Owner’s court win after buying ‘faulty’ Jeep

A Brisbane dealership has been ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a customer after issues with their Jeep proved so troublesome that the importer’s own expert told a tribunal he wouldn’t want to buy it.

A 2022 Jeep Compass Trailhawk, similar to one bought by Dallas Hawkins. Picture: File photo

A Jeep owner has been awarded a refund in the tens of thousands, with the car importer’s own expert saying he would not want to buy it.

Dallas Hawkins bought his brand new Jeep Compass Trailhawk for $60,600 from Trivett Automotive Retail Pty Ltd, which trades as Keystar Redcliffe Jeep, at Kippa-Ring in November 2021.

In November 2022 he and his wife took the Jeep on it’s first 4WD tour – a 7-day guided “Tag-a-long” driving tour with other 4WD vehicles in the Victorian High Country.

Three days into the tour and trouble struck when the car wouldn’t turn on after a stop and only started after some fault messages were cleared, a tribunal heard.

The same issue occurred the next day after an hour of driving in cold, snowy conditions.

Clearing the fault codes got the car started again but Mr Hawkins, after being told a Jeep dealer would need to properly diagnose the problem, pulled out of the tour given they were travelling in remote country without reception, the tribunal heard.

The car, which had less than 20,000kms on it, again failed to restart the following day while the couple drove home to Queensland on bitumen.

Once back in Queensland Mr Hawkins took it to Keystar dealership which, after a week, were unable to replicate or diagnose the fault, the tribunal heard.

They proposed it may be a communication fault, the windscreen not being properly recalibrated or Mr Hawkins driving “two-footed” causing a brake and accelerator pedal coherence fault.

A PCM update was put on the Jeep and returned to Mr Hawkins, who asked for proof of the changes that had been made to the car to confirm that the faults would not continue however he was told that could not be provided.

He was told the best way to test the vehicle was to take it back into the same conditions as the Victorian High Country and if the faults re-occurred not to delete them but have the Jeep towed out in the back of a flatbed truck and returned to a dealer, the tribunal heard.

Mr Hawkins was not keen on the idea given the off-road location of the initial breakdowns would not allow access for a flatbed truck for recovery and it may leave him “ stranded in a rural location with no vehicle”.

In December 2022 Mr Hawkins sought a refund for the car through Jeep Customer Services, which denied the request on the basis they had been unable to replicate the concerns when tested by Keystar.

Mr Hawkins filed an application for a refund in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal with Keystar and Stellantis (Australia And New Zealand) Pty Ltd – the vehicle importer and distributor for Jeeps in Australia – listed as respondents.

Keystar disputed that there was any fault with the vehicle and relied on submissions by Stellantis which submitted there was no evidence to support Mr Hawkins’ claim that the alleged major fault was a manufacturing defect. If there was any defect it was minor and remedied within a reasonable time at no cost, it said.

An independent motor vehicle report found the Jeep had an inherent transmission issue, the only attempt to fix the problem has been an unknown software update with no guarantee it would fix the issues and the author personally wouldn’t take the car to a remote location. He alleged Stellantis had shown “little to no interest” in resolving the issue while Keystar had “done their best to help the customer”.

Stellantis rejected this and raised concerns with the report, asserting it was not a transmission problem but a communication issue, the fault could not be replicated and the error code suggested driving with two feet was the cause.

Stellantis’ National Technical Manager Andrew Roberts gave evidence agreeing “two foot driving codes” could actually be caused by something else. He conceded they could not be certain the defect was fixed given they didn’t know its cause and he would not want to buy the vehicle.

“If you knew any of those concerns would happen with any manufacturer, you wouldn’t buy that vehicle. No one would buy that vehicle,” he said.

The tribunal found there were defects with the vehicle, including it becoming immobile and inoperable on three consecutive days, and they must have been present at the time of purchase.

“Consumers are entitled to expect that a brand-new vehicle will reliably work for several years and will safely get them to and from wherever they are going, without leaving them stranded on the side of the road or in a remote bush or trail location,” the tribunal decision said.

“This is even more important for a 4WD vehicle marketed as a trail or off-road vehicle, which are often driven in more remote locations, with limited phone reception and on more rugged terrain which is not always accessible to a tow truck.”

It ordered the Keystar dealership pay $63,000 to Mr Hawkins including as a refund for the Jeep, which he is to return, and $2000 damages for his aborted Victorian High Country tour.