Question on Factory Radio

[juise15]

My radio recently started acting up in my 06 Vue.

Here is what it does: The eject button does not always work (takes about 100 pushes for the thing to register), buttons 2 and 3 for the presets do not always register, and the seek left and right doesnt work all the time either.

I go to bring it into the dealership for repair and they tell me it has to be taken out, sent off, and kept for about a month leaving me with nothing in my vehicle. They say that Saturn's new policy will not allow for loaners or for immediate replacements.

What do you do for this? I even called Saturn's corporate headquarters and their field supervisor told me that Saturn would do nothing to accomodate me even with my vehicle being under warranty.

What do you do?

[VTchemist]

I've had radios fail in my vehicles before (not my VUE) and had to have them sent by the dealer for repair. At most, it has taken two weeks. I have had the radio in my Maxima (Bose system) repaired three times (two under warranty).

Be nice to the folks in the service department and ask them what you can do to expedite the removal of your failed unit and posting of it to the repair center.

I know its a pain, but it is much better for it to fail under warranty than to fail post-warranty. My Bose unit cost about $180 to fix each time. I'm glad warranty picked it up on the first two times.

[IMkenNY]

After their first attempt to repair, I would demand a new radio.

Without a radio dont you loose the onstar audio?

Sounds like your dealer should pick up a couple of loaner radios on Ebay for
~$50 to improve customer service.

[juise15]

Well the dealer told me there was nothing that they could do. That can't take out a radio from another used vehicle.

The service manager told me (after she said she was on my side), that they must follow what corporate tells them. I am concerned about this since my warranty is almost gone (36,000) and I feel that are prolonging this to make sure I end up having to pay for it.

The dealer (per warranty) will remove the unit from the car, send it off, and replace it back into the vehicle. I will lose onstar plus anything else that requires audio. I dont subscribe to onstar but I am fixing tot take vacation so most likely I will be without any entertainment on the trip.



And on top of this some of the paint is select areas is coming off. I am almost considering going to the "Lemon Law Clinic" to see what I can do.

[F-Bobby]

wow thats odd. we usually have vues that come in for radio problems and we ususally have 1 or 2 in stock to replace them with. but i have to say i have not done one in a few weeks so something may have changed. ill take a look into it for ya so youll know if they are tellin ya the truth or blowing smoke up your ass.

[juise15]

The service manager says that they never carried them in stock, they can't pull one out of a used one in case they should sell that one. The area supervisor at Saturn Corporate says she doesnt care how much I am inconvenienced by this, or how bad it looks in my car, I will have to just do without or don't change it at all.

Its just a regular GM radio so I dont see what all the problems are about.

[VTchemist]

Well the dealer told me there was nothing that they could do. That can't take out a radio from another used vehicle.

The service manager told me (after she said she was on my side), that they must follow what corporate tells them. I am concerned about this since my warranty is almost gone (36,000) and I feel that are prolonging this to make sure I end up having to pay for it.

And on top of this some of the paint is select areas is coming off. I am almost considering going to the "Lemon Law Clinic" to see what I can do.


Wow, 36K on a 2006 VUE? Paint coming off too? Seems like a lot is happening.

Since you brought it to the dealer before 36th, it will/should be covered.

Suggest you go back to them. Or try another dealership in a nearby town. You might can get a "loaner radio" but your best bet is to let the dealer handle it.

[F-Bobby]

ok i just talked to my parts manager. He said they were correct in telling you that they are not allowed to stock the radios. but that they can be ordered as a regular part and can be overnighted or two days aired if needed. they also do not have to send the old one back first. so you dont have to drive with no radio. they are feedin ya a line of BS.

[GearGuy]

The last time my radio had a problem they did just that. They ordered a replacement and we scheduled an appointment after it arrived. I forget how long it took.

My problem was that the radio showed no evidence of getting power even though the connector checked out OK. After fishing out my CD that was still inside, the radio came back to life. CD was shot though from being removed.

Good luck.

[kodak_jack]

The service manager says that they never carried them in stock, they can't pull one out of a used one in case they should sell that one. The area supervisor at Saturn Corporate says she doesnt care how much I am inconvenienced by this, or how bad it looks in my car, I will have to just do without or don't change it at all.

Its just a regular GM radio so I dont see what all the problems are about.

I wish they WERE regular GM radios since they have the auto-volume control. The noisy Duellers make me have to constantly adjust the volume on mine!:hmm:

[MaxSL2]

The last time my radio had a problem they did just that. They ordered a replacement and we scheduled an appointment after it arrived.

Yeah somthing is odd there. Once a technician has verified the radio problems the dealer should have ordered a replacement from one of a half dozen or so GM approved electronic service centers to exchange yours with. IIRC as long as the needed radio was in stock at one of the service centers it usually arrived in only a day or two. The dealer would then have you return so they can swap the radios and send your defective one back.

[brucesing]

This should not be a month long process, more like a few days. There are service centers in each region to keep the shipping time down to a day or so. In most cases, they will receive your radio and immediately send another one back to the dealer that has been "remanufactured". This means that someone else had a problem with it, the service center diagnoses, repairs and tests to GM requirements. It then waits until someone else with the same radio model has a problem and is dispatched upon receipt of the problem radio. The only delay will occur if there isn't a radio that fits your vehicle in stock at the service centers and they have to get a new one from GM directly.