Hi guys, I took my RR in for a safety recall on the break hose, standard job. When the vehicle was returned back to me the suspension fault showed up on the dash and there was a hissing sound from the NSF. I took it back to the dealer and they said that the air bag has been damaged when lifting up on the ramp, due to it perishing. Long story short, they want me to pay for this and i do not think that it's acceptable. Has someone got any advise on where i stand legally with this? Can i approach the Motor Ombudsman? Can i have the vehicle repaired and then issue a small claim?

They also said that they have no spare courtesy vehicles so my wife and i had to get cabs to our places of work! nice

Ask yourself
Were they negligent in any way whatsoever?

If not just suck it up things wear out and breakdown

If you get the bags changed they may as a gesture of goodwill give you a low labour charge

I don't think they were negligent if i'm being honest, but i had a feeling that once we had the safety recall an issue would arise as a result. Dealers also charge ridiculous labour rates and parts. Would it be better to take elsewhere?

..

Last edited by Red Merle on 10th Jul 2018 10:49pm. Edited 1 time in total

On older vehicles there does seem a risk of air bags tearing when the vehicle is on a lift and the wheels hang off and apply weight to the bags. It happened to my 2004 car when it was on the dealer's lift. Annoying. They told me what had happened and said it did happen from time to time. I just paid for them to replace the bag, as the easiest solution, it is not a very time consuming job, better value for me than shopping around when the cost of my time was taken into account.

There might be a case for looking at the other bags to see if they could do with being replaced at the same time, if they are perished and have little life left it might save you an inconvenient failure later on. Only Range Rovers since 1988

^+1
To be honest it's not such a bad thing if an airbag starts to leak due to age when being lifted at least it's not the most inconvenient time or place. If a bag starts to leak as the car is being lifted and the bags extended the bag is on borrowed time anyway.
Mot time is always an interesting time when the front is lifted and the bags extended. Always good to get it back in its wheels with no leakage showing.
If it was me I would just get both front struts replaced, not difficult or expensive.

12 year old car - it goes with the territory I am afraid look at it the other way round if you were a dealer working on a 12 yr old car with perished air bags and got blamed you would be pretty miffed about it and simply refuse to work on it again - I know I would if it was perished it was going to go sooner rather than later in any event and it’s just unfortunate for them it happened when they were doing the recall 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

Unnecessary quote removed

They haven't actually damaged your vehicle. Something has failed that was on the point of failing.

And not sure why you expect them to pay for it and then to even consider legal action is absurd.

Perhaps now might be a good time for the OP to revise the title of the thread?