A cautionary tale

Maintenance/Repairs
21

Well put, Jad.

Or to express it in a slightly different fashion–All road service companies have the same limited menu of services that they provide, and repairing your tire on the shoulder of an expressway is not one of the items on their limited menu.

If you had a large truck or semi-trailer, there are companies that will provide full tire service on the side of the road, but this is not available for cars through any road service company with which I am familiar.

All that AAA or Audi or any other road service provider is likely to be able to do is to remove your flat tire and replace it with your spare tire–or to inflate a flat tire. Since the OP did not wish to have a tow truck (likely equipped with an air compressor) sent to the scene, he eliminated that possibility. And, since the OP was foolish enough to drive without a serviceable spare tire, he could not avail himself of the usual tire-changing service–but that is not the fault of Audi.

22

Exactly. Besides, how can you be upset with a company that makes this car?

23

On a slightly different product, does any one believe those ONSTAR ads. Of course the roadside assistance is shown as if it will take care of every thing from cough to a coronary on the roadside.
Now if someone in Audi had some sense, they could have sent a person with a car for the family and a tow truck for the car. Just a thought.

24

And where would the car have come from? Audi contracts with local garages for towing service, but I highly doubt that they have a contract for taxi service.

The OP reminds me of someone who demands steak in a vegetarian restaurant. It is just not on the menu, and no matter how hard you demand a steak, you cannot get one.

25

I think you are asking too much from the roadside service. We’ve got that too with the Acura, but would never depend on it for special care. You should have just called the truck to change the tire and air it up without going into great detail with the dispatcher who I would guess is not highly trained.

I think the service is worth about what you paid for it but be thankful if a truck would come out at all. A lot of these guys are refusing interstate work because it is too dangerous.

26

I have to side with Audi on this one.
There is one other facet to this that has not been mentioned.

OP, you were obviously driving on a very low tire. This means, more than likely, that the sidewall is rubbed out of the tire. This renders it unsafe; as in junk.
This is a huge liability issue and no sane person is going to plug a possibly junk tire, throw a can of Fix-a-Flat in it, or anything even remotely resembling that.

Should I ask if you’re still motoring around on this tire?

27

I don’t think the OP is coming back to answer any questions. They were looking for sympathy and/or empathy and since we didn’t feel it was merited, we’re all a bunch of jerks now.

28

Is Fix-A-Flat still a flammable formula? If so, I recommend one that is not flammable, for obvious reasons.

29

I don’t know how else to respond. Several comments appear to have been made without reading or maybe understanding my posts. I had a full-sized (and fully inflated) spare in the car. When I realized I had a low tire on the trip, I changed it myself. Another tire was punctured in the sidewall on the same trip and not too far down the road. I could have, as one poster suggested, carried an additional tire, making 2 full spares, but who does that in a small car? If you do, you probably don’t need roadside assistance anyway.

Once I solved the immediate problem on the side of the interstate, I went to a tire shop and had the serviceable one repaired from the inside (a staple of some sort was the problem). The sidewall was fine. It was not low very long. I bought another full sized tire to replace my spare. I have a can of fix-a-flat and I’m going to buy a small compressor this weekend.

I feel very much attacked in this forum. I was very responsible in my trip planning, car maintenance, child care, etc.

As I posted before, sometimes everything can go wrong regardless of precautions that you take. In this particular situation, I mistakenly thought that Audi would help me when I was out of options… and tires. I was wrong and will not make that mistake again.

My reason, again, for posting is to let others who may have made the same assumptions about Audi’s service… do not rely on them when you are out of the run-of-the-mill options. All I needed was air in my tire. I asked for that and was explicitly told NO.

I question myself for even posting again. I am repeating myself for those who either didn’t read or just want to be nasty. I don’t want sympathy or empathy.

I hope you all never find yourself in the situation I was in, and if you do, I hope you’ll remember to skip the roadside assistance from Audi if you are unlucky enough to have it. Find another way to get yourself off the side of the road… as I did. Buy fix-a-flat can, a compressor, and AAA.

Now… back to your cave trolls!

30

Thank you for your cautionary tale. I learned from it. I did. I learned what not to assume, as automatically available, from a roadside service.
The points about checking our emergency gear before venturing out a-motoring is well taken. Learning from experience (preferably someone else’s) is the least painful. Avoidance of pain is good.

31

First, take a look at the name of this section of Car Talk?s forum. It is for car questions. When people post discussion items here, it is usually because they are looking for advice. Second, most of us think that Audi was completely reasonable. Their contractual commitment isn?t to solve any problem you might have on your terms. Their commitment is to send you a tow truck or a locksmith. Their commitment isn?t to send you a compressor or a roadside tire repairman. Suppose your alternator failed. Would it be fair to expect Audi to send someone to replace or fix the alternator on the side of the road? Your problem could have been solved if you had been flexible in the slightest way. You could have said ?Yes, please send me a tow truck ASAP? and then called for a taxi. How hard would that have been?

Regarding your comment ?My concern about putting my child in a tow truck cab is also not unreasonable. Have you seen some of those trucks?? What are you trying to say? You seem to acknowledge that whatever condition you are objecting to only afflicts ?some? tow trucks. What about all of the other tow trucks that would have been perfectly safe? Why did you reject them out of hand too without knowing their condition?

?I could have, as one poster suggested, carried an additional tire, making 2 full spares, but who does that in a small car?? I would if I was in your situation.

