In December our car was taken to Strauss Auto in Whitehall, Pa for inspection. The turn signal on the car no longer worked. We were told the easiest way to fix this was to replace the entire steering column and wheel. Strauss Auto did the work along with some other items to the tune of approximately $1200.
When we picked the car up and I drove it home, the steering wheel moved up and down on the column about an inch when you pulled up on the wheel. I called the store on two separate occasions speaking to the manager and also another employee. Both assured me that there was no safety issue with this problem; the column and steering wheel just fit differently than the old one did.
This is the vehicle that my 16 year old son had access to and used regularly.
In December we returned to have to car again inspected at the same store. We were informed that the steering column and wheel were faulty, the crush zone was damaged, and this is why the steering wheel moved up and down. They wanted to again charge me to replace the damaged part that they installed in the car in the first place.
They allowed my 16 year old son to drive a car for a year with a safety issue that had there been a serious accident, could have caused a fatality.
The district manager contacted me after I threatened to hire an attorney and to take the information to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. They replaced the steering column in but found other items that needed to be fixed on the car. The district manager and manager of the store assured me that the problem would be taken care of and that they would oversee all work done on the car for that year's inspection.
Since that time, that Strauss Auto store has closed. I took the car to a private mechanic who inspected it in 2009. Upon inspection, he reported to me that both the front and rear brakes were improperly installed and that the four tires that they claimed we needed to purchase were also improperly installed, resulting in additional costs to me to repair work that they supposedly did right the first time.
Do not purchase any parts, brakes, or even tires from this company! These people can not even do a simple tire installation correctly!
The scariest part of this for me is not the money or the inconvenience, but that these people risked my son's life and my life because they are inept. These people should have to have their children drive cars repaired by the mechanics they hire. None of them should be allowed to perform a state inspection EVER again.
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