2006 Holden VE Calais Warranty Complaint

By Alborz Fallah | September 03rd, 2007

2006 Holden VE Calais Warranty Complaint

Name: Timothy Ritchie
Car Make: Holden
Car Model: VE Calais
Year of Manufacture: 2006

Warranty Complaint:

Our Calais has been plagued with random warnings since day one. The car has been back and forth to Holden and is heading back this weekend for a whole week to have a new BCM module installed as the car will not except any software updates.

When ever the car is started after waiting for the system check to complete, we see CHECK ENGINE, CHECK ABS AND CHECK ESP. We have also seen a big black X and CONTACT DEALER AND SVS (Service Vehicle soon). Its really annoying when you spend so much money on a new car to have these sort of warnings appear and to take 9 months to try and fix the problem and its still on going.

Could be slightly related to the battery drain issue as Holden says the system engery levels keep coming up low voltage.

holden tech

the issue u have described is a known fault. the cause of this is during canking as voltage drops it allows an abs fault condition to be meet logging a code and causing warning to be displayed. a bcm recalibration is out to correct this issue and also the battery state of charge issue. unfortunate that yours wont programme. does vehicle have and aftremarket wiring fitted? if so MUST let dealer know, most likely cause. these vehicles are extremely sensitive to wires bein tapped into. generally afects resistance value the computers see. Coonnect all Accesories to battery directly only.
Me.

How come holden said on an ad that the VE is the best car in the world? Look at all these problems they having.
woz

The one billion dollar lemon flop, wheels magazine would be void of any commissions if Holdenwoo didn’t reicieve there tiny little award, how does Holdenwoo win anything if the stupid bluddy thing can’t start because a couple of crossed wire’s, with all the mapping devices in cars now it makes wonder will or should holden go bact to the simple FJ days, today technology is a mighty strain for our Holdenwoo dropouts…..
woz

me… its more like how come Holdenwoo have so many problems and the rest of the world are arrogantly scared of ths fact, no one has to even search for posted complaints, but the holden tech people disturb the thick dust Holdenwoo creates is there anything left good to say about Holdenwoos..
Margaret Kolesidis

Calais V complaint:

I can sympathize with you about your dream car and its problems. I have had a myriad of problems with my calais VE from day one… I have taken the car back approximately 5 or 6. 3 times for faulty glove box handle, once for rain sensors and windscreen wipers not working at all…once for the battery draining recall,once for faulty cd player..Mechanism Error showing on screen, disc not ejecting, disc jumping….. and to top the list if these faults were not enough …. very bad rattling engine.. I was told there was nothing wrong with the engine, even though 2 independant mechanics have listened to the engine and were quite alarmed that holden had told me nothing was wrong. Of course the car is back at the dealership where I purchased it, and I basically insisted on leaving it there until it was fixed. I have been very sick with the flu, but managed to get myself out of bed and drive to dealership. Upon returning home via public transport…. I cracked it and emailed customer assistance at holden, and also dealer manager…sad it has to come to that to get your vehicle looked at…. This afternoon I was notified by holden that the “engine pullies ” have some type of fault????? maybe hogwosh maybe true…will find out soon enough I guess…Anyway if