http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1...64084988&type=1

I sent my car for a routine service at the Mitsubishi service centre Balakong branch (Target Orion Star Sdn Bhd) Malaysia, for the 50,000km car service on 15th March 2013, Friday at 10am. My car was in a good condition when I left the service centre. One hour later, at 11.07am, I received a call from the service centre. I was told that my car was involved in an accident when the mechanic test drove my car outside the service centre and he rammed into a tree.
I rushed over to see my car and took some photos of it. Both front airbags had deployed, the front windscreen cracked and the car bonnet was unable to open for me to view the engine. I have no idea of the internal damage because of this. I was told that the accident happened after the mechanic lost control of the car due to the steering wheel locking itself.
At 4.10pm, I met with Mr Chang Tai Yean, Senior Service and Operation Manager. He told me that the offer for compensation was to repair the car for free with original parts and return to me. Mr Chang also told me that the car had a brake malfunction, which contradicted the earlier explanation. Mr Chang then also mentioned to me that I had signed the service order on which the Terms & Condition stated they shall not be responsible for any loss or damage to my vehicle. Please then tell me who should be held responsible for this accident caused to my car?
I went to see the site of the accident with Mr Chang. We noticed that the car veered from left to right and left again before hitting the tree. There were no skid marks at all. This was raised to Mr Chang and he agreed about the tracks.
I declined Mr Chang's offer as I felt that it was an unfair compensation due to these reasons.
1. If the car had a malfunction, then Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) and Mitsubishi Motors Japan should be brought to attention about this issue.
2. After the repair, what guarantee do I have that the car is safe for driving on the road?
3. The resale value of this car would be greatly affected due to the extensive damage it has suffered.
4. A car that has been in an accident will never be the same even after repair.
Right now I am without a car and I still have to pay for the car loan. I have to rent another car for my daily use until this issue is settled or until I can afford another car. Please tell me then who should pay for these expenses of mine? The accident that happened was not caused by me and yet I am being punished. My car was registered on 30 December 2011 and I have been driving it for less than 15 months without any incidents.
The options offered to me subsequently were totally unfair as all three would cause me to lose money. I didn't cause the accident and I have to bear the cost of this? Absurd.
MMM also distanced itself from this matter by saying that the car had no malfunction and it was human error that caused the accident. This was concluded after 1 technical check was performed on my car however I was not given the privilege to view the results. So was there really a technical check performed? I don't know.
I requested to meet with the CEO of MMM, Mr Tetsuya Oda after I was given the runaround by the Customer Service of MMM. After 10 days of my request to meet him, I was informed that he was advised by his lawyer not to meet with me. MMM would only give me a letter signed by him. That was on 2 April 2013, Tuesday. It's been 1 week and there's nothing from MMM.
On Wednesday, 10 April 2013, I went to Wong & Partners to see the lawyer, Mr Mohd Arif Imran because I wanted to get a copy of the letter from Mitsubishi Malaysia. The letter was promised last Tuesday, 2 April. Not only was I not given a copy of the letter, Mr Mohd Arif Imran refused to meet with me. Instead, he requested another lawyer from his firm who happens to be one of my associates to tell me that the letter had been sent to me via registered post. I was furious. However, I went home as there was nothing else to do. Then today I received a call from the Balakong service centre. Mr Chang said he was informed that the letter was passed to me by hand! I was shocked!
I bought this car as I have confidence in Mitsubishi cars and I did my research carefully on all the available 4x4 vehicles in the market before settling on this Pajero Sport VGT. Right now I am not sure whether I have made the right decision. I believe that this kind of customer service is highly unacceptable and unprofessional.
I quote Mitsubishi Motors' corporate philosophy below;
"We are committed to providing the utmost driving pleasure and safety for our valued customers and our community. On these commitments we will never compromise. This is the Mitsubishi Motors way."
I only wish to seek a justified settlement which is not prejudicial to me.

exactly from owner FB, and im not the owner.. another case after honda..

put your sympathy aside, MM is not wrong on this.

i do think CHANG should be fired for making this matter worse with some stupid explanations

agree.. contradict explanation given :

1) mechanic lost control of the car due to the steering wheel locking itself.
2) Mr Chang also told me that the car had a brake malfunction; at scene no skid mark.

TS u the owner or jst fast forwading this article ?

ok im bored and had too much coffees.

1. Unless Mitsubishi Japan issued a worldwide recall, Mitsubishi(or any car company) will never admit its a car malfunction/defect.

2. If u dont think the car is repairable, call your insurance agent and ask them come and examine the car.

3. Yes, you expect MMM top up for you? dream on la.

4. False. Dont know how bad the car, not gonna comment further

Seriously, wat kind of compensations owner expecting? A brand new Pajero, 0km on the odometer? owner lives in disneyland then.

i think u should report to tribunal pengguna..

