The ridiculous cost of some spares

[Alan Slade]

Some would say I am unfortunate enough to own a Citroen C5 estate, but I have owned it since new 2006 and overall it has been a reliable workhorse.
It is approaching the time of year when it's MOT is due and as luck would have it about a week ago the ASP/ECR light appeared on the dash and refused to go out.
I take the car to a Citroen specialist for repairs and MOT. I decided to have a diagnostic test done prior to the MOT to see what the light is all about. Result:- "I've never had one of these before it's a lateral acceleration sensor, mate." "Anyway what does one of those cost?" Turns out from Citroen £520 inc vat. That is more than the car is worth. So I left intent on scrapping the car but I have found a supplier of refurbished units £65. It comes tomorrow. Picture of the car and the failed sensor.

 

[Uncle_Clanger]

Nice one Alan, seems Citroën too like to hike up prices of spares with every year that passes . 12 years is a long time to have the same car these days with a lot of people wanting to swap their daily drive every 2 years, personally I think you've got the right idea.

 

[Ianmc]

What does a "lateral acceleration sensor" do?

 

[Brian4]

lateral acceleration sensor, mate." "Anyway what does one of those cost?"

The lateral acc sensor for the Z3 with DSC is £800 ish from BMW so Citroen are still cheap.

 

[Tfp]

I went to buy a Saab years ago, it was a lovely car but the guy had damaged the drivers door panel by putting a tape measure in there every day.

No problem I said, I'll call Saab to price a new one up.

£900 for a door panel on a Saab.

Then I had a Passat for a while, light on in the dash led to a yaw sensor required. The sensor was the size of a matchbox.

£750 fitted.

But top prize goes to my mate who had a Merc SL55, the gearbox packed up.

£13,000 bill.

 

[Alan Slade]

What does a "lateral acceleration sensor" do?

The short answer is I don't really know, but another name for it is a yaw sensor. On the Citroen it is located in the centre console between the two front seats. It has something to do with stability when the vehicle starts to skid sideways.

 

[5harp3y]

Complicated parts are expensive

 

[Sean d]

I had similar this week on my daily work horse, took it for MOT and it failed on "excessive play in the steering" could have been inner rack ends or UJ, turns out it was the UJ, I rang Vauxhall and a new one was the best part of £400, off to the local scrapyard and got a near new one for £30, fitted and another year out of my 140k 2.2 vectra

 

[Ianmc]

The short answer is I don't really know, but another name for it is a yaw sensor. On the Citroen it is located in the centre console between the two front seats. It has something to do with stability when the vehicle starts to skid sideways.

Thanks, I see. Cars used to die of rust, now its electronics.

 

[Kiwipom]

Bought a Daihatsu Sirion new for $14k NZD. 3 years 1 month later (so just out of warranty) a rattle from the steering resulted in a new (electric) steering rack being required.

$5.5k for the rack, plus labour. What a rip off.

I argued the price of the rack was ridiculously priced, and ultimately “only” had to pay 10% of the repair bill.

I’ll never buy a Daihatsu or Toyota (who own them, and who I dealt with over the warranty claim) again...

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

@windym had a good BMW price for an airbag module recently

 

[windym]

@windym had a good BMW price for an airbag module recently

Cheers @spurs fan in a coupe (Andy), the BMW price was a tad eye-watering.

Andy