Changing a fuse in a car is a safety issue now?

Santa Claus

So got in the car yesterday and when i turned the ignition I saw a small flash from the cigarette lighter. Turned out a small person had been raiding the change from the ashtray beside it and put a 5 cent coin into the lighter hole and the fuse blew when I started the car.

Went to my owners manual (11 Golf) to see where the fuses where and once I found that removed the cover........the surprise was there was no map of which fuses were for which piece of the cabin electricals. My car came with a phone pack which has a button for VW breakdown and a button for VW info pre-programmed with numbers so I rang the VW info line to find out which fuse was for the lighter. I was told by the chap that answered that owners aren't supposed to change fuses anymore as it's a safety issue and you need to visit a service centre.
I explained to him that I knew it was the lighter fuse that had blown and it was in no way a safety issue but he wouldn't budge and couldn't even tell me what strength the fuse was so I could narrow it down.

Ended up having to take every fuse out carefully and check to see had it blown before replacing and narrowed it down to a 20A fuse. Went to the petrol station and bought a new fuse and installed it and hey presto it all worked again.

I remember my dad showing me how to change a fuse when I was young and his car came with a spare fuse of each ampage, but I can't understand how cabin electricals are a safety issue (I understand that the fuses in the engine bay are a different story).

Anyone else had experience like this of safety gone mad??

georgefalls

Covering their own backs, warranty invalid, blah blah blah..!

They're all at it, just to get a few bob off you for a trip to the stealers..!

Special Circumstances

georgefalls wrote: »

Covering their own backs, warranty invalid, blah blah blah..!

They're all at it, just to get a few bob off you for a trip to the stealers..!

They'll find a way to make you "code in" a new fuse soon. One page manual "GO TO DEALER".

seamus

Special Circumstances wrote: »

They'll find a way to make you "code in" a new fuse soon. One page manual "GO TO DEALER".

I'm surprised some manufacturers haven't designed their own fuses to be incompatible with everything else on the market under the pretence of the "unique design making them the safest, most reliable fuses on the market", like Apple does with their stuff. Then charge you €20 for it and €20 to fit it.

There is no insurance or safety issue here. It's a money-making racket. Some owners will insert coins or something equally stupid to replace a fuse, but there's no way that can result in any claim against the manufacturer. They want you to bring it to an "authorised dealer" who will charge 50% markup on parts and labour and "find" a few faults while you're in there.

dieselbug

Santa Claus wrote: »

So got in the car yesterday and when i turned the ignition I saw a small flash from the cigarette lighter. Turned out a small person had been raiding the change from the ashtray beside it and put a 5 cent coin into the lighter hole and the fuse blew when I started the car.

Went to my owners manual (11 Golf) to see where the fuses where and once I found that removed the cover........the surprise was there was no map of which fuses were for which piece of the cabin electricals. My car came with a phone pack which has a button for VW breakdown and a button for VW info pre-programmed with numbers so I rang the VW info line to find out which fuse was for the lighter. I was told by the chap that answered that owners aren't supposed to change fuses anymore as it's a safety issue and you need to visit a service centre.
I explained to him that I knew it was the lighter fuse that had blown and it was in no way a safety issue but he wouldn't budge and couldn't even tell me what strength the fuse was so I could narrow it down.

Ended up having to take every fuse out carefully and check to see had it blown before replacing and narrowed it down to a 20A fuse. Went to the petrol station and bought a new fuse and installed it and hey presto it all worked again.

I remember my dad showing me how to change a fuse when I was young and his car came with a spare fuse of each ampage, but I can't understand how cabin electricals are a safety issue (I understand that the fuses in the engine bay are a different story).

Anyone else had experience like this of safety gone mad??

While it does seem ott I would have some understanding of their position.
With the amount of sensitive electrics, controolers etc on modern cars imagine the expensive damage that can be caused by an over enthuastic diy'er.
I know a fitter who went diying an airbag fault on his fairly new passat and caused 1,500 euro damage, still has'nt lived it down as he's reminded at every opportunity.

The other side is that manufacturers will try to keep as much maintenance as possible "in house" and they will take every opportunity they can to achieve this.

