Duster versus Kawasaki Motors Corp

[Duster]

Well guys, after the day I have had today.... unless Kawasaki suddenly does a complete 180 tomorrow.... I guess this is what it's going to come down to...

Duster versus Kawasaki Motors Corp.

I figured out today when I really made it a point to corner them up on things that they have never had any intentions at all of ever honestly trying to confirm anything about my ECU.

Their techs in the warranty department have, from the word go, been out to waste my time and my dealer's time & labor costs on this issue. There sole mission has been to wear us both down real good and then reject the warranty claim.

So the dealer doesn't get paid, and I get my POS back to be stuck with it.

Hell, they had my servicing dealer so snowed on this that he had scheduled for me to pick the KFX up on the 17th after lunch.... only to find out that morning it still was not authorized and that they wanted one more bullshit test... which will diagnose nothing but their excuse to reject the claim.

I thought it would turn out better than this... and I hate it's come to this point, but I think that is where this is going to end up going tomorrow.

What they don't know though is that I am a United States Marine, and that the option to quit has been permanently erased from my DNA.

A friend of mine owns a law firm, and a friend of my wife's works for another law firm. Both of them looked at my case today and see it like ducks in a barrel.

Both say I can file in local civil court for $5,000 of what I have invested for $50 in fees... or for a little more in fees that I can take it further and more serious to a higher court under some Moss Magnuson Act... which might end up leading to class-action for everyone.

Both are friends so it won't cost me anything but the filing fees. So that's good. But even though they are friends, bless them they are still lawyers... greedy instinct... so you know what route both of them want me to choose..........

[AZkfx450rider]

Well duster i went through hell idk if its my dealer or kawi, but i have gotten my battery swapped thre 3 times, this time they said its not covered under extended warranty only base waranty, but i know for a fact 1 of the times was after the 1st year, also they said they had no record ever of me having a battery issue or having a battery changed, secondly they fked up my lights and i cant figure out whats wrong with them, i always check my bike b4 a trip and so i ran the bike tested my lights and all good, take it down to them to try and get the battery replaced, and i get it back with no new battery and now my lights are so fked up they wont even run, also they tell me that when they hids are running and the fan kicks in it is drawing to much power for the charging system to keep up, which is BS because the fact i havnt had an issue in 2 years, and the point when the lights are flickering isnt even when the fan is on! so idk i had to bite the dollar and go buy a battery from a buddys shop cuz i was leaving the next day but i am still pissed cuz i already know they wont admit to messing anything up

[Duster]

Thanks... that reminds me I should also put in an "honesty call" to Yusa to inform them how they are getting hosed on this deal also... because you know it is Yusa that is eating the warranty replacement of these batteries.

This is also very likely "why" they recently revamped this model of battery... thinking they did something wrong.

That's just wrong...

[Duster]

Oh and you will love this too... since you were a "neutral parker" before....

They did not believe that mine died while parked in neutral.

The general "tone" from the beginning from Kawasaki pissed off my service guys on this one. So since it has been in the shop, it has been continuously parked in neutral at all times. And they have been testing and keeping a battery voltage log in it.

It will go for a random amount of days with no loss at all. Then sometime between 6pm and 9am the next morning, out of the blue it will drain down to just over 11 volts, then stop... and not drain any more.

I don't know what more they want than the information that has been provided to them.

No I take that back... what more they want is for me to accept this POS... go away, and shut up about it.

Not likely to happen.

[ononewheel]

good job duster get those bastards!

[AZkfx450rider]

what im thinkin happened is maybe yusa realized there isnt an issue wiht the battery and now they are telling people that only the base warranty covers batteries? sounds like one big cover up on this one! take em to the cleaners duster im in! haha

[DeuceDeuce]

Its unfortunate that the electronics are such a weak point on the machines. I don't think I'd tangle with my man Duster though. Good luck, brother. Sounds like one of those customer service situations where they try the - If we just provide shitty enough service, eventually the customer will wave the white flag.... I don't think Duster even owns a white flag....

[Duster]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeuceDeuce

Its unfortunate that the electronics are such a weak point on the machines. I don't think I'd tangle with my man Duster though. Good luck, brother. Sounds like one of those customer service situations where they try the - If we just provide shitty enough service, eventually the customer will wave the white flag.... I don't think Duster even owns a white flag....

I learned to wipe my azz on my white flag back when I was a toddler.

[Duster]

And see it's not so much about money... but principle.

I could buy one of those battery shutoffs for the battery drain... and maybe putting a fuel controller on and SUBTRACTING fuel would even out my air fuel enough....

Or I could buy one of the 3 aftermarket ECU's and have a shot at fixing all problems.

But see... I shouldn't have to do that, and neither should anyone else.
That is what the dang warranty is for.

And I tell you, it burns me up good to know the amount of people that paid for the extended warranty.... and the fact that I had money set aside to do the same thing...

[Duster]

I just got an update from the dealer to go along with the conversation I had with Kawasaki yesterday.

Bottom line is... here is how Kawasaki attempts to worm out of the warranty coverage for the bad part...


It's a known fact that the ECU does not malfunction CONTINUOUSLY.
That's what they bank on as an escape path.

They asked for a measurement of the static draw of the system when off and parked.... the same specification they told me they had no such specification for when I asked them for it a month ago...

They now state that (I think) up to and around 9mA is normal.
Which thanks to a friend I know is a lie.

So they bank on the fact that when the dealer checks the draw, we are not lucky enough to catch the system literally in the act of killing the battery in short order.

They happened to get a measurement they did not like from my dealer (too high) and now Kawasaki insists this test result is incorrect. They insist a multimeter can't be used to take this measurement... ANOTHER LIE... as any multimeter with the ammeter function can accurately measure current draw.

But no, they insist an ammeter must be purchased and used to take the measurement a second time. Not because that really needs doing, but because chances are the dealer will not be able to catch a high reading again.

And furthermore, Kawasaki has already expressed to me that even though this issue is documented and proven to be intermittent... that if the next reading is normal, I get my KFX back as-is and I'm supposed to accept being stuck this way with it (drains the battery and does not meter the fuel correctly).

This is not a legal remedy to a warranty claim... but that is how they want to try to play it.



Truth of the matter is, if they ever really wanted to truthfully diagnose the ECU health.... well then they would have made the needed instructions/documentation available to test the ECU itself on it's terminal pins.

Or they would have arranged for the KFX to be hooked up to an ammeter monitoring and recording device like they use on today's high tech cars in order to monitor and record parasitic drain.

What they really want to do is weasel out of all warranty claims on the ECU period... because they fear it will lead to issuing the mass recall that they know needs issuing.