Edward Hayes said:
Subaru has a TSB out that outlines a new installation procedure for the
replacement rear wheel bearing and at the end of the TSB it states shop time
is 0.8 hours for one wheel and 1.5 hours for both. Find the TSB and take it
to whoever wants your business. Ed Hayes
Unless you are getting it done under warranty, the TSB apparently does
not apply concerning the amount of time involved. Dealership I spoke with
says that 1.5 hours (for both sides) is all Subaru will _allow_ them, but
said it can't be done that quickly. (Yes, this is in a shop where they DO
have the latest tool made to speed up and simplify the job.) They hate the
warranty aspect for that reason, and that might be why Subaru of America is
unwilling to pay labor costs when they offer any coverage beyond the
warranty period: they know the dealerships will be unhappy to perform this
since they it is not a profitable proposition for them. Thus, from what I
have seen, SoA concedes to paying for parts, but the labor charge is harder
to get them to swallow.
As to a related question discussed under another post, the technician at
the shop I spoke with said he agreed to current SoA recommendation that
grease NOT be added when installing the new bearings. This was a change in
attitude for him, too, he admitted. He said the new tapered roller bearings
come totally pregreased, preloaded, ready to press into place with the new
tool made for this job. Any regreasing before this would involve
disassembling the bearing setup, which would in itself subject it to
possible contamination, overgreasing, undergreasing, or wrong type grease.
Thus SoA wants this controlled carefully, so they make sure this is all set
to specs before parts are shipped out. Makes sense to me, but I can't tell
you how much credit it should be given. You must decide on that score.
My biggest concern is how much liability SoA is going to take for these
bearings over time. I came to Subaru in 99, buying two new Foresters that
year, and have so far been very happy with them, with only minor problems I
accept as reasonable issues.
The bearings, however, fall into a very scary category of costly repairs
that might crop up over and over, according to what I have read here and in
other forums. SoA so far has sidestepped what I consider to be fully
responsible behavior, and instead seems willing to gamble away customers as
they try to save money on what is, to me at least, a clear issue of poorly
designed/engineered bearings, which seem to be underbuilt for the reality of
the loads with many Forester's normal usage. I only base this assessment on
the fact that premature failures are much too common to ignore. This being
the case, I am not willing to gamble on keeping a car that might cost me
several hundred dollars (every 6 months, a year, 2 years, whatever it turns
out to be) to repair a part that should almost never fail on these vehicles
if it is properly designed, installed, and maintained.
Nothing in anything I have read suggests that maintenance issues play
any part whatsoever in these failures, so the responsibility MUST lie with
Subaru of America, (other countries too, experiencing this problem? I'm not
aware of differences from place to place?) I am currently in early
negotiation with SoA for at least one rear bearing failure, and if I have to
shell out bucks for something that is this clearly SoA responsibility, that
will be the end of two more SoA customers, as we will be forced to look
elsewhere for all future vehicles. I hope this is not the case, because we
very much hope to keep driving Foresters for a very LONG time to come!
I personally think this complete issue could have been dealt with much
more diplomatically by Suburu if they accepted full responsibility for
bearing failures and in the process bought LOTS of satisfaction and pride
from those Subaru folks who have suffered the expense of these failures.
This kind of FULL acceptance of responsibility by Subaru would still be much
cheaper than doing a complete recall on these vehicles, but would in essence
allow customers and potential customers to breathe easier knowing that IF
they had an unfortunate failure, it wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg to
get it fixed, nor would they be left worrying that they might be repeating
this expense in another year or two (or less.)
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D N
I E T S
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