CA - VOLKSWAGEN/FALKEN - I could have died...

CALIFORNIA
VOLKSWAGEN/FALKEN

I'm not familiar with law or building a case in any way, so I'm hoping maybe some of you out there can give me some advice or guidance or let me know if this is even worth my time.

I bought a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta GL used from a local dealer (Davis Mitsubishi) in Mid-February. Everything was fine up to this last weekend.

On my way to work on Saturday, May 24th, I had a blowout. This blowout wasn't just any blowout though. When I pulled my car to the side of the road, I saw that the entire top layer of the wheel seperated from the sidewalls of the wheels which were still attached to the rim.

I got my tools and spare tire out and took off the blown out tire. Upon taking the tire off I realized the problem was much worse than I had thought. The top layer of the wheel rubbed against the inside of the wheel well and the friction produced enough heat to melt through the wheel well shield, three plastic pipes, and what looks to be some sort of hydraulic piece for the shocks/suspension for the right rear tire.

I assumed that the plastic pipes must have meant the pipes weren't of any significance, maybe air conditioning or something, so I just put my spare on and headed on to work.

Then, three days later it came time to fill my tank. I went to my local Chevron and started pumping, that's when the real shock came. Gas went everywhere. It turns out one of the plastic pipes that was melted through was for gas; I had severed the gas line to my tank. I was with a friend who couldn't believe it either, we were scared to even start the vehicle now. We put the car in neutral and pushed it away from the puddle of gas that now covered the ground. We sat for a while thinking of what to do and then decided to try to turn the vehicle on. It turned out, but now I couldn't put gas into my tank nor do I know what other effects a severed gas line might have on my vehicle.

I immediately drove home and called my dealer for some guidance. My dealer transferred me to their service center with whom a Jack answered to help me with my situation. I explained the situation to me and he asked me what kind of tires they were. I had to go check and realized they were all Falken tires. He said the name of "Les Schwabb Tires" who he said would help me file a damage claim. With only an 1/8th of a gas tank left and no way to fill it, I did what the dealer told me and drove to les schwabb to see what they could do. Upon my arrival I was promptly given the "no receipt, no service" attitude and told that they "[didn't] even know davis mitsubishi."

I was getting kinda fearful as to where this was going and decided it'd be best to just drive to my dealer and see what we could do from there. That way I'd at least be at their service center where they could repair it in their shop if it came to that.

Once at Davis Mitsubishi I explained my problem to the guy that actually sold me my car, George, and he said he'd see what he could do. Turns out there was nothing he could do. I have a 1 year warranty on the vehicle but that doesn't cover the timing belts, gaskets or tires, etc. which meant that because the damage was caused by the tire ti wasn't actually the vehicle that was defect. This makes sense to me, but now what do I do?

I didn't have enough gas to get home so I just called my insurance and had them tow me home. I have roadside assistance so I didn't have to pay any fees upfront - it seemed like the best option at the time.

So now I'm home thinking about all of the events that have led up to now. I have a car in my driveway which I can't drive because I can't fill the tank, my tires are defective, and even the suspension feels a bit funny when I was driving it.

But the fact that I can't drive me vehicle isn't what gets me. What gets me is that when I had that blow out the tire rubbed against the inside and melted a bunch of pipes, one which turns out to be a fuel line. I find it amazing that this pipe didn't just catch on fire and go to my gas tank and blow up. I could have died.

So here are some questions running through my head now:

Why was a gas line that carries fuel made of plastic?
Why was the shield protecting this line also made of plastic?
What/to what extent is the vehicle manufacturer(Volkswagen)/Dealer(Davis Mitsubishi)/Tire Manufacturer(Falken Tires) liable to/for?
What are my options?
Which should I choose?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Edit your post to take out all of the extra editorializing, non-factual phrases, and your "feelings". Make the facts concise. Make it short.

We're not here to spend our entire day reading your lengthy post.

IAAL

Originally posted by pointlessjon
CALIFORNIA
VOLKSWAGEN/FALKEN

I'm not familiar with law or building a case in any way, so I'm hoping maybe some of you out there can give me some advice or guidance or let me know if this is even worth my time.

I bought a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta GL used from a local dealer (Davis Mitsubishi) in Mid-February. Everything was fine up to this last weekend.

On my way to work on Saturday, May 24th, I had a blowout. This blowout wasn't just any blowout though. When I pulled my car to the side of the road, I saw that the entire top layer of the wheel seperated from the sidewalls of the wheels which were still attached to the rim.

I got my tools and spare tire out and took off the blown out tire. Upon taking the tire off I realized the problem was much worse than I had thought. The top layer of the wheel rubbed against the inside of the wheel well and the friction produced enough heat to melt through the wheel well shield, three plastic pipes, and what looks to be some sort of hydraulic piece for the shocks/suspension for the right rear tire.

I assumed that the plastic pipes must have meant the pipes weren't of any significance, maybe air conditioning or something, so I just put my spare on and headed on to work.

Then, three days later it came time to fill my tank. I went to my local Chevron and started pumping, that's when the real shock came. Gas went everywhere. It turns out one of the plastic pipes that was melted through was for gas; I had severed the gas line to my tank. I was with a friend who couldn't believe it either, we were scared to even start the vehicle now. We put the car in neutral and pushed it away from the puddle of gas that now covered the ground. We sat for a while thinking of what to do and then decided to try to turn the vehicle on. It turned out, but now I couldn't put gas into my tank nor do I know what other effects a severed gas line might have on my vehicle.

