I would make a call to at least check your rights This link was recommended by someone in another part of ferrarichat when I googled Ferrari lemon law California lawyer http://www.lemonlawspecialists.com/ Lemon law is a state based law so suggest you find a specialist in SFV or LA You live in the right place to find a lawyer It's 10 years since I lived in Malibu, but from memory, if the car is purchased from you it would appear as a lemoned law car on the carfax for the next owner And that's a lot better to ensure that future buyers know the car has huge problems without it effecting your resale
OK got back my Cali. She is humming along like a dream. Wiring harness??? Well they replaced it and did some tests with the old DCT--still malfunctioning. So the harness was perfectly fine. Got a new DCT--not a rebuild which is what I think they were doing in the past. Shifts properly. Hopefully Getrag fixed the problem. If they did this one should last 100K miles. But if it doesn't, Ferrari now has a 2 yr warranty on parts like the DCT. My dealer and service center handled this extremely well. I am very pleased. Also FNA stepped up and helped out with extending my warranty! Wow now I can drive and sleep in peace!
Thanks for the update Seems like a reasonable outcome Suggest you keep a file for the documents they have provided in relation to the parts warranty and vehicle warranty Dealerships change ownership, employees at FNA leave etc Have everything documented, don't leave any weasel room I hope they promised to replace the entire car in the event of a FIFTH failure If it happens a fifth time, ask for a California loan car while they are checking out the problem, and don't give the loan car out until they have replaced the car
Good for you. Good luck this time around. Knock on wood, still no problems with mine, other than the random sw glitch when trying to start.
I have gearbox no 3, all changes on the warranty. I have just bought the extended warranty. I did not realize any fault with the first gearbox, but the dealer did. On the 2nd gearbox, the car kept jumping out of 3rd gear. Seems OK now, on the 3rd gearbox! The car is the firs one that was deliverred in Norway, June 2009
Obviously the problem you have with the DCT has NOTHING to do with your driving. The Getrag DCT has a design defect. Getrag needs to fix this. In the meantime, we are all in the dark. The replacement box may have the same defrect and therefore will FAIL. The replacement cost out of warranty is 28K plus labor
California Lemon Law is no joke and very consumer friendly. I had a big issue with my SL63 transmission jerking and banging into gear and I lemoned it after 3 clutch packs and two transmissions, wiring harness etc. ( Apparently it was a software issue). None the less, having the car go into gear on its own in freeway traffic is enough to make you lose it in your pants. I can refer you to the guy I used. As long as you bought the car in California and paid California sales tax the law applies to you regardless of where you live. MB was yanking my chain for months over this and was actually the main reason I moved from AMG to the California. Any word if the 458s are affected by the DCT issue?
Lets hope the 458 box is better designed than the Cali. But Cali drivers tend to DRIVE while many 458 owners only use the car for special occasions and are afraid to put miles on the car. They may never see the failure due to the low use.
Ya sounds bad man, maybe you should just get rid of it....and in its current condition i dont think it will sell for much...but ill be glad to just take it off your hands as a friend and fellow Fchatter... OP its good to see someone with mileage on the car. I definitly would be super mad about going through 4 gear boxes. Hope this next one last you longer. Thank god for the warranty.
Since the California will be retired in about a year, do you really think that Getrag is going to correct the DCT problems for this car? Or do parts suppliers continue to produce replacement parts for several years and improve their design. I think that they would probably make sure that the new DCT designed to fit into the new replacement California doesnt have this flaw. Im not so sure about the current Cali getting a fix. What do you think?
Once the cars are out of warranty faulty design actually helps their profitability I just bought a VW golf that's out of warranty and the air conditioning compressor is a known failure item on the first couple of years production So I'm about to pay $1000 to fix it on a car that cost $15k If companies can make parts that fail after the warranty expires it could double their sales without any additional costs to find leads or convert them I wonder if there are any management consultants around that suggest making parts fail deliberately by under engineering them?
After 4 gearbox changes, they still don't know what is causing this? It's not like Gertrag only produces gearboxes for Ferrari. The DCT in my M3 is a dream to use and has held up 40k+ miles. I would Lemon Law the car and not sell it to some unsuspecting soul.
Thanks for your comments. I am looking into this option too. But analyzing this problem leads me to believe that the DCT failure is not the result of being unlucky and getting a bad box. Instead it is a design defect which exists in all Cali's which rears its ugly head after use-- 19k to 20 something thousand miles. So the unsuspecting soul is anyone who owns a Cali and puts miles on the car! I think Ferrari should put pressure on Getrag to fix the problem and not just handle the failures on a case by case manner. Involving the Lemon Law is one way for the individual to get rid of his car. But it is less satisfying than getting the problem fixed right for all the owners.
I don't know about "deliberate," but Ferrari owners tend to contribute to the "pay, because the warranty is expired" syndrome, as many owners seem to want to put less than 10k miles on their new cars, then sell them, often just before the warranty is about to expire (or after). I have no doubt this low mileage practice has saved Ferrari countless millions in warranty repairs and where the repairs are eventually done by Ferrari, countless millions in profits. 10-20k miles are not enough miles to discover all the defects, and if it's true the the Getrags are defective and will fail at 20-30k miles on all Calis, then nearly every owner (or subsequent buyer) is in for a rude shock if they follow the pattern of "saving" their cars' mileage by keeping them under 10k miles. I hope this isn't true for the DCT Getrags but am at a loss whether to try to sell soon to avoid this possible scenario or drive the car more "like normal" and put enough miles that it continues to be Ferrari's problem (with the 2 year warranty on new parts, if they fail at 20k miles, you just need to drive the car 20-30k miles within each two years, get a new transmission each time, and continue this until the rest of the car falls apart!).
I'm going to sell mine in the next few months while there is 6 months warranty left I don't want a bill for $25,000 six months after the warranty ends I have really enjoyed having it for 18 months
I re-read the thread. Hopefully the problem is confined to early cars. MalibuGuy, at what mileage intervals did your DCT fail? Others who have experienced failure, at what intervals and what model year is your car? Rick Lederman and others have put > 40k miles on their cars without any problems so maybe this isn't a widespread issue. I do notice that the car is reluctant to start in first unless you come to a full stop. I use the paddle to ensure a first gear start but wonder about that from wear and tear perspective. It seems worse to make DCT slip to start from 0 mph in second. Sometimes when in quick stop and go driving, the DCT gets confused after stopping and quickly going straight away (like you would from stop signs). Where I live the city decided they wanted to slow traffic so there's a stop sign almost every block so multiple start-stop-start agains are unavoidable. Everything running fine though.
I get about 17k miles per DCT Rick sold his first car and now is on his second. I don't think he put 40k miles on either car
I wonder how widespread this problem is I only have 5000 miles on my car Can everyone here that has experienced a DCT failure requiring a gearbox repair or peace net please post in this thread listing Build month and year (early, mid late 20xx is fine) Repair or replaced? Miles/Km traveled at time of failure Please list details if multiple failures
My 2010 Cali, built in Nov 2009 , had one DCT Failure at 2500 Miles. They replaced the DCT. I just traded the Car on a 2013 Cali 30 in June. I am getting the car in mid Dec. most likely. Hope this helps.
