Hi, i purchased this tractor new from a dealer who is no longer in business. The power steering froze up on my tractor. I contacted the company and was told to take it in for an inspection at one of their authorized dealers. I took it to carolina turf in sanford, n.C., phone# 919-708-5440, the closest authorized dealer, over 6 weeks ago. I contacted the company and the repairing dealer numerous times weekly about the progress. I was given the impression they would take care of this "dangerous safety issue" if it was a defective part or parts. I never recieved any cost estimates during any of this time. When i called last thursday to the company, the last factory rep. I had been working with, ms. Connie oneal, informed me that my tractor was fixed, but they were not going to pay for any repairs. I asked for a supervisor and was told he was not available, but they would have him contact me, which he has not. I was also told that she couldn't talk with me anymore and was redirected to the repairing dealer. I call the dealer and spoke the last time with "chris", who informed me it was fixed, but he didn't have a total. He informed me that the steering cylinders were foud to be bad after lengthly tests. He informed me that this was the only year that they used this one line cylinder on that series tractor and went to a two line cylinder the next year. He informed me that these cylinders did not have a return line and when they malfunctioned there was no way for the hydralic fluid to release pressure, thus, freezing the steering. This was very scaring and dangerous when this happened to me and somebody could have been run over or killed. Chris told me he could see no signs of abuse and would tell the factory that if i could get them to call him, which thay have not. He told me this problem and repair was not required maintenance, but a factory defect and they should not have failed. He felt as if kioti should pay for this repair, as do i. This tractor is only used to keep my gravel path scraped and is not used commercially and is kept in an enclosed, heated garage. This tractor only has 253 hours on it and it had 50 of those on it when i bought it. I feel they should have a recall on this dangerous safety issue. Please investigate this.
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