You dismissed the tow truck without even asking if it had a back seat that could hold a child seat. Is that Audi?s fault? You created a discussion in the ?car questions? section of the Car Talk web site and you don?t like the responses. Is that our fault? You didn?t even look into calling a taxi to have your wife and child transported to a safe location. Is that Audi?s fault? After you mounted your spare, you chose to continue driving down the road instead of going straight to a tire store or a motel. Is that Audi?s fault? Let me ask you, have any of the choices you made in your life ever been your fault?

32

Ron–I think that we can all save our breath at this point.

Have you ever noticed that many people, when given answers other than the one that they want to hear, refuse to accept that they could possibly be in the wrong? That is what we have experienced in this case.

This is clearly another example of, “Don’t confuse me with facts–I already made up my mind”. I always thought that when one asks for opinions, those giving opinions should be politely thanked, even if one wishes to ignore them. Obviously, I was wrong. As you said, I wonder if this person has ever accepted responsibility for the outcome of any choices that he has made in his life.

33

I have read all the replies in this thread, including yours to other people.

I have learned this:

You were driving your car on a trip, with your family.
During the trip, you got a staple in one tire, so changed it out with your spare tire.
After that, still during the trip, you ran over something on the road, and it damaged a tire.
You were then stuck in a place with a small shoulder, with traffick flying past you at 80 miles per hour.

You then called Audi’s roadside assistance.

Audi offered two choices:
1- They tow your car to the nearest repair place to fix your tire.
2- They send a guy out to swap out your flat tire with your spare.

You refused #1 on the basis that they might not be able to carry the baby seat in the truck, or that the truck would be dirty, and your baby would die in a 2 mile drive from exposure to dirt.

While your fears were unfounded, I can understand that, to a degree.

You then refused #2 on the basis that your spare tire was flat, and that the tow truck had no way to inflate the flat tire.

This is the point at which you failed.

Had you accepted this offer, what would have happened is the truck driver would have come out, swapped out the flat tire for the slow leak tire, realized that it was flat, and then INFLATED IT on the side of the road. He would have then told you that this happens all the time, and that most people fail to check their spare tire pressure.

Is the Audi rep supposed to tell you this?
No. Its not her job to know that almost all tow trucks have air compressors in them.

Your failure to realize that the tow truck would have had an air compressor onboard was mostly due to the stress of the situation you faced at the time while being stuck on the side of the road with an unhappy wife and infant.

Had you been by yourself, I am sure you would have had the tow truck come by, the driver would have said lets put on your spare and inflate it, and you would have been on your way.

Unfortunately, the stress you were experiencing at the time of the incident prevented you from thinking the whole situation through.

The blame is not on Audi.
It is also not on you.
You were stressed, and not thinking clearly.

Have a nice life.

BC.

34

This is about typical. The OP does not get the answer they’re expecting so the entire world is wrong and consists of trolls.
When you buy a car the car maker is not your baby sitter and you should not expect them to guide you through life by the hand.

When traveling things happen. It’s luck of the draw and the OP is making one of those unfortunate little incidents much bigger than what it is.

OP, in reference to my last post your tire problems may not be over. I asked if the sidewall was rubbed out of the original low tire. This can occur very quickly; even in a short distance of 10 miles let’s say.
If this tire has a thin sidewall now and someone repaired it (which they should not have) then you might consider holding the speed down in an effort to prevent collateral damage when the tire lets go.

35

I may be the first one to sympathize with the O.P. here.

First, I agree with everyone else - you definitely should have accepted Audi’s offer to send the tow truck. It’s not like that would have cost you anything anyway and it would have gotten you out of a potentially dangerous situation. Although they couldn’t offer a solution tailored the way you wanted, they could have helped you out and ultimately gotten you and your family on your way. I worked at the airport over the summer and even the fuel trucks we drove around had air compressors, as would have the tow truck. Live and learn.

So in the O.P.'s defense, he was in a stressful situation and we all know that decisions made in real time are never perfect. Audi could have made some further attempt to find out what was wrong rather than telling the O.P. he was SOL. And if you have two tires seized (or damned near it) in one day during one trip, you’re just having a bad day.

Maybe he should have just kept his AAA subscription…

36

No one’s denying that there could have been stress in this situation (it’s really low on the stress scale though, compared to other stressful situations in life)…but this is the “aftermath”.

He should now be able to see the useful options that were made available to him, the unreasonableness of his requests and dissatisfaction with Audi, but he obviously does not.

37

True; the OP was in a stress situation at the time the problem occurred.
However, it’s been a week and the OP appears to either still be stressed because of this problem and/or due to the fact they’re not getting the answers they expected to get.

After working for a high end auto dealer I know exactly where the OP is coming from and the frame of mind. This occurs on about a once a week basis.

38

stress is what you make of it out to be, by the way you react to certain situation,and also perceive them.but to blow off a free tow truck service call is in my opinion.silly

OMO

39

I have my own question. Has anyone here ever seen a tow truck licensed and authorized to give service on high speed highways, and who has the capacity to accept national contract service, that is other than in good shape with room for passengers including babies? I haven’t and do not believe it is likely. Redneck Bob with his rusty old wrecker based on a 1962 Ford will not be sent to the high speed highways.

And, for sure that tow truck is a much safer place for a baby than in a stranded car inches away from trucks doing 80 mph.

I think I have as much empathy as anyone here, but OP suffers from bad-think.

The very first response was perfect.

40

Good points, irlandes!