2014 Brake Problem...never had this happen before.

[PoMansRam]

OMG.. Could you imagine if that tech got in a wreck? I can understand them having to test drive a vehicle while on the clock. At least that way their employer would be responsible for anything. Taking your vehicle off duty like that is about news worthy IMO.

 

[averageguy]

Would this constitute theft? I would bring this possibility up to the dealer and maybe call the police and ask them. If the excuse is "we do this all the time" I would contact the local news and let them know. They can let the public in the area know that when your vehicle goes in for service it becomes part of a vehicle pool at the disposal of their employees.

 

[wespentecost]

Would this constitute theft? I would bring this possibility up to the dealer and maybe call the police and ask them. If the excuse is "we do this all the time" I would contact the local news and let them know. They can let the public in the area know that when your vehicle goes in for service it becomes part of a vehicle pool at the disposal of their employees.

It would depend on the State it occurred in. At best, I'm no attorney, am former LEO from Texas, it would be a major civil issue. The issue falling that the dealership had rights to the vehicle. That being said, the employee took it way to far. Now if said employee did not bring it back, then by all means a criminal theft for sure and not a civil issue. Laws suck at times, thank legislators for that. It also depends how much money one would want to throw at this. News worthy? You betcha!

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[Arth]

Glad other people think the way I do. For a minute there I thought I was going crazy by getting pissed off at what happened.

I don't blame the technician, if he's telling the truth, because he was told it was okay to take my truck by the service adviser. This is the same service adviser who never called me with any update about my truck.

Now I don't know what good contacting FCA will do me because I am out of my basic warranty and this is strictly a dealership service dept issue. Personally I am hoping that I have enough higher ups at this dealership involved that they will handle this the right way. (Get my truck fixed, fill my tank back up, possibly free oil changes for my wife because I'll never use them) I don't really think there's anything I want from them besides that and to not have to pay my deducible for my warranty.

When I asked the same questions about their insurance covering my truck should something had happened they said it would have been covered. While I am with the train that's stupid and the risk should never have been taken.

Of course that being said I still can't answer the question what good it did having the tech to take my truck home for the night off the clock. I am certainly with the crowd that the highway test loop I know they use would have produced the same results. That is one of my questions I will be asking for sure.

I'll be sure to update this thread if they actually call me with a time for the meeting I requested tomorrow. Either way by the afternoon if I haven't heard anything I'll be stopping by again to see what's going on.

 

[chrisbh17]

Make sure to check your mileage too. The intake paperwork should have had a "miles in" number, get that and then check in your truck to see what its at now.

Hopefully they didnt tack on 100+ miles because their tech needed to borrow a pickup truck to move furniture or something.

BTW, I would place some blame on the tech too...a good tech would know there isn't much difference between the truck sitting overnight at the dealer vs the truck sitting overnight in his driveway.

 

[Nick_rp]

My neighbor is a dealership tech and hes constantly driving customer cars home for a night. I asked him about it once, he said he has a higher success rate with replicating the problem under normal driving conditions then just rolling around the block. I get that and I wouldn't care as long as I was informed of it, and it was understood that the dealership was liable for any damages.

Being that it was a braking issue, it never should of left the dealers parking lot.

Also, I didnt see it mentioned, check out the booster hose, check for collapsing, breaks, tears etc



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[hotrod45]

Had the same thing happen on a nissan armada. Found it was the piston on master cylinder.

Exactly right. No further testing required. Fluid is going past (around) the piston instead of being forced ahead of it. The only caveat would involve whether the brake pedal is connected/not connected physically to the master cylinder. In other words, if it's an electronic device similar to the throttle. Someone knowledgeable could chime in on that. But if the piston is moving in the cylinder as would be expected, then the problem is the master cylinder.

 

[hotrod45]

My neighbor is a dealership tech and hes constantly driving customer cars home for a night. I asked him about it once, he said he has a higher success rate with replicating the problem under normal driving conditions then just rolling around the block. I get that and I wouldn't care as long as I was informed of it, and it was understood that the dealership was liable for any damages.

Being that it was a braking issue, it never should of left the dealers parking lot.

Also, I didnt see it mentioned, check out the booster hose, check for collapsing, breaks, tears etc



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Most of the other issues you mention would result in a hard brake pedal with little stopping power, similar to trying to steer without the power steering pump working.

 

[Arth]

Make sure to check your mileage too. The intake paperwork should have had a "miles in" number, get that and then check in your truck to see what its at now.

Hopefully they didnt tack on 100+ miles because their tech needed to borrow a pickup truck to move furniture or something.

BTW, I would place some blame on the tech too...a good tech would know there isn't much difference between the truck sitting overnight at the dealer vs the truck sitting overnight in his driveway.

Yeah I don't know what mileage my truck is at currently after the drive back to the dealer but I did think to snap a picture of the mileage before I walked out of the service lane when dropping it off.

 

[Nick_rp]

Most of the other issues you mention would result in a hard brake pedal with little stopping power, similar to trying to steer without the power steering pump working.