Election is near...

I am sorry to hear that the owner faced this problem. What is the owner's expectation in term of compensation?

Very unlucky and I think not much you can ask for compensation. It just like your car running on the road and someone suddenly hit you from behind.

What you can ask for compensation is what insurance can cover for you, repairing, parts replacement. Including some money to cover while you don't have your transport during the car sent for repair. This is covered by insurance as well.

Hope everything going well.

if hit from behind, at least just change bumper
this is like airbags deployed, windscreen cracked and bonnet cannot be open(internal damage)
and at least at that time, you're driving...this is driven by mechanic by SC
2 thing i wanna say
1. if i'm not wrong, if the mechanic is driving it and crash...since "the mechanic" name isn't in the insurance list, i dn't think can claim is it?
2. 99% of SC mechanic drive their customer car like maniac aka not the way it should be driven...rev high2, take corner like F1 when driving their customer car

Normally the policy shouldn't have such thing as MM wont held responsible for the accident. The car is with the company, they should take care of the car, anything happen within the service duration or under the care of the company, they should held responsible.

Ask Toyota SC and you will know, even the sales consultant wont touch the car, anything happen the SA have to bare the responsibility. There's one case before a SA involved in the accident when delivering the car to customer house, SA bare the responsibility of the accident. The insurance company can cover for the accident.

In car industry field up till now, AFAIK the company need to pay for the lost and i dont see a need to drive the car out to "test drive". Even brake malfunction wont it happen earlier or in the service area? Coincidence? **Do note the car accident occur on a corner, prone to accident for tall and big car's if corner too fast** and look at the tires. turning right side and locked there during accident = driver drive to fast, skid and hit the tree. So obvious. If not why ABS dont deploy, ABS malfunction also..

And steering if say malfunction normally is 'loose steering' hence involve in the accident, wont the mechanic notice the loose steering before driving it out.

And both of these problem and be pre-check-ed in the service area and no need to drive out to the roads unless finish servicing. Mitsubishi in Miri every-time do general service they will plug in the control console to pre-check the whole car system. The computer plug into the car electronic module to check for errors. I dont know whether they do it there or not.

They just evade so no need to handle this case.

Just my point of view.

i agree...those SC mechanic always drive very fast
must have lose control thn crash as well

no im not the owner.. regarding the insurance thing, can the owner claim her insurance?

you should engage a lawyer to firstly send out a letter of demand.

You should get proper compensation for this.

If only the car had ESP.

I think no need to give tips here, TS is not the owner. But what does help the owner is to spread the news. The more known the case is the more willing will Mitsubishi be to help the owner.

Besides, they already offered to fix it. Problem is the owner wants more (and I can understand it, it is a nearly new car. Maybe if the owner is willing to top up a bit since he is getting a new car...?).

I would have taken the original parts and free repair order immediately. then loss of use claim from them, main thing is get car back first, then late things decide again.

fact is the cat had been crashed nothing the universe can do to reverse that so cut your losses and take the car back otherwise the only loser is the owner

Photos taken from Kopitiam thread.

I think MMM have offered a few options that are quite fair, IINM. Personally I would take option 2, as long as the warranty for the replacement used vehicle still stands. Whether or not the car is sold as third-hand later on does very little harm to the resale value.

Why would the 2nd option be a third hand car when selling?

That is what i would pick, if I could have a word in the choice of car. Quite reasonable.

MMM will buy her a second-hand car, means she is the second owner la. After she sells it, it will be third-hand. She's worries it will affect the value.

This post has been edited by dares: Apr 15 2013, 11:56 AM

MMM offer used unit as a replacement. But they didn't specify what "used" is. Showroom unit? Testdrive unit? Used car from 3rd party used car dealer unit?

They sure got guts to offer option 3 where owner will lose money in depreciation & bank interest paid.

splitting hairs and a stubborn 1.

RV RV cash cash RV cash, yawn~~

It will still be labeled as a used car where banks and valuer will value the used car according to the age of the car not how many hands it has been changed. It's just marketing gimmicks by used car dealers to push down the seller's price. Option 2 seems viable, but looks like Owner still wants some extra cash compensation though. Well cant have best of both worlds, at least settle for one that is the most reasonable.

Either case still better than a repaired accident car lor (unless the used car they offer her is an accident car also, then really facepalm). I think this is the best compromise, short of giving her a new car, and I really don't think they will give her a new car.

The skid marks on grass reminded me about the Hilux 1Malaysia incident.
Definitely SC mechanic pedal to the metal, lost control and crashed.




