Hi everyone,

I just got back from a dealership and I wanted to see if someone could help me with an issue that came up at the dealership. Some backstory : about a year back, I had to take my car in to the dealership as the car's security system completely failed after a battery disconnect. Reading some of the posts online, I figured out that it's an immobilization issue and told the technician about it. He looked into it and did the immobilization procedure and the car was back to normal. Atleast I thought it was. Fast forward to about a month ago, I noticed that one of the rear doors would not lock even when the car was locked. The door would just open and the car's hazard lights would blink. All the others doors wouldn't open as is expected when the car is locked. So I assumed this didn't get fixed when I took the car in about a year back for the immobilization procedure.

I took the car in today for my appointment to get this fixed. While I waited at the dealership, the front desk person came and told me that there was an update for each of the doors and when they did this update, the keys stopped functioning and the car doesn't respond. It's like the car is bricked and they can't move it. They reprogrammed the keys but it would only hold a reprogramming for a few mins and then fail. So now the car is basically dead and I was given two options:

1. To bring in the spare key to see if that would work. They said it probably won't but they would try it.
2. Reorder two new keys as nothing can be done now and also reorder the initiator as the new keys would need this. Total for this is $1500!!

For now, I gave them the spare key but I have a feeling this isn't going to work. I'm really at a loss here, I don't think ordering new keys is a solution to this and they are not really looking into the problem here. I'm also not sure if this is an issue I should pay for as they updated it and hence messed up what was atleast a working car before. Could anyone please provide an insight into this? Any help would be appreciated.


Thank you in advance!

 

Did they do just a software update or change the actuator or both

 

Hi,

They just did a software update and did not change the actuator.

 

If this is a Jaguar dealer I would simply state that the car was working when I brought it in for service. Whatever has happened is because of what you (The Factory Dealership!) did to my car. No I won't pay $1500 and yes I will be making a BIG stink everywhere I can if you don't fix this!

From your description I do think you needed a door actuator replaced in that door. But that seems to be the least of your problems at the moment.
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It is a Jaguar dealer. Thank you for that, I was thinking I should say something along these lines but I wasn't sure as they have my car now.

Hmm, so it's an issue with the actuator and not something that happened a while back when the immobilizer had to be reinitiated? Also, how hard of a task is it to change the actuator on my own or is this something that has to be done by the dealer? I'm really not happy with them right now and I rather do it myself if it can be done.

 

If you only have one door giving problems that points to that door and what's inside it. Any immobilizer problems will effect the entire system. No way for the immobilizer to selectively disable one door. It's not designed that way. Now without codes or further checking that is just an Internet guess and at this point it's not worth much.

There are multiple threads in great detail on changing the door actuators as they are a common failure in this model of Jaguar. Whether you can do the repair is up to you but remember you have this list and if you can't figure it out with the existing threads post your question to one of those threads as it will help the next guy too.

But that's a minor issue right now and I would be calling and talking to the general manager. Keep your cool BUT state exactly what the problem is in black and white terms. AND what you expect to be done to solve this problem. Threatening law suits and all that can come later if at all. My wife can never do this as she just can't face any conflict and many people are like this. So just stay focused on the problem at hand and try (It won't be easy!) to keep the end result in sight.

Keep your ego in check as they might start the old "The customer really does not know anything about Jaguars so we can tell him anything" routine. Keep this thread active and if the GM is not willing to fix it check into going up higher in Jaguar. They do have corporate service people IF you can find one!

I would make that call to the GM TODAY!
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Absolutely agree, if they played with the software, they could fix it without adding more cost to you, as they are the supposed experts and other than the one door which I agree is an actuator, all was working. I had to deal with this kind of scenarios before, takes time and persistence along with them supplying a loaner vehicle while they get their ducks in a row, or I would rent a vehicle and then charge back. Once had to file a claim in court before they (A different dealership than Jaguar) settled payment.