Recalls

I've recently received a quote of $2500-plus from my Ford dealership of to fix the front and rear diff bushes on my 2005 Ford Territory. Since receiving the quote I have spoken to a friend of mine who also has a Ford Territory who had the same problem but were able to get it fixed for free due to a recall on the bushes in the 2007 model. She told me she was informed that the recall wasn't just for her '07 model, but a range of models and I'm enquiring today to see if you know any information about the matter and if my '05 model is also covered?

I have a 2006 Toyota Yaris which looks good and runs well. However, it has had four recalls that have caused me a great deal of distress. Do you think it would be sensible under these circumstances to buy the latest model of this car?

My wife recently received an urgent recall for her eight-year-old Toyota Yaris regarding potential problems with the driver's seat rail and airbag. She called the dealer who sold and serviced the vehicle and was told the car could be inspected in October. We were concerned about the delay and emailed Toyota Australia and didn't get the courtesy of a reply. Then we contacted another dealer, who gave us a booking in less than a week. I find this situation peculiar. Could you please explain?

In 2004 I got a new Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Two years later there was a battery recall, and a replacement was fitted free. Twelve years later, the battery hasn't missed a beat. Is this some kind of record?

A year or so ago I started noticing a knocking or jerking motion when the DSG transmission in my 2009 VW Golf would move from D1 to D2. My VW service centre did their test and software updates but it didn't seem to fix it. The person there said that it's not an issue and it shouldn't worsen, so I made nothing of it and kept driving. But just a couple of weeks ago the engine light turned on and the DSG seemed completely messed up. The car would go from zero to D2 and then to D4 through a lot of revving and knocking. I took it to the same service centre and they again did the DSG software update, but again that hasn't fixed it. Now they tell me that the entire gearbox needs to be changed and have quoted $9,100 for the gearbox and $400 for labour. What are my options here? The car is not worth more than $15,000 at best. It has only done 58,000 km. Are there other places that fix VW gearboxes? My car was recalled as part of the DSG issue in 2013 and I got that fixed through a VW service centre.

I thought I'd let you know about our 2013 Holden Colorado, which caught fire in our backyard. We still don't know the cause as the insurance paid the claim without investigating and Holden wiped their hands of it. There were no suspicious circumstances; the car was turned off for nearly 3 hours before the fire! I believe the fire was caused by a fault with the car. We nearly lost our home and potentially our lives.