Hi Rory, the suspension bushes will fall into the wear and tear category unless it was like a very early on fail of the bush so it wouldn't be covered by any warranty in my opinion.

As for the price of the parts, wow!
If it's the lower suspension arm, the ball joint and two other bushes there might be the chance of just replacing the worn bush instead of replacing the whole arm *if possible*. If it doesn't need to be supplied and fitted by Seat then the new front arms are just over £50 each but you might get it even cheaper than that if you know anyone in the trade etc and then you would need someone to fit them and even if it's only on the one side, many people/garages would advise you replacing both sides at the one time. But if it does have to be done through Seat then ouch!.... but you will know that you are using genuine Seat parts and it's all done properly etc

I think what I've wrote makes sense......

 

Definitely not warranty. Find a local non-franchised garage to do the work, it doesn't need to be a VAG specialist either, it's a straightforward mechanical job. You could even supply the parts yourself if you get them cheap enough.

 

Thanks for opinions - not what I expected!

They're not on the excluded lists of parts for the warranty, and, to me, the point of a limited time and mileage warranty is that everything except for service parts should last at least as long as the warranty. You could say any failure was wear and tear - alternator failed? it's worn out. I think parts which can't last 30K miles on normal UK road use are arguably not fit for purpose.

On our mk1 Tiguan it was noted on the health check video that the console bushes (which is the same bush but a different orientation on mk1 Tiguan) were starting to tear. Not mentioned on MOT done at the same time, or on any of the paperwork. If I hadn't been sent the video I wouldn't have known. Dealer changed them under warranty.

I suspect what's going on here is more related to technicians being bonused to find additional work. Certainly in the VWs case there was obvious irritation that it had been mentioned. In the Ateca's case they've gone as far as to list it on the MOT and in the written vehicle health check.

 

Unless it was/is a known fault or recall then bushes don't usually qualify as warranty parts but I do understand your side of it.

The parts could be bought for around £100 and your probably looking at 1 hours labour per side although it probably could be done for 1 in total but garages charging by the hour won't be looking to get the job done as quickly as possible. Seat are probably charging about £350-£400+ alone just for the labour which is a bit frightening.

 

The part should be designed to last and it should not be an expectation for it to fail as a wear and tear item. I have never had a car where the bushes have failed, let alone early. SEAT will be saying next that if the engine's big end plain bearing failed within the first three years it will be wear and tear. In my view it is definitely a warranty item.

 

Thanks! That's a better answer.

I think I'm a fair minded person but it seems bonkers to me that these bushes fail so early. If they're going to be sacrificial then at least make them cheap and easy to change - I know I could get the job done elsewhere but the dealers quote of near £700 (inc alignment) is just insane.

 

Thanks! That's a better answer.

I think I'm a fair minded person but it seems bonkers to me that these bushes fail so early. If they're going to be sacrificial then at least make them cheap and easy to change - I know I could get the job done elsewhere but the dealers quote of near £700 (inc alignment) is just insane.

It is insane but that's how they make their money, daylight robbery actually! Lol most of your bill is labour which makes things worse. If you can find the bush that needs replaced then maybe just pressing the old one out instead of replacing the whole arm, that's if the rest of the arm is still ok and you'll save a small fortune.

I suppose you could try fighting them on it and I hope you get somewhere but I doubt you will.

 

Have you seen this failed bush with your own eyes?
Have they shown evidence of failure / failing component?
Call me cynical but it has been known for pork pies to be told.

 

They sent the health check video and you can see there's something going on but it's not clear. Couldn't understand what the technician was saying at the critical point either.

I suppose the relality is they're starting to fail from the moment they're used - it's a question of at what point is it reasonable to change them? I don't want the car to start suffering odd tyre wear etc. I particularly noted when driving it to the garage and back that the drove beautifully and that it ran straight and true and it rolled effortlessly with the clutch down. 15 mile trip each way and it showed 55MPG on the trip.

 

Well, SEAT UK's looking into it has consisted of them coming back and saying that if the dealer says it's wear and tear and not covered then it's wear and tear and it's not covered. Thanks for that.

