I bought a brand new lime-green Kona from Stew Hansen around June of last year and had a great time until about the 15,000 mile-mark. I drive anywhere between 30-50k miles a year so my vehicle condition is very important to me and I pay close attention to maintenance.
Around the 15,000 miles into this new vehicle, I began having difficulty with braking and handling. It began as mild pulling to the right, loss of braking power after highway driving, and some vibration. All which seemed very mild and tolerable at the time, thus it did not warrant further investigation quite yet.
Fast-forward a couple months into winter: The pull, vibration and handling difficulties reach an apex in the harsh weather; my steering becomes unruly, braking is becomes unpredictable and the vehicle has lost a lot of it's natural grace, for lack of a better term (small road noise becomes much more dramatic in the cabin, larger bumps are amplified into cabin-shaking events).
Shortly thereafter, another driver skews their lane during an interstate-exit in Ankeny and I oversteer to avoid a collision - the driver-rear tire comes in contact with the median as a result and the front end of this car just completely collapses: Steering column failure from a rear-wheel impact that threw the unit into a severe toe-in alignment condition. That condition alone destroyed the steering column and Stew Hansen, for whatever reason, was unable to apply warranty service to the situation, costing my family and I $1800 in repairs. I still have no idea how we ended up in that situation, but needless to say, they lost my future patronage over the ordeal (but perhaps they don't want my business, which is all I can imagine at this time, and that is their prerogative of course).
With that said and done (and repaired), I elect to put that behind me and move forward. The only problem is that the repair job done by Stew Hansen on my front-end was woefully incomplete. When I received the vehicle back: 1) Vehicle would not start consistently (required multiple attempts, up to five 'button presses' in most cases), 2) Vehicle steering was *extremely* tight (to the point that my wife is asking, "did they disable the power steering or something?", 3) Vehicle started having progressive 'drag' which builds up the longer you drive, causing loss of braking power, vibration and all sorts of unpleasant handling conditions (which are especially amplified in a cross-wind on the highway), 4) The wheel wasn't even put back on level! It's still cocked to the right about five degrees.
When these things were brought to their attention, the best response I could get was, "We can't replicate the issue", or "Just bring it back in".
Unfortunately they have not replicated "the issues" to their satisfaction yet, but my family and I get to replicate it *every single day*. The vehicle is now at 30k miles and continues to degrade each day. I've had several instances of 'just parking the xxxx thing' as a result when the "not an issue" builds up to the point where I cannot safely control the vehicle (typically in crosswind or inclimate weather, where the vehicle load is heavily shifted into lateral vectors due to wind or environmental conditions) (need hard data to backup my claim? I've been taking thermal measurements from the brakes too!)
I fully understand the nature of automotive technical service. I have a background in a similar field and have spent plenty of time under a lift myself. But to have the service department tell me multiple times that 'the problem doesn't exist' or try to give me advice (as thou I've forgotten how my vehicle drives after thirty thousand miles) is both pointless and annoying. Again, I understand that some issues take time to diagnose and fully analyze, that is not the issue.
The problem lies in the fact that I was sold a faulty product which the dealership cannot (either due to their inability or their unwillingness) service properly, which has left my family in a bad situation with a car that makes me very nervous to operate while my children are in the unit.
I get to 'replicate' the problem they cannot find every day, and it is tremendously stressful for both myself and my family. Ultimately I will be repairing the vehicle myself as I simply cannot allow a silly machine to get someone hurt just because the dealership isn't willing to spend the time necessary to find the root-cause of the problem.
To the dealership, this is just another unit, but to my family, this is our livelihood. This is the source of our safety, our transportation, and plays a crucial role in our everyday life. Stew Hansen (and the manufacturer, as evidenced by my complete inability to get *anywhere* with their Customer Care department) simply do not care, as long as their online reputation remains high and they continue to sell units.
Point blank: I genuinely look forward to finding a dealership that both knows it's product AND has the technical prowess to keep those products in good-shape for the people who've purchased them.
Stew Hansen, unfortunately, for all of their online visibility and overall high-ratings, are no different from the others I've worked with in Des Moines, and that's a shame. I wish I had better things to share, but this is simply the truth of my situation.
Be a wise consumer. Consider other options.
