Generally automobile dealerships can’t assist however be sacks of shit. Over the summer season, a Florida man purchased two used Volvos from a used automobile dealership, it wasn’t till after the deal went via that he came upon each automobiles had been in accidents. Nearer inspection from impartial mechanics exhibits that each automobiles had non-functioning airbags and seat belts. When the shopper came upon, he instantly took them again. That’s all dangerous sufficient as it’s, however because it seems this story will get worse.
The seller offered one of many Volvos once more, and the I-Workforce at ABC Motion Information in Tampa Bay tracked down the proprietor to search out out if the correct repairs had been executed on the automobile. Wouldn’t you realize it, the fixes hadn’t been executed on Gilbert Santiago’s new-to-him 2022 Volvo S60. An impartial mechanic regarded over the U.S. Navy veteran’s automobile and located that the seat belt pretensioner and airbags didn’t work. He was additionally by no means advised the automobile was offered at public sale in 2023 following an accident the place a number of airbags had been deployed.
Final 12 months, Ron Egbert purchased the Volvo from the seller in query – HGreg. He took the automobile to a Volvo dealership in Sarasota after his airbag warning gentle got here on. What they found was quite troubling, as ABC Motion Information explains:
A technician found the motive force’s airbag was rusted and had markings from a junkyard. Wires had been tampered with, and the airbag was incorrect for the car.
Egert took the automobile again to HGreg, and that is what occurred subsequent:
“I confirmed them the images. And I mentioned you’re taking this automobile again. I am going… this automobile is unsafe to drive. Nobody needs to be driving this automobile,” Egert mentioned.
HGreg’s spokesperson mentioned the corporate “solely purchases autos via essentially the most respected public sale firms” and “conducts a multi-point inspection,” which incorporates “a assessment of diagnostic indicators.”
She additionally wrote in an announcement, “If, for no matter cause, HGreg believes the car airbags wouldn’t function as supposed, it could not be retailed by HGreg.”
That’s an awesome sentiment, however right here’s the factor: HGreg did certainly promote the automobile to Santiago just some months later, and he instantly had severe issues with it. The airbag gentle got here on virtually instantly, and that’s when he took it to the Volvo tech. Right here’s what ABC Motion Information says they discovered after some digging and what Santiago did subsequent:
He mentioned the technician on the dealership advised him used salvage components had been put in in his automobile.
That technician’s picture exhibits the identical junkyard markings as the image taken by Egert’s mechanic at a unique dealership a number of months earlier.
Santiago paid to switch a number of airbags and associated elements.
“Most likely across the ballpark of six grand out of my pocket,” Santiago mentioned.
[…]
Photographs taken by Santiago’s technician present wires wrapped in electrical tape, like these taken by Egert’s technician, who wrote that the wires to the airbag “have been tampered with.”
We requested Santiago to satisfy us at Brazzeal Automotive as a result of his mechanic in Tampa didn’t uncover points with the seatbelt pretensioner we discovered about from Egert’s report from the mechanic on the Volvo dealership in Sarasota.
“Now it’s going via all of the totally different modules within the automobile,” licensed technician Chris Wallin advised us as he attached a diagnostic instrument.
“I don’t see any energetic codes,” Wallin mentioned, which might usually point out all security methods had been working.
Sounds good, proper? Improper!
However when Wallin popped open the inside door panel, he discovered the seatbelt pretensioner system wasn’t plugged into the wiring harness, which might permit it to deploy.
“This needs to be plugged into right here,” Wallin mentioned, pointing to wires wrapped in electrical tape. “That is the seatbelt pretensioner. And it appears to be like like there’s one thing wired in there. It’s all taped up.”
Wallin peeled again electrical tape to discover a resistor.
A resistor is a passive part in {an electrical} circuit. It may be used to control or restrict the move of present.
[…]
“What they’ve executed is simply take a resistor that matches the resistance that the pretensioner is meant to have and simply type of shoved it in that wiring harness to trick it into considering it’s obtained pretensioner,” Wallin mentioned of Santiago’s automobile.
The tech mentioned it was executed deliberately, however there’s no means of understanding who put in the resistor. He mentioned it was put in to maintain the seat belt restraint system from popping up a warning gentle. That’s some actually evil shit, of us.
He says he contracted HGreg and so they gave him the runaround, saying “it handed their inspection,” and due to that “nothing was displaying that was mistaken with it. So there’s nothing they will do.” Terrible.
Right here’s what HGreg needed to say for itself, which isn’t a lot:
We contacted HGreg on Sept. 19 with an inventory of questions, however they didn’t reply them.
A spokesperson replied in an e mail, “Thanks for bringing the case of Mr. Santiago’s buy to our consideration. We are going to join with the shopper instantly.”
Greater than a month after receiving that response, Santiago mentioned he hadn’t heard from anybody from the corporate.
“They have to be held accountable for that as a result of we’re speaking about folks’s lives after they’re on the market on the highway,” Santiago mentioned.
They actually do. You recognize, I’ve heard tons of tales about sellers doing shady shit, nevertheless it normally has to do with monetary offers. It’s very uncommon you get a seller that goes out of its technique to promote folks unsafe automobiles twice.
