So I had my truck in the dealership because not thinking I put chrome valve caps on and they corroded to the stems. They replaced the stems after waiting for a day for the parts to arrive.

I left the dealership and made my first left hand turn and the back end felt like it kicked out a bit which I thought was odd since, even though it was wet and raining, I wasn't giving it that much power. I continued on at about 60km/h on a 4 lane city road and noticed my steering wheel was skewed a little left of center and as I was thinking "that's odd how did they screw up the alignment changing the valve stems" it felt like the back drivers side tire completely blew out. Back end kicked out and I went across 2 lanes up onto the curb and barely missed a telephone pole, back onto the road and that's when I noticed my whole tire passing me on the drivers side. It flew across 2 oncoming lanes up a hill, hit a fence and rolled back down onto the road about 2 blocks away. I got it under control and resting half up against the curb and half up on the grass. This was after about 50-75 feet of riding on the rotor and who knows what else.

Called the dealer and talked to the service dept at the dealer which was just about to close, and they had a flatbed sent out. By the time I got there with the truck no one from service had bothered to stay around and make sure I was ok. They left instructions with a salesperson to give me a used vehicle to drive until they could fix mine. At this point I wasn't so shell shocked anymore as just plain pissed as I got thinking what if I had made it to a rural road or highway before this happened or what if I had my daughter in the car and I wasn't able to miss the pole?

Question is: Now that I have got home and changed my underwear I have had more time to think of all the implications and how much worse it could have been.

After riding on the rotor and whatever else for that long where is all the potential damage. I am no mechanic. I have a good idea what is probably damaged but what else is there I am probably not thinking of? Obviously I am expecting a very very thorough look from the dealer but after them causing this how do I trust them. I figure at the very least the rotor, hub, studs, rim, lugnuts need to be replaced....I didn't even make it 4 blocks from the dealer. At that I figure they must have just been hand tightened. Even an impact gun with no torque wrench would have put them on tighter!

I am also wondering if once its all done if all I am gonna get is an apology or will they offer some other compensation. This dealership has always treated me with the utmost respect and been more than generous with everything, so I hope that continues when big $$ is on the line.

The truck was a 09 with just 24K on it. Nothing wrong with it when it went in other than needing new valves stems.

 

There is no hub on a semi floating rear axle, but other than that your list sounds correct.


All I'd expect is that it get repaired and they give you something to drive while it is getting fixed.

 

I think I would talk to a lawyer, you could have killed someone, or gotten killed youreslf, because of the dealerships neglagence.

 

They are going to treat you like gold and fix your truck. They might give you free life time oil changes. They will tell you what ever it takes to get you to go away quietly. I say file a lawsuit. They almost killed you. You could have killed someone else. Thank god you are ok. Sounds like the tire man was in a hurry to go home. I would have gone in there and ripped them a new one.

 

Exactly what sort of lawsuit do you guys think you can file for not getting injured?

 

also the wheel should be replaced, look at the steering components, tie rods, ball joints on that side plus look at the body to make sure those areas did not get dented scratched.

and they need to compensate you too. not just fix it.

 

Does your truck have ball joints and tie rods on the rear axle?

 

Lol. Like I said. Not a mechanic




Really? That's interesting that you say that. I figured after doing something that could have got me or my family or a bystander killed they least they would do is offer me a detailing or a couple free oil changes after repairing the damage they caused. I really don't expect to have to bring my own torque wrench to the dealer to ensure my safety after a service.

 

I think maybe they are referring to the potential for damage to the front end as well after veering wildly across the road while missing a wheel and striking a curb at 50-60 km/h. Like I said. I am no mechanic but I think the potential to have even minor steering component damage exists.

 

You can ask, but I wouldn't expect it. Yup, they screwed up big time and they are really lucky that nobody got hurt. Their only responsability is to fix it - completely. Anything more than that is gravy.