anything these days. It's NOT the same dealership it once was.
I second that, they are now the only place I would buy OEM parts from in the bay area.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:36 PM
  #41  
Quote: Ive done brakes several times and Im not exactly sure why you would clamp a brake line to begin with.
you wouldn't. Even after removing the line from a caliper there isn't much fluid that comes out, and to stop it you just tie the line up on the strut... there isn't any pressure in the line.

When I read his first post I thought he said they removed the caliper, but for pads no one would have removed the line...
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:36 PM
  #42  
Quote: you wouldn't. Even after removing the line from a caliper there isn't much fluid that comes out, and to stop it you just tie the line up on the strut... there isn't any pressure in the line.

When I read his first post I thought he said they removed the caliper, but for pads no one would have removed the line...
unless someone was doing a brake job and they had no idea what they were doing.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:37 PM
  #43  
Quote: It would turn a lot, I mean... at the speeds he's talking about, A LOT!

What I don't get is why he had the worried approach to post 1, but later this vendetta tone.

Also, I hadn't noticed that he doesn't post much here... troll?
You are probably right about how much it would turn, I just know you wouldnt notice that due to a smoking tire. I would bet you could smell that burning in the cabin of the car as well, and it probably didnt smell too good.

I want to know the mileage, or at least what he claims the mileage, between service and brake failure was, I think that will tell us a lot.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:44 PM
  #44  
Quote: I was driving home yesterday from work and, at one point, had to brake hard when I was cut off. Didn't notice anything odd.
BS... You had to have noticed something. This is why I asked how you didn't lost control of your car...

Quote:
A couple months ago I took my car to the dealer for it's 30k mile service.
Sorry, you couldn't possibly have driven the car for MONTHS and then have this happen to you... The brake system has a lot of pressure in it during braking using vaccum assist from the booster. Fluid would easily make it past the clamp... I agree that making it's way out of the clamp would be hard, but still, if you live around here you must be braking hard at least a few times a day...


Quote:
However, it appears that whoever did the service clamped the brake line (possible when they were bleeding the brakes) and forgot to remove the clamp when they were done.
Nobody i know clamps a line for a pad change, or ever really. Not even the pro shops or anybody. Never heard of it until this thread.
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Nov 24, 2008 | 04:57 PM
  #45  
Quote: I can see what happen now. Caliper banjo moved. When bleeding brakes. Forget to remove the clamp. Slowing fluid past that point. Draging the brake. As you drive the car using the brake some fuild is able to move past that point but not allot. Then once its full on that side of the line, The brake caliper begains to drag on the rotor. Once it drags it begains to over heat. Boiling the fluid and turning it to vapor. Causing even more pressure to build up locking the rear brake caliper.

Can anyone say brake horsepower... Looks like you make more then your brakes.. lol

Be glad it didnt start a major fire. Its not the 1st time I have seen that...

Stevens creek will not get anything from me unless they fix this problem. If they dont, I will never step foot in that place again.

With the economy this bad.. I wonder how many customers they can lose until they shut their doors.

Sucks as I'd drive down there to get parts on saturday. I have also test driven a few cars with them.. Looking to buy but now I will hold off.
thats what i said!!!!

but my post wasnt clear at all haha
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