Bought a 2006 Subaru WRX as a demo with 9,000 miles on it and now at 15,000 miles, the transmission is out. 6,000 miles I drove this car. Hmmm, very interesting... The funny part is, it broke when I was parking it. First gear, pulling into a parking space from a dead stop. :::OP, Clack Clack Clack::: SOG states that the teeth are broken off the gear and that could only be a result of miss shifting (high speed/high gear downshift to low gear). NEVER HAPPENED, but since the teeth are gone, it did according to them and that makes it user error. The car is still within the 30-60 manufactures warrantee not to mention the 2 GRAND I dropped on the Gold Plus extended warranty for 5 years or 100,000 miles. Hmmm, anything sound fishy about this not being covered by SOA???? Well they are bringing their service team of scientists out on Tuesday to inspect the transmission. I am very interested to see if they officially deny the warrantee. I have sent a letter to the owner of the dealership to see just how involved he will be about this. I am in no way trying to step on anyones toes, but I did spend 30G for a car with the top available warranty coverage and will not be the one out a ride or a covered transmission. I do not abuse this car. If you knew me personally, you would know my car is in pristine condition because I keep it that way. The car does get driven because I have to commute to work at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I purchased the car in August of 07 and have had to take it in to SOG 7 times since. Check out this nice letter from Alex Simanovsky & Associates, LLC To save face in anyones miss-interpretation of this letter. I must say that Subaru of Gwinnett, up until this point has been very accommodating. Everyone I have spoken with has been professional and kind to me. I have returned the hospitality. They have always, covered my vehicle repairs and have done so in a very timely manner. They have always provided me with transportation. At this point, nothing is official so consider the above a good story until things unfold formally. I will definately keep my Subaru Family posted. I hope that I can get your support so if you have any similar stories, hit this thread up. I have heard some stories but never thought it would happen to me personally. Well, back to work, I may have to buy a transmission, for the time being. More News to Come!
The same thing hapend to me man, I am not sure how your's will go but they would not pay for mine. All I can say is best of luck.
I drive a WRX. I changed out the avitar but it has not updated yet. "someone who does not know any better"? What are you talking about? Certainly not me. I purchased a Hyudai Sonata with 15,000 miles, drove it to 130,000 miles, and never had any issues with warrantee. Matter of fact, I never had to deal with a broken transmission at 5,000 miles of ownership or any other mechanical misfortunes. I never said anything bad about SOG. I am only trying to get what I paid for. I am entitled that.
dude I'm talking about the people who sold you the car that told you no matter what it was covered, even the modifications.
Ok, got cha. Sorry bout that. I thought you were talking about me, lol. I definitely agree with you on that. Since day one, "everything is covered as long as you get it serviced here"... That was always relayed to me, even in email. That is why I am like, "you have to be kidding right" when they tell me it is not covered.
See, get witnesses and lawyers involved. Its not SOA's problem. Its the dealership problem. I've told them REPEATEDLY that modifications make for warranty issues. They never listen. All they want to do is sell cars.
I just talked to Jill at SOG and she is saying that the modifications have nothing to do with SOA not covering it. They said it is because of the teeth on the transmission. Now considering that I did nothing for that to happen, how can they blame me?
First - Forget that lemon law IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! I had 23 visits to nissan for the same problem and the BS you would have to go through for that to happen is unbelievable, and you WILL end up in arbitration. Your best bet is about the same as the guy that took his car for work and with an employee driving the car put a rod through the block. Get all your ammo, draft letters to the world to hurt both the dealer and SOA (yes they CAN make the dealer pay) bbb, and the like. Get all maint. records together and simply do not take NO for an answer they WILL eventually give in.
Working at another Asian brand dealership I would be very surprised that they could make an across the board declaration about what would not be covered.They are saying that there is no possible defect that could cause stripped gears.Nothing that could break or malfunction and cause that to happen.As far as the extended warranty I have never been a believer in wasting $$.
I believe after the influx if so many broken gears in the early WRX, they did a ton of R&D in japan and then gave us the RA thickness gears and said 'if they break those, its defiantly abuse.' that sorta thing.
