Well I had the car in to Benfield on a "while you wait" basis for the recent ACC "unavailable" faults that have happened 7 times that I recall.
2 different stories:-
1. Technician comes out and say there are 8 separate logs of ACC fault associated with what the computer thinks is an obstructed view. He says there've been a few other examples of this fault and the ACC system has been replaced, getting rid of the fault. I told him that every time i've been aware of it, the car has been on a long and sweeping bend at around 30mph, suggesting that the car had nothing to lock onto in front of it, and maybe there was some implausibility factor involved because of it. He said it was a possibility. I also said that since it cooled down a little this week then it hasn't happened, but as the sensor is low down in the grille out of glare and will have lots of cold air rushing over it, I don't think it's that.
I also mentioned that quite often the ACC system doesn't flag up that <>!<> symbol (2 cars with an exclamation mark in between) at times where I know the GTD would've done, and i've only had one false positive to warn me to brake since I have had the car (would've been more than that on the GTD). With all that in mind, I think that either the ACC sensor is faulty (likely) or it hasn't been set up correctly. I say to him that the car is only 6 weeks old tomorrow, you can clearly see that it hasn't been hit at all and the ACC unit doesn't look as though it has taken a hit either. While the car is in, I mention the unsightly gaps where the black side spoilers meet the main spoiler on the back.
2. His manager comes out to hand me back the keys half an hour later, telling me that the ACC will get recalibrated, but it's not warranty, it's goodwill. I ask why it's goodwill when the car, and the ACC sensor in particular, is completely free of damage. He squirmed a bit and I asked whether they'd honestly take on half a day's worth of unpaid work as goodwill when the car wasn't even bought from Benfield. He didn't really reply to that question - why make out they're doing me a huge favour, it's a warranty job - I know it and he knows it. They're going to treat my spoiler gaps like the recent warranty work for a lot of cars (even though mine isn't part of the hit list) - whoever is placing them at the factory clearly hasn't improved!
He did ask why Benfield couldn't help in sourcing me a car when I placed the order - so I told him that being short changed on the p/x by almost a grand and not getting 1/2 the discount I got from Pulman I was about £2800 better off going there. He said they're seeing that quite a bit lately!
So the car is in next Friday morning provisionally - assuming I can have the time off as a 1/2 day's holiday (I would have to wait 3 weeks for a courtesy car).