Diagnostic procedures are moving towards connecting directly to the manufacturers server using 4g technology. This I imagine will change the game for aftermarket scan tools for example.

jca

dieselbug wrote: »

While it does seem ott I would have some understanding of their position.
With the amount of sensitive electrics, controolers etc on modern cars imagine the expensive damage that can be caused by an over enthuastic diy'er.
I know a fitter who went diying an airbag fault on his fairly new passat and caused 1,500 euro damage, still has'nt lived it down as he's reminded at every opportunity.

The other side is that manufacturers will try to keep as much maintenance as possible "in house" and they will take every opportunity they can to achieve this.

Diagnostic procedures are moving towards connecting directly to the manufacturers server using 4g technology. This I imagine will change the game for aftermarket scan tools for example.

4G???? In Ireland??? ...We won't see it for years so... Fixed line bb is a luxury for many never mind mobile bb.

beauf

jca wrote: »

4G???? In Ireland??? ...We won't see it for years so... Fixed line bb is a luxury for many never mind mobile bb.

Of coourse if its a car you may be able to move it to where you do get a decent net connection. Having decent BB might be a necessity for a garage/mechanic.

beauf

dieselbug wrote: »

While it does seem ott I would have some understanding of their position.
With the amount of sensitive electrics, controolers etc on modern cars imagine the expensive damage that can be caused by an over enthuastic diy'er.
I know a fitter who went diying an airbag fault on his fairly new passat and caused 1,500 euro damage, still has'nt lived it down as he's reminded at every opportunity.

The other side is that manufacturers will try to keep as much maintenance as possible "in house" and they will take every opportunity they can to achieve this.

Diagnostic procedures are moving towards connecting directly to the manufacturers server using 4g technology. This I imagine will change the game for aftermarket scan tools for example.

Something that make itself expensive to repair or maintain, is poor design IMO. That said if you don't make a profit at something theres no point doing it. Which is why Apple doesn't do cheap stuff. hard to argue with their profits and logic.

JBokeh

seamus wrote: »

I'm surprised some manufacturers haven't designed their own fuses to be incompatible with everything else on the market under the pretence of the "unique design making them the safest, most reliable fuses on the market", like Apple does with their stuff. Then charge you €20 for it and €20 to fit it.

Because Irish people will start sticking paperclips, staples, fencing pins, nails, bits of wire and god knows what else into it to save having to go to the dealer for the special fuses. Or else do what I do and start taking them out of the less used amenities like the rear wiper :pac:

9935452

Santa Claus wrote: »

So got in the car yesterday and when i turned the ignition I saw a small flash from the cigarette lighter. Turned out a small person had been raiding the change from the ashtray beside it and put a 5 cent coin into the lighter hole and the fuse blew when I started the car.

Went to my owners manual (11 Golf) to see where the fuses where and once I found that removed the cover........the surprise was there was no map of which fuses were for which piece of the cabin electricals. My car came with a phone pack which has a button for VW breakdown and a button for VW info pre-programmed with numbers so I rang the VW info line to find out which fuse was for the lighter. I was told by the chap that answered that owners aren't supposed to change fuses anymore as it's a safety issue and you need to visit a service centre.
I explained to him that I knew it was the lighter fuse that had blown and it was in no way a safety issue but he wouldn't budge and couldn't even tell me what strength the fuse was so I could narrow it down.

Ended up having to take every fuse out carefully and check to see had it blown before replacing and narrowed it down to a 20A fuse. Went to the petrol station and bought a new fuse and installed it and hey presto it all worked again.

I remember my dad showing me how to change a fuse when I was young and his car came with a spare fuse of each ampage, but I can't understand how cabin electricals are a safety issue (I understand that the fuses in the engine bay are a different story).

Anyone else had experience like this of safety gone mad??

The quickest way i have seen a mechanic find a blown fuse was get a probe( basically a bulb) and with the ignition on , touch the probe off each side of the fuse . If there was power at one side of the fuse there should be power at the other side, if not the fuse is blown

bucketybuck

Trust me, no dealer wants to see a stream of people coming in for blown fuses. Theres fuck all money in it and it isn't worth the fight of trying to explain to people that fuses aren't covered by warranty and that you have to pay for it.

I can fully understand why some minimum wage lad in a call centre won't give out technical information about a vehicle though, and not only because he probably didn't know the answer anyway. Seen a few burnt out fuse boards in my time and without exception the cause was always incorrect fitment of fuses.