I immediately drove home and called my dealer for some guidance. My dealer transferred me to their service center with whom a Jack answered to help me with my situation. I explained the situation to me and he asked me what kind of tires they were. I had to go check and realized they were all Falken tires. He said the name of "Les Schwabb Tires" who he said would help me file a damage claim. With only an 1/8th of a gas tank left and no way to fill it, I did what the dealer told me and drove to les schwabb to see what they could do. Upon my arrival I was promptly given the "no receipt, no service" attitude and told that they "[didn't] even know davis mitsubishi."

I was getting kinda fearful as to where this was going and decided it'd be best to just drive to my dealer and see what we could do from there. That way I'd at least be at their service center where they could repair it in their shop if it came to that.

Once at Davis Mitsubishi I explained my problem to the guy that actually sold me my car, George, and he said he'd see what he could do. Turns out there was nothing he could do. I have a 1 year warranty on the vehicle but that doesn't cover the timing belts, gaskets or tires, etc. which meant that because the damage was caused by the tire ti wasn't actually the vehicle that was defect. This makes sense to me, but now what do I do?

I didn't have enough gas to get home so I just called my insurance and had them tow me home. I have roadside assistance so I didn't have to pay any fees upfront - it seemed like the best option at the time.

So now I'm home thinking about all of the events that have led up to now. I have a car in my driveway which I can't drive because I can't fill the tank, my tires are defective, and even the suspension feels a bit funny when I was driving it.

But the fact that I can't drive me vehicle isn't what gets me. What gets me is that when I had that blow out the tire rubbed against the inside and melted a bunch of pipes, one which turns out to be a fuel line. I find it amazing that this pipe didn't just catch on fire and go to my gas tank and blow up. I could have died.

So here are some questions running through my head now:

Why was a gas line that carries fuel made of plastic?
Why was the shield protecting this line also made of plastic?
What/to what extent is the vehicle manufacturer(Volkswagen)/Dealer(Davis Mitsubishi)/Tire Manufacturer(Falken Tires) liable to/for?
What are my options?
Which should I choose?

Hm. I figured you could use the details. Here you go:

1. Had blowout
2. Tire rubbed inside
3. Rubbing melted three pipes
4. One pipe is to fill gas tank
5. Could have caught on fire/blown up
6. What are my options?

some facts:
A. 1999 Volkswagen Jetta GL
B. Falken Tires

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by pointlessjon
Hm. I figured you could use the details. Here you go:

1. Had blowout
2. Tire rubbed inside
3. Rubbing melted three pipes
4. One pipe is to fill gas tank
5. Could have caught on fire/blown up
6. What are my options?

some facts:
A. 1999 Volkswagen Jetta GL
B. Falken Tires

==============================

My response:

So, instead of editing your post, you decided to gut it. Okay, you want to play stupid?

Then take it to a junkyard and have them crush it.

Buy a new car.

IAAL

???

what are you talking about?

I'm just trying to help, jeez.

[JETX]

IAAL, lets see where this goes...

"Had blowout"
*** That's life.

"Tire rubbed inside"
*** How could tire 'rub'. Are you sure that the damage wasn't caused in the blowout?? The only way that it could have been 'rubbed' was the flapping of the loose tread.

"Rubbing melted three pipes"
*** Okay.

"One pipe is to fill gas tank"
*** Guess it is possible that one of the lines went from the filler to the tank.

"Could have caught on fire/blown up"
*** Would have been your fault. Your own post says that you saw that the lines were 'melted'. You had a responsibility to see WHAT the lines were for.

"What are my options?"
*** Pretty simple:
1) Fix car, or
2) Don't fix car.
Either way, there is no liability by Volkswagon, the tire manufacturer or the seller.

Originally posted by JETX
IAAL, lets see where this goes...

"Had blowout"
*** That's life.
This is true.

"Tire rubbed inside"
*** How could tire 'rub'. Are you sure that the damage wasn't caused in the blowout?? The only way that it could have been 'rubbed' was the flapping of the loose tread.
This is true.

"One pipe is to fill gas tank"
*** Guess it is possible that one of the lines went from the filler to the tank.
This is true.

"Could have caught on fire/blown up"
*** Would have been your fault. Your own post says that you saw that the lines were 'melted'. You had a responsibility to see WHAT the lines were for.
This is not true. It isn't the fact that it could have blown up at any time, but rather, when the blowout initially occurred, and the tread melted through the pipe, that is when it could have caught fire and this is what I'm disturbed about. I do realize that it was my choice to drive AFTER the blowout, but I'm referring specifically to when the blowout occurred.

Your VW sucks, huh? I had a good one. It was a 1984 VW Golf. At 190,000 miles, it even took me from NC to Utah and back one year. That old diseal, five speed took us into some great deserts and canyons! It didn't make it up to Telluride, CO., on the way back, but it came back down that hill OK and kept right on ticking until it got back to the flatlands and then some. It had 240,000 miles on it (and no rust) when I finally parted with it a few years ago for the grand asking price of $300.00 (and it was still running just fine!)

The url queen is here to help you! I found this link and couldn't help but supply it. Glad you didnt' blow up!


[url]http://www.myvwlemon.com/index.php[/url]


hmmbrdzz

[cbg]

You can't sue for what might have happened.