So I just had my car serviced at Hendrix Lexus of Merriam Kansas. I had my brakes and rotors done, and a few other things. I normally have good service at this location, but when I picked my car up this time I could hear a few new noises. By the time I was able to contact the service manger the store was closed. So I drove the 65 miles back to my house in Topeka and thought I can wait until Monday. Well by the time I got home my car started making a loud metal grinding clunking sound from the front driver side wheel so I get out and check my will and come to find out 4 of my Lugnuts were able to come off with my fingers that's how loose they were. So I was wondering what would someone else do in my situation I could've been in a serious accident on the highway coming back home any recommendations would be great thanks

 

And my brakes and rotors done got home they didn't put all the Lugnuts on tight enough on my driver side I drove 65 miles got home started can't clock in from the driver front and my Lugnuts were on finger tight I could've been killed on the highway at least had a serious accident this is done at Hendrix Lexus of Merriam Kansas any opinions what I should do about this situation

 

I would tighten the lugs. I don't think you would of been in any more danger. They would fallen off in the first few miles of driving.

 

Tighten the lug nuts. Call and complain and perhaps get some goodwill future service.

Could something bad have possibly happened? Yes. Did it? No.

Frivilous consideration of a lawsuit IMO. Consumer complaint issue, fix it and move on.

 

On most regular passenger cars, lug nuts should be tightened to a torque figure of around 75-80 ft-lbs......if in doubt, use a torque wrench, or, at the shop, request that the technician hand-torque them with a wrench. If the technician doesn't know how to use a torque wrench (or refuses to use one), then he or she should not be in the auto repair business.....find a different shop. Also, while the temptation, without a torque-wrench, is to make the lugs as tight as possible (to keep the wheels from falling off), keep in mind that over-tightening of lug nuts is a prime cause of rotor-warpage on disc brakes, where you will get a shimmy in the brake pedal.

In the meantime, of course, if you don't have a torque wrench, tighten them by hand and get them torque-checked ASAP.

I agree with Dave, BTW, that one cannot sue on what simply might have happened. That usually doesn't cut it in a courtroom....you would have to have evidence of something happening that actually caused damage to your car, even though the technician, in this case, was probably indeed negligent in putting that wheel back on.

 

If you plan on driving the thing or even moving it, TIGHTEN THE LUGs by any means necessary. Not safe for anyone including urself. Risking safety for a complaint is not smart.

Second call the dealership and be the squeaky wheel. Sounds like this seems like a tech rushing through stuff, and banging up the brake shield to make contact with said rotors. Easy fix, but still not acceptable at any dealership or garage.
Get it fixed, maybe they`ll throw in some extras (dont count on it), and i guess just move on with life. I would only elevate things if they are not going to make it right, or F up some more or say it my fault for bringing into the dealership for service.

 

unfortunate this happened and highly unacceptable. A bit hard to prove this to the dealership though. I would call and complain like the others said, and hopefully they can give you a free service in the future or possibly a partial refund. I probably would've tried to take a sound clip from inside the cabin at least on your phone to show them what you heard and then describe the situation. Don't try this now, just tighten them up before you even move the vehicle, safety first.

 

There's a lot of denial imho today, with new car dealerships. The only thing that seems to get them to fess up at all is the BBB. Strange, but that's my experience. Also, from what I can understand, the way that techs are compensated is not in their favor, it's in the house's favor. They can't sit there and work on cars all day long as if it were their own, they too have mouths to feed. This leads to cutting corners and sloppiness, and probably, eventually, cheating.

What I would do is a) never return b) let the svc director know and ask that you are refunded for the full amount c) let Lexus know d) post the experience on Yelp e) file a complaint with the BBB asking for a full refund if b did not confirm when the check is being sent

Sorry to hear about this experience.

 

While they may or may not throw in something as a token of their apology, I still would call up and ask to speak with the service manager. Let him know the issue so that he can check which technician worked on your car and speak with him. While it may be an isolated incident, if this technician is a habitual offender when it comes to tightening lug nuts, he needs to be reminded. Sooner or later a customer is going to get hurt. Just be thankful it wasn't you and that you could save someone else.

I don't see any type of lawsuit out of this situation. I understand how he could have been negligent in not tightening the wheels, but the causation and damages components of negligence are missing. Lack of tightening the wheel lugs wasn't the cause any type of catastrophe as no injury or damages occurred and there are thankfully no measurable damages. Glad you are ok and discovered the issue.

 

Can't prove negligence without damage, so no grounds for lawsuit.

 

I would let the dealership know and request that they torque the wheels properly and inspect the entire job. Get the work done on a work order for your records in case something related to this work comes back to cause problems.

I'm guessing that the four lug nuts were on different wheels. Sounds like tech forgot one nut per wheel....if that's the case.

 

I'd raise hell with the dealer and service manager. The guy that worked on your car could have a history of sloppy work, customer complaints, cars coming back, etc. Not tightening the lug nuts is a certain special kind of stupid, something that should be grounds for immediate termination if you can pin it on one person. You could have been killed if the wheel fell off at 70mph on the highway.

 

My god! They tried to kill you, LOL! Probably they forgot to torque the nuts during service. Don't you have a torque wrench? After service I always do visuals going around the car B4 I take off.

 

Agreed. I would keep this in mind when having my vehicle serviced there in the future, write reviews online if it makes you feel better, but if you have no damages, you have no basis for a legitimate lawsuit.

I'd definitely call them and speak to the service manager if only to let him know what happened. As a business owner myself with employees when one of my employees does something wrong, I want to know about it. I don't call over silly stuff obviously, like somebody being kinda rude, etc...but big stuff like this, or somebody who is so rude its going to cost the company business I will call. If they give me something great, thats not the reason for my call.

For everybody: You should go buy a torque wrench and check the lugs when you get home. I don't do it at the dealer or shop but I always check them when I get home and they're always wrong, uneven. etc.

 

This reminds me of years ago I was filling up my Maxima and the pump kept pumping and fuel spilled all over the side and onto the pavement, maybe 1 gal. I went inside and said two things, deduct 1 gal from my charges, and you should repair that pump and close it for now. The girl who was not young, laughed at me. Said we're not taking 1 gal off when you don't know how to pump gas. So I said, you better take 1 gal off, because that's a lot of fuel on the pavement, and if you don't cut that pump off, eventually you might have an accident or fire caused by someone smoking while they're pumping gas. All of a sudden they were on the radio and coning off the area.

imho we shouldn't assume lawsuit, but we should have an expectation that people will do the right thing, at least sometimes....to laugh and say I don't know how to pump gas (I set the device that keeps it pumping without squeezing), was very unprofessional. I think they deducted 3 gal, gas was cheap back then