Ah yea I got it backwards. Need more java. Your piston comment makes perfect sense, low psi slipping past but sudden surge would build pressure faster then what could blow by

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[indept]

Arth
First off where do you live, I want to be sure it's not a dealer by me

As for it being something else, booster etc, the pedal through the booster to the master cylinder is a direct connection, the booster only assists that connection. The only thing that should cause your issue would be a bad master cylinder as stated by others here, or air in the hydraulic lines which typically would cause it to go to floor everytime regardless of pedal pressure and if the pedal is pumped it would firm up until the pedal is released. It could also be a bad brake hose "ballooning" but that would also happen everytime regardless of pressure.

 

[Jim S]

Yeah Arth,

You don't live in Lake Charles, LA, do you?

Sounds like something my dealership would pull.

 

[VeDubb]

Y'all are freaking out for nothing! Call the police?! Constitutes theft? Driving it on the techs personal time? Seriously! If you've ever had an unusual anomaly with a vehicle you'd know this is standard practice. Arth, your truck is fine, it's fully insured by the dealer, and the tech isn't going to move a buddy or let anyone else drive your truck. Geez! Y'all need to simmer down and have a beer or joint, or whatever suits you.

 

[chrisbh17]

I think you're missing some of the point.

The tech took the truck home then op was told they couldn't do anything with it until 3 days later. At that point why not just leave it at the dealership?

As far as Insurance, I know when I pick up a loaner have to provide proof of my own insurance. Does a dealership hand the tech an insurance card when he takes the vehicle off the dealer lot?

A family member of mine had their wheels stolen while their car was sitting overnight at a local dealer. Dealer said not their issue because they had the car parked outside of their locked gate. If they could weasel out of something literally 5 feet from the dealer that was their own fault, what do you think they would do with something miles away?

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[Arth]

Y'all are freaking out for nothing! Call the police?! Constitutes theft? Driving it on the techs personal time? Seriously! If you've ever had an unusual anomaly with a vehicle you'd know this is standard practice. Arth, your truck is fine, it's fully insured by the dealer, and the tech isn't going to move a buddy or let anyone else drive your truck. Geez! Y'all need to simmer down and have a beer or joint, or whatever suits you.

As what was said before I think you missed the point. I was never called and notified or asked permission to allow my vehicle to be taken. Not to mention over three days isn't normal and they admit this. Also it's a braking issue that I replicated for the service adviser in the service lane. There was no need for an over night test drive and they admitted this too.

I'm not discounting that over night test drives are a thing but the customer needs to be notified before hand. The little release form I signed at drop off said nothing about that.

Anyways I spoke to the Service director with the service manager and basically the huge drop in communication was their fault and they just wanted to make it right... or shut me up.

So as it stands they called the master cylinder bad and ordered a new one. Isn't supposed to be done until tomorrow so they've let me keep the rental I'm in. They also agreed to refill my gas tank as the trip to and from the techs house was around 65 miles. Finally I asked them to pay the deductible on my warranty for wasting my time Friday. My deductible is only $100 so I don't think that's to out of line. Waiting to hear back on that one.

Hoping to get it back sometime tomorrow and everything is fixed correctly. If not there is one other Ram dealer that's in Alabama with good service reviews that I will give a shot.

By the way this dealer is in Northwest Florida.

 

[chrisbh17]

I would be curious why the tech thought he should take the truck home.

Drop in communication? Maybe he took the wrong truck home? Or maybe they were just covering for his free truck loaner?

I would be looking at that dealer in Alabama going forward, a place that mysteriously gave someone my truck for a long weekend would never get my business again.

 

[indept]

The issue is that this problem is easily repeatable according tp th OP so it should be easy to diagnose, no need to take it for the weekend.

 

[averageguy]

I have been friends with a few car salesmen over the years and they use the demos and the stuff on the used lot for their own personal car pool and no one cares. Is it the same for the techs and the service vehicles?

 

[chrisbh17]

I have been friends with a few car salesmen over the years and they use the demos and the stuff on the used lot for their own personal car pool and no one cares. Is it the same for the techs and the service vehicles?

Demos are sold at a reduced price, presumably because of the mileage put on them.

So would it make sense that a service tech taking a customer's truck home reduces the value of the truck?

 

[Ryan J]

Y'all are freaking out for nothing! Call the police?! Constitutes theft? Driving it on the techs personal time? Seriously! If you've ever had an unusual anomaly with a vehicle you'd know this is standard practice. Arth, your truck is fine, it's fully insured by the dealer, and the tech isn't going to move a buddy or let anyone else drive your truck. Geez! Y'all need to simmer down and have a beer or joint, or whatever suits you.

Hey bro can i drive your truck sometime and see how different it drives compared to mine? I will keep it for an unknown amount of time.

Arth, i think you have every right to be pissed. I would be livid! I pay to much money to let somebody i dont know take my truck with out me knowing for who knows how long! Hell no! I traded a truck in for my ram and it had a toolbox on it, same box on the ram now. It was on a saturday and i didnt have my impact to remove the toolbox and the techs werent there. Salesman said come back monday and get it. Its not going anywhere. I go up there monday and it was moved to another lot to get ready for resale. I get there and my box was busted into and maybe around $100 worth of tools, straps, miscallenous stuff you keep in the toolbox was gone. When i left the dealership i had all my stuff back, my original toolbox that needed the handles riveted back on and another toolbox that looked exactly the same. A $300 husky toolbox from home depot. They wanted to trade me boxes to make it right and i said no. Give me both boxes and all my stuff back and then we can call it good. I hope you get something out of the dealer thst you are satisfied with.