 

No surprise SEAT UK go with wear and tear. One car could have 30k miles all on smooth roads, or another car 30k miles all on pot holed terrain. One will wear more than the other but same mileage.
For me it would be worth having a second opinion. A trusted independent garage to put it on a lift and with you there inspect it and either confirm or not confirm what a dealer is saying.
For me it would be too big a repair/money outlay to just go with whatever the dealer is saying. I am saying from experience and that is why I may come across as suspicious / cynical.

 

Yeah I would agree with that, getting a second opinion on it before handing over that sort cash but also consider getting it fixed elsewhere and you'll save yourself a fortune!

 

No surprise SEAT UK go with wear and tear. One car could have 30k miles all on smooth roads, or another car 30k miles all on pot holed terrain. One will wear more than the other but same mileage.
For me it would be worth having a second opinion. A trusted independent garage to put it on a lift and with you there inspect it and either confirm or not confirm what a dealer is saying.
For me it would be too big a repair/money outlay to just go with whatever the dealer is saying. I am saying from experience and that is why I may come across as suspicious / cynical.

.
To my mind unless there's evidence of abuse the part should last at least as long as the warranty - it should be designed and manufactured to cope with normal road conditions for a reasonable length of time - and we all moan about the roads, but they're far worse in other countries where these cars are sold . It was also noted both bushes where the same - pothole injury would make more sense if it was just the nearside. There's not even any speed bumps around where we are, or on the car's regular commute. The car is parked on a drive - it's not bumped over a kerb.

I'm sure if I took this to my trusty VAG indie, he'd screw his face up and say come back in a year. But the fact is the dealer technician has stated that he recommends replacement and their tester noted it on the MOT. I'm miffed it's started to tear at all, never mind that they won't cover it.

 

It could be a sub standard part used at the factory. Unluckily there are times this happens.
Proving it is almost impossible. Maybe it is something that becomes a repeat problem as Atecas start to get 30k+ miles?
I know it does not help your situation though. Annoying and frustrating.

 

I noted earlier that our mk1 Tiguan had them done at 18K miles and it comes up quite often on the mk1 Tiquan forum - but a member who is a garage owner in Canada picked up that it only seems to be UK cars. He changed his at 180,000kms although he did note the pin that fits into the bush was very worn (of course, here the arm would be changed - he built the pin back up with weld!).

Obviously earlier failure here could be due to roads / environmental conditions but it could also be down to UK garages being keen to highlght potential work.

Mk2 Tiguan / Ateca / Kodiaq have a different design and the rear bush sits in the horizontal plane. It looks altogether more flimsy, but there's no comment at all on the mk2 Tiguan forum although most of the owners on there seem to be folks who change cars every 3yrs.

 

It's not unusual for a mot tester to make observations and from your comment "Ateca's first MOT at 3yrs/31K miles, done at the dealer - but miffed to get a warning from the technician, and an MOT advisory for: Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement both (5.3.4 (a) (i))".... it looks like he's not failed you but put it under advisories, unless you are saying it failed the mot for this??

Sometimes it's touting for business, sometimes it's little more than a good mot tester making sure you are aware of possible future work. Seat are unlikely to pay for a part that's not failed, even more so a wear and tear part.

As others have mentioned, this isn't a seat only fix and a bread and butter job for most independent garages which will be substantially cheaper than the seat main dealer.

 

For clarity, it didn't fail, it's an advisory.

It does feel rather like a put up job - the Technician recommending replacement and saying that it'll be an advisory when his colleague MOts the vehicle, and sure enough it was. Interesting that the vehicle was MOT'd after service - I've never known that happen before, garages have insisted that DVSA requires them to test before the car is worked on, so they can get a clearer picture of the state of cars on the road.

As mentioned earlier, on our Tiguan the bushes were commented on during the health check video but no mention on MOT which was done first.

 

Dealers always tear apart any car that is not brand-new in my experience, 30k you can expect "some" wear on bushes but doesn't mean they are
at the stage of failure and may not be for another few 10k miles or years, me personally I would take it to a Council run MOT centre next year.

And imagine how miffed I was to fail my first my first MOT at 12k miles :shock: :lol:

 

It's on a 5yr warranty and service package, inc MOT - so not ideal to take it elsewhere. Even other dealers (none are close to us) in the area are owned by the same group.

I don't doubt that there's some level of issue, but it's probably very minor at this stage- what I'd hoped is the dealer had stuffed themselves by putting it on the MOT - but I'm getting nowhere.

