A
You will remember Apple recently had a battery replacement program that was specifically as they did something sketchy and slowed devices without telling consumers, not because people expected them to last well beyond their expected usable life, and the getting a tow part is laughable.
Apple is notorious for ignoring laws...
French competition authority (DGCCRF) fined them €1.1B for collusion with wholesalers to control French market prices... then also fined them $€25M for a software update that slowed down old phones. Italy fined them €5M for slowing down phones and another €5M for not telling customers that batteries degrade (Apple reduced cost of battery replacement program as a result). Years earlier the Italians fine Apple €900K for misleading consumers about their legal right to 2 years warranty under law instead of the 1 year support Apple was offering. This warranty thing was played out in many EU member states...
But Apple are rich arsehats with almost unlimited funds so ignore laws around the world. They consider the small (for them) fines pocket change and likely the cost of doing business. Their behaviour has little to do with battery issues and much to do with market control, designed obsolescence, psychological customer manipulation to making people feel like they are missing out in “cool” stuff, oh, and not paying taxes...
Not a fan of Apple....
A flat battery and then getting towed somewhere is the biggest over reach I have ever heard when applying the ACL to fit for purpose arguments - especially if a battery has lasted at least half the warranty of the vehicle, batteries always have shorter warranty due to the potential for people to abuse them - this is just a fact.
I never mentioned a simple flat battery would result in a free tow...
I mentioned if my car breaks down I’d expect Holden will resolve the issue under warranty as would be expected with a new car.. I‘d expect that they’d diagnose it in a professional manner and identify the fault as warranty related if that’s the case. As a consequence, if the car needed to be towed to the dealer, they must cover the incidental costs as a result. Holden can call it whatever they like (usually goodwill cause they want to deny ACL’s existence as much as possible, like all businesses).
The difficulty is the trust many must place in their dealer that they’d be professional enough to identify the issue for what it is (warranty). But knowing how dealers have behaved with some members on this forum w.r.t. injector, eps and other issues, one needs their eyes wide open whenever dealing with this mob
As to fit for purpose, it if you bought a product after telling the seller how you were going to use the product and then it failed when used in that way... by definition such is a fit for purpose issue whether you consider it over reach or not
But vc commodore brought up the battery as an example... with an acceptance of the view that ACL statutory warranty duration = battery manufacturers warranty duration. That simply isn’t the case in law as statutory warranty duration is not explicitly specified in the text of the legislation. Duration comes down to what is reasonable expectation which ultimately comes down to what can be negotiated with the dealer, else it comes down to what an arbitrator or judge decides on a case by case basis...
Obviously if an owner hasn’t altered the electrical system so the VF BCM? shuts down electrical loads as it is designed to do, AND the battery is well maintained, it should last much much longer than the one year that Holden manufacturers warranty provides... One owner shouldn’t be punished because other owners neglects their vehicles... Battery negligence is easily identifiable.
Again, for many members on these threads their battery has lasted 6 years so it’s not an unreasonable expectation that batteries in out VFs will last that long... In that context, why should a consumer accept that a well looked after battery/vehicle that dies after 1, 2, 3 or so years isn’t because of some unknown battery manufacture fault or a fault with the vehicle charging system itself AND that should be covered by ACL? Batteries can be opened up and manufacturing defects can be identify so it ain’t rocket science...
Interestingly there have been a few on this forum that had issues and their dealer replaced the battery as a fix only for the owner to find the issue hasn’t been resolved... In my view, performing diagnostics via part replacement strategy at owners expense isn't providing a service with due care and skill as ACL requires service be provided. Yet many vehicle owners simple bends over and takes it. That’s not me
If my in warranty vehicle breaks down, I’d be looking to HCC and the dealer to resolve all issues and bear all costs. Others are always free to pursue things as they see fit; overreach, underreach, whatever
