Sorry for the delayed response--I don't frequent forums, nor do I check my e-mail very much.
I would like to respond to Rod's Comments and thank him for his efforts. I can't say enough good things about Rod Hall from Steiger Powersports. He has been the perfect salesman from the highs of purchasing to the lows of breakdowns and rebuilds. If it were up the the Service Manager at Steiger, I would have been paying for the entire repair out of my pocket with no attempts for warranty assistance, but Rod Hall stepped in and got things done. Hopefully the Service Manager at Steiger learned from the professional and sympathetic way that Rod handled all aspects of the ordeal.
I would recommend that if anybody is in the market for an ATV, UTV, cycle, snowmobile, etc. and live within a reasonable distance to Steiger Powersports, that they call Rod. I am responsible for 5 ATV sales from Steiger in the past 4 years. I have always called around for the best pricing and Rod beats the pants off of everyone on his first quote with no bickering. As for knowledge, again, I trust Rod's input and information on all machines he sells. He knows the models that he sells, along with those he doesn't.
I also am thankful that Kawasaki did what they did. I realize that they could have offered nothing and forced me to resort to a small claims effort. But they realized that their reputation was a good one in my opinion and felt the need to keep it that way. However, I still feel that there is an issue with this particular model of ATV. After reading comments posted by others here, and what I've heard from others, the Brute Force seems to always be the ATV in everybodies story that breaks down while all other models keep going. I will be renting an ATV the next time I go trail riding.
While I'm here, I would also like to respond to the comments made by REDROCKET09. The fact of the matter is that I was not mud bogging or driving through swamps or creeks. I was driving on hardwood trails which contained puddles, which will accumulate after rains or snow melt in northern Wisconsin hardwoods. ATVs are designed to travel through terrain just as described. Unless you drive in a dessert, you will encounter some water. All other machines along with me on this weekend ride had no such issues whatsoever, and I babied my machine since it was brand new.
So when you said "A design flaw would be as such that the vehicle/object does not function as intended", I agree with your definition and feel that this unit did not function as intended.
Anyway, back to the subject matter--If you are in the market and in the area, buying at Steiger Powersports will save you time and hassle throughout the entire process!
Thanks for everything, Rod!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steiger Powersports
Hello everyone! I am the general manager of Steiger Powersports and I'm also the salesman that sold rhino-65 his '09 Brute Force that injested water thru the airbox and into his engine which destroyed the top end of his atv. rhino-65 was riding his atv thru a puddle up to the floorboards at speed which caused a substantial amount of water to be sucked into the airbox, thru his air filter, thru the throttle boddies, and into his motor. His oil was milky and his piston rings were stuck in the cylinders. What i just described is not in dispute. Rhino-65 understandably was very dissapointed when he was initially told kawasaki would not warranty the motor because in their words "customers need to drive slowly thru water that is no deeper than the floorboards. Riding at speed thru water is what caused the water to enter the intake which in turn caused the damage to the motor". If kawasaki warrantied anyone's atv that had water in the motor then everyone would be riding in water up to their handlebars because they would expect kawasaki to warranty any breakdown which could occur. The point is kawasaki was skeptical of rhino-65's claim that the puddle was not considerably deeper than the floorboards. After review, (and our pleading on the customer's behalf that kawasaki should take care of an excellent customer) Kawasaki decided to warranty all the parts to repair the engine (new cylinders, pistons, rings, etc.). They would not, however warranty any labor for the repair. The labor bill was split in half for rhino-65. We at Steiger Powersports covered half the labor cost even though we were not reimbursed by kawasaki. rhino-65 had to pay a total of $425.00 + tax. We regret that our valued customer had to pay anything out of pocket. We at Steiger's went to bat for rhino-65 as much as possible. Consumer's do need to keep in mind dealer's don't want unhappy customers. I hope rhin0-65 responds to this post to share his thoughts. Thanks for listening everyone! Stay safe. - Rod Hall G.M. Steiger Powersports
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