Had a reply back from SEAT UK today that completely referred to Audi! I know VAG contract out customer service to a call centre because they think so little of their customers they don't want to actually speak to us themselves, but it's all pretty poor. They're saying it's nothing to do with them, it's up to the dealer, and they can't over-rule them, wich is of course nonsense. Of course the dealer won't claim it if he knows the claim will get bounced.

 

So until you pay them to do the suspension bush work
they wont put it thru the MOT as part of the 5yr warranty and service?

 

No, it passed the MOT, but with an advisory.

It's meant to be a warning to get something fixed before it becomes a failure.

The issue with the warranty is that it makes it a bit dodgy to get the car fixed using non-genuine parts.

 

How can that be not under warranty??
My partners car Mercedes has problem with a suspension arm - and its covered under warranty - theg r fixing it in two weeks. Nothing to pay.

 

I dont know - I was gobsmacked, but, to be fair, opinion of people I've asked in pretty divided.

Even if it's considered hard luck, I'd say it should be SEAT's hard luck, not mine , if the part doesn't make it through the warranty period.

 

I've registered on the ateca forum after repeated failures to register on tiguanforums, possibly because I tried a username with an apostrophe in it. Anyway, I wanted to see if my experience might be of some help to Rory, whose post to tiguan forums first caught my eye, then I found him on here. Hi Rory!

I'm still a relative Tiguan virgin, having bought mine in Nov 2020 with something like 43000 miles on the clock. Its MOT from 2020 (its first) notes wear on the inner edge of the offside rear tyre. A check on tyre date stamps shows the rear tyres to be original to the car, but the fronts are newer.

Several decades of VWs on twisty roads in SW Scotland have taught me that worn front lower arm rear bushes will predictably produce wear on the inner front tyre edges. So I checked the front offside tyre on the Tiguan, and it was clearly wearing on its inner edge, showing the early stages of the same wear pattern as the offside rear.

At this point I opted not to even try claiming on the VW Approved Used warranty but replaced the bushes myself as I normally would. The outer metal of the bush on the front offside was almost completely separated from the rubber, though it's almost impossible to see the bush without removing the arm from the car first.

If I had any doubts about the bush deterioration being the cause of the tyre wear, these disappeared on the first trip out after they were replaced. After some 20 miles, the tyre pressure monitor went off, but the tyre pressures were all fine. That was the first and only time the tyre monitor has ever sounded, and I concluded that the system had detected a new and different rolling circumference from the tyre which was no longer scrubbing on the front offside. So I reckoned I had correctly identified the original problem.

I'll never know for sure, but I suspect that a front - rear wheel swap was carried out early in the car's life, shifting the unevenly worn tyre to the rear, possibly at a VW service. In time the swapped fronts would reach end of life without arousing suspicion and would be routinely replaced, leaving an unexplained (and uninvestigated) uneven wear pattern to be subsequently commented on at the first MOT. If I'm right about this, it suggests that VW will work hard to prevent these bushes falling victim to warranty claims.

So my conclusion is that these bushes are probably beginning to weaken within the first three years of the life of a Tiguan, because that is the only plausible explanation for the wear history on my car. It would be interesting to know if front - rear wheel swaps are carried out at dealer services, because that has the effect of removing the evidence trail, if uneven tyre wear due to bush wear should show up later.

I am aware of the outside possibility that uneven wear is occurring on the rear tyre in that position, since this apparently can happen with this suspension type. This doesn't remove the bush as the cause of the wear on the front tyre, however, I'm satisfied I've got that right.

Incidentally, the VW manual pages state that no alignment check is required after replacement of these bushes.

I hope there's something in this for you, and best of luck whatever you end up doing!

John

 

Thanks for that, and welcome! Thanks for taking the trouble to find the forum, register and write that up.

It's the possibility of gradually increasing tyre wear that was bothering me. I realise that these bushes are pretty notorious across the VAG range - as mentioned previously, it's a different design on our mk1 Tiguan but they were changed under warranty at 3yrs/18K as the technician blabbed on the video that they were starting to split.

I recall when the Tiguan ones were done I asked about alignment and they said it wasn't neccessary. SEAT dealers's solution is to change the whole arm so maybe then it becomes more important.

I do find it a little odd that no-one has popped up on the mk2 Tiguan forum with the same issue - I searched using various words - although it seems many of the owners on there buy new and change at 3yrs