Date:         Thu, 3 Oct 1996 15:26:36 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Cetin  Seren <cseren@fore.com>
Subject:      EV Battery goes out with a BANG!!!

Yes, it happened.

My wife was parking the EV in a shopping plaza and a _very_ loud
explosion happened in the engine compartment.  She ran out, fumes,
etc, leaking fluid under the engine compartment, in short, mayhem....


She calls me, (instead of AAA -- when will she learn??? :-) and
afterwards remembers to call AAA.  I arrived before AAA truck.  Just
popping the hood was enough to see what happened.  The plastic battery
compartment guard saved a lot of damage.  There we schrapnel-like
pieces of hard plastic & metal everywhere inside the battery
compartment.  No burn marks, so it was not a Hydrogen-Oxygen
explosion.

Disconnected the battery remnants, jump-started the EV from my trusty
'87, and drove it to the dealer (for Eric Z.'s  benefit: Billco VW).
They were not helpful.  

Conversation (between me an svc. person)

Me:         -  Hello.  My EV's battery exploded I need some help.
Svc. Person -  the mechanics leave at 4:00 P.M. and it is 4:25p.M. now
Me:         -  I think this should be covered by VW of A, that's why
               I need someone VW will recognize to look at it -- sort
               of be a witness.  By the way, who's that guy in the
               shop witha mechanic's shirt on?
Svc. Person -  He's a Mazda Mechanic, he cannot help you.
Me          -  OH?!!!
Svc. Person -  You need to call VW of A yourself.
Me          -  You mean you will not call VW of A for my problem?
Svc. Person -  That's not the way we work.  I can dial the number for
               you.
Me          -  O.K., thanks.

(Svc. Person Dials, hands the phone to me)

VW of A     - Hello, this is VW of A, can we help you?

Me          - Thanks, I hope so... (I tell my story).

VW of A     - We're sorry, sir.  Batteries are a maintenance item and
              are not covered under any warranty.

Me          - Ma'am, batteries are considered maintence items when
              they behave predictably, and when they eventually die.
              When they explode for no good reason (as opposed to
              being thrown into fire or being shorted across terminals with a
              wrench) they fall into the 'defective part' category,
              and the vendor, in this case VW of A, is responsible for
              replacing them.

VW of A     - I'm sorry, we cannot help you.  You need to get your
              vehicle's electrical system checked by the dealer, and
              according to their report we might decide to give you a
              new battery.

Me          - Are you expecting me to pay for the check-up?

VW of A     - Yes.

Me          - I'm not willing to pay for it.  No electrical system
              problem should be able make a battery blow up.  I'll get
              the Electrical system checked _if_ you agree to pay for
              the  battery.

VW of A     - Sorry, we cannot do that.

Me          - This is a perfect example of why VW loses so many
              customers.  I'll escalate this problem.

(at this point, I took the tracking number for my call and hung up,
jump-started the EV from my '87 again, drove it home, put the battery
of the '82 Diesel Westy into it, everything seems to work fine).

It would cost me a lot less time & aggravation to just buy a decent
battery and use it, but, well, sometimes they push the wrong
buttons... 

I'll write more as things progress...


Cetin