Note: Click image for post link and more photos.

grief and ignorance is not a good combination

not weird
i've been to many brand's SC...all of them pedal to the metal when driving their customer car
proton, perodua also same, toyota, honda, mitsu also same
when u say car have sound, they need to test drive it or after its done, they wanna test drive it
always pedal to metal...can hear from the engine noise, dn't reach 5k RPM, they surely wont change gear
thats why sometime when i got my car back, 1 bar of fuel is dropped

But that's part of checking the car, right? If you want to test the brakes you need to be fast in the first place. But yeah, maybe get a more experienced driver

If anything this case shows the importance of ESP.

Latest Response by MMM on the Triton VGT compensation to the owner, they propose 3 option: (copy from kopitiam section)



So how do you guys think?

I already posted it in the previous page

theres a thing that they plugged into the car everytime it went service or anything
there can see everything
and i dn't think u test the brake at public road..thats super dangerous
most SC mechanic just take a joy ride of their customer's car and at the same time see the problem still solved or not
but most of it is joy ride, they rev the car like a drag car

plugging into the OBD2 port won't tell you the whole story. Some parts don't even have sensors, so have to test drive.

Question is, how many parts require high speed test drive to diagnose the problem? Customer complain brakes tak makan at 120km/h, they go and test drive 150km/h then emergency brake, issit justified? Even ABS don't need to go that fast to trigger.

Maybe they wanna test airbag working or not.

I don't think they went that fast... It's probably a car that doesn't handle so well during cornering.

I'd love to know what happened to the mechanic and what he has to say.

LOL...i dn't know them
all i know, they took customer car and took it for a joyride since its not their car
100% also like that..everywhere i go
they thought our car all supercar

they were....if u go to SC be4, any brand
u can see all their worker drives customer car like crazy
just this saturday, i went to SC, a mechanic just finish fixing a customer's car
and the mechanic was just abt to show the customer the problem its fix...so they went for a road drive
right after the main gate, the mechanic directly sprint the car....so fast the car went away
but right after the customer took back his car, right after the same gate, its so slow as compared to when the mechanic is driving
and the car in state here is a 4WD, u can't drive that fast and u can't corner that hardcore...not lotus tuned bro

MMM prolly slapped him with a gag order

2007 old news, mechanic joyride gone wrong.

owner demands a brand new car, nothing more nothing less

GREED nuff said

Tell MMM, you want new pajero, trade this crash car with acceptable value of uncrash car price and top up. there you go new car

Sounds reasonable and fair. I wouldn't mind taking up Option 1 personally, but all are acceptable.

A new car as compensation seems unrealistic and opportunistic, IMO. After all, the car IS already 2 years old - if newly registered then different story. Imagine what could transpire behind the scenes if MMM gives a new car in this case - people who want a new car can just pay an official service center's mechanic to crash their 2-year old cars to be compensated with brand new ones.

Sounds farfetched, but anything can happen.

This post has been edited by nerd: Apr 15 2013, 06:46 PM

I think Option 2 quite reasonable assuming the car have no additional mod

So what is the update on this case? Seems like the original FB post is no longer public or has been deleted.

is it possible if we joint together with the mechanic to test drove the car? ask them we want to feel it after repair or service.

Not always possible. Even if you wait at the SC, suddenly you will see your car fly by the road outside

i may take option 2

Option 2 is best..

More owner for the car wont depreciate the car's value. Car value will still be determined by year of manufacture and model. No such thing as a 3rd hand car and so on.

I dont mind option 1 as well, repaired and additional warranty is a + too if option 2 is not available.

No need the RM2000 cash la, what for need the money. Car worth more than Rm2k also.

Usually once the offer is made, there will be a clause that says* the owner cannot not publicly speak of the issue should the owner accepts; else the offer is withdrawn etc.
it could be the case.

The manufacture/dealer would prefer the situation is settled amicably. any further comments will propagate the bad reputation as it is. They prefer the hoohaa dies down quickly. Most people will then forget & may classify it as one off ill luck.

Hopefully, the owner gets the desired compensation.

*advised or cautioned depending on how you look at it.

should be, i think owner already settle with MMM.. that's y she took off the photo frm her FB..

not surprising.

its a case to remember. too often consumers had been given the rotten bit of things. its not the first time. Even pre delivery of new cars, accidents by personnels within but never officially made known or to the public

Serve him right.

Thats what happened to my car. Those f**king mechanics drive my car so hard that even I never did that. Hope all of them (2 guys ride together) rot in the grave.

For god sake@@ I definately won't send my car to SC after the warranty period, better safe than sorry.

Option 1 is good enough for me, especially if you have sentimental value on your car..asking for a new car replacement is kinda too much, especially here in Malaysia

Hi Team,
could you please recommend a good mechanic for Pajero sport 4wd arround KL or Selangore area. someone could be trusted for future repairs or service. Not who is just looking to make money just cos your not local. any advice will be appreciated.