Well my Attorney has officially accepted the case. It has qualified as a lemon. Now I have to give them verbal confirmation to proceed. The warrantee even states that it covers the transmission on several of the documents I have. I am going to the dealership today to see if I can speak with Steve Kendrick (SOG owner). I sent him an email that he did not respond too. If I can not get anywhere with that, I am going to visit every consumer site in the state to make sure they know about this hideous customer service. The teeth being broken is not a sign of a bad driver, its the sign of a crap transmission. My personal take on it is that the Sales person who drove it as a demo for 8,000 miles abused the car and now I am reaping the benefits of that. They will not pin this on me.
wow...that is pretty crazy...because I have never heard of anyone grenading a new 5mt...and that includes people like Strayen running more power than stock, and people who autox all the time...
Good luck dude but I would rather try to get them to honor the warranty before trying the lemon law as I have been down that road and it is LONNNNNNNNG and Painfulllllll! I would spend my afternoons in their showroom causing a scene...Eventually they will loose enough sales to say F it let just pay to get rid of this dude.
Kendrick is the General Manager, not the owner. wrxin8or: I've seen two people brake the 06/07 WRX 5MT. Both broke 3rd. One of the two has broken TWO 3rd's in his 06. He's also a member on here.
I am now working on tracking down the vehicles history. I was able to track it back to Virginia where the car was sold and registered to ???????? as a demo. Apparently you can purchase a car and call it a demo. I was able to get a bit of inside help from a dealership I will not mention in Virginia. They faxed me the vehicle history and there really is not much here to go on. I just need to find out who drove it first and what problems they had with the vehicle. All these problems I am certain come from the initial owner. Anyone know how to track someone down like that? Yes, I am not a race car driver. If you saw the ride, you would know I wipe it with diapers. Every service has been performed at the dealership on the recommended times. I use only Premium fuel and use the car to commute to work. Thats it... I am going on a cruise to the Bahamas tomorrow and will be gone for a week, when I return, I will have nothing to drive. Trust me when I say that I have exasperated every resource. SOA is sending me an official denial of coverage in writing. They also will not budge on good will. They are going to contact the dealership to see if they will good will it but I can already tell you that wont happen. So Kendrick is not the Owner? That is the info I have from a very respectable resource. Apparently he owns Infinity of Gwinnett and SOG. If he is not the owner, do you have that info? My pops even said that I should look into having picketers stand in front of the dealership but apparently you have to have a permit to do that. I am not trying to burn bridges here. I just want what I paid for and am entitled. You guys are great with the info. My attorney has a link to this forum and will be checking back. There is definitely a pattern here.
Kendrick is the GM of SOG and IOG. The parent company is located in Roswell with the Infiniti dealership there. Ellis is the last name of the owner of the 3 dealerships. I believe his first name is John.
I hear ya on that man. That's what I was told too. But when I got a leak in my up-pipe, that was installed at SOG 2wks after purchase w/ the installation of the SPT exhaust I got as a factory option, they said no warranty coverage. Go figure. I'm not complaining just adding my .02 cents.
Really? I wonder if he is any relation to Jim Ellis? My brother in law was sales manager for that dealership for 6 years. I am honestly trying to talk to anyone that will listen and more so give a damn.
If your lawyer has accepted the case, you should no longer need to contact anyone... he should be doing it, and will have a much better rate of response when the owner opens his mail on legal letterhead.
Erdenberger et al v. Subaru of America, Incorporated et al Put that lawyer to work! I couldn't access the entire case but maybe this will be a good reference.
CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA WRITS GRANTED WITH ORDER : 97-C - 2321 HELEN WITT, ET AL v. SUBARU OF AMERICA, ET AL
Ok Last Post: Hinshaw Attorney Wins Wisconsin Lemon Law Case Jeffrey S. Fertl, a products liability attorney in Hinshaw’s Milwaukee office, recently won a notable victory in a lawsuit brought against Subaru of America, Inc. under Wisconsin's “Lemon Law” (Wis. Stat. § 218.0171). The lawsuit stemmed from a 2003 purchase by plaintiff, Amir Mahmoud, of a 2004 Subaru Impreza. After buying the car, Mr. Mahmoud made extensive modifications affecting its brakes, exhaust, gauges, suspension, turbo and wheels. In 2004 and 2005, he used the vehicle extensively for autocross racing in Illinois and Wisconsin. Mr. Mahmoud participated in eight to 16 races during that time, winning or placing highly in many of them. He claimed that he began experiencing problems with the vehicle’s steering, transmission and wheel alignment in the spring of 2004. A Subaru dealership first addressed those problems in May 2004 but found no problems. The vehicle was returned to another Subaru dealership in the summer of 2004 with alleged transmission problems. Subaru removed the transmission from the vehicle and initially declined to pay for the repairs to it, contending that the problems resulted from abuse of the car. Ultimately, the transmission was repaired on a goodwill basis, and the problems affecting it were rectified. Mr. Mahmoud continued to complain that the car drifted to the left and right; that there was a clunking noise in the vehicle’s steering system when turning left or right; that the engine ran rough and consumed abnormal amounts of oil; and that there was occasional smoke from the exhaust. But on the grounds that the car was operating normally or that any problems were related to the modifications or racing of it, no further repairs were made. In addition to the various dealerships, two representatives of Subaru of America, Inc. examined the car. They each documented the extensive modifications made to the vehicle and opined that the claimed problems were related to the modifications and racing of it. Subaru’s District Field Representative also analyzed the repair orders and agreed that all of the problems, including those affecting the transmission, were related to either the modifications or racing of the vehicle. During the course of the three-day trial, the jury was shown a DVD of Mr. Mahmoud using the vehicle in autocross events and racing it on city streets. Evidence of the vehicle being shown at the Sports Car Club of America’s exhibit at the Chicago Auto Show was also introduced. The jury found that no warranty nonconformity existed in the vehicle and that no Lemon Law violation had occurred, and it awarded no damages. Contact for more information: Jeffrey S. Fertl
^^^That was a legit decision and has NOTHING to do with the op's post. The OP has NEVER raced this car and it is STOCK.
Negative. It competed at the SUBARU Challenge in ATL back in November. It also has a downpipe, APS intake, ProDrive muffler and non-stock wheels (like that matters :squint: ). The DP and intake was installed as a package when he purchased the car. Later he purchased the ProDrive muffler that I installed at the dealer. (SOG) Otherwise, its stock. The issue at hand is that dealership personell told him that the SAS Gold plan would cover anything and everything for 84 months/100,000 miles. Even modifications.
Sounds like another shaft in the A$$ from goold ole' SUBARU to me.. Any updates, curious on your progress..
Great job on finding the case! I need more stuff like that so keep it coming. I am in the midst of having my attorney review the warrantee documents, service records, emails and on the back end they are looking for similar cases that they can refer too. Apparently SOG and SOA have about 4 claims against them so its a very decent start. I tell you it will most likely never make it to court. The attorney told me that dealerships will do this a great bit because most people will not take it as far as I have. They save more money paying someone like me off and having several others pay out of pocket for repairs. Its really a shame considering how nice and professional I have been with SOG and SOA. I am very confident that everything will be fine. I purchased a jeep to drive in the meantime so I don’t even need the WRX now. VIVA LA REVELUTIONES!
The important thing to note here is that SOA is not the problem, but the mis-information that was given from dealer personnel.
Yeah when my rod got thrown through my block everybody kept telling me to get a lawyer. I did And the dealership stopped all their BS. It helped a great deal in the fight.
So was your car modified? Did they try to pawn it off on abuse from the fine print in your warranty disclaimer? I would like to know more about that.
His situation was: Car was at a dealership's body shop for paint and body work. Someone took the car out for a drive and it threw a rod as it was not warmed up properly. They denied breaking it. Dude got lawyer involved. We are staying tuned to see if they pay up. It broke under their care. They are responsible.
Bret you ass-pirate! Now there is a written statement saying i run more power then stock! I am screwed! You just jinxed me! You bastard!!! I'll kill you if my transmission breaks now.