MG 3 Problems

This might be a tricky one because crash damage is not usually covered by a car’s factory warranty. But if you believe the crash was caused by brake failure, then the manufacturer is potentially responsible for that. Whether that translates to paying for the crash damage is a very grey area, however.

CarsGuide is not able to offer legal advice, but this sounds like a case where you might consider engaging a solicitor to help sort it all out and determine who’s going to pay for what. The first step would be to have the car independently tested to see if the brakes are, indeed, faulty, and tackle it from there. Your state motoring club should have a legal advice department that can help guide you and might be a good starting point.

Fundamentally, a car’s factory warranty should follow it from one owner to another. That’s how Australian consumer law works. The exception would be if the car had not been serviced and maintained properly, at which point the manufacturer can argue that they no longer have an obligation to fix the car under warranty. But that would be regardless of whether it has changed hands or not.

Many car buyers looking for a second-hand car will be attracted to a vehicle that still has a portion of its factory warranty to run. It’s great peace of mind for those buyers.

MG Australia extended its factory warranty to seven years/unlimited kilometres back in 2017, so your 2019 car should still have at least 18 months to run.

Very often, a whistling noise caused by air passing over the vehicle is caused not by the window openings, but the actual door openings. If the rubber door seals are from a bad batch or the doors have not been aligned properly on their hinges at the factory, this very annoying whistling sound can be the result. Fitting window-shields to force the air around the window openings won’t do a darn thing if the noise is from the door rubbers, which sounds like what might be going on here.

At least the dealership has admitted that there’s a problem, so stay on top of them until the problem is sorted out. And definitely do not take “they all do that” for an answer. A simple mechanical seal should not be beyond the skills of a modern car-maker.

This is another classic example of body-computer-fault behaviour. The body computer on a modern car controls multiple (hundreds, in fact) functions such as the heating and cooling, dashboard, media and entertainments, wipers, lights and, of course, the central locking. If the computer has a glitch, the central locking can develop a mind of its own.

Ultimately, you may need to replace the body computer, but this is potentially a warranty job since your car is a 2019 model and should, therefore, carry seven years of factory cover. Take it back to the dealership and have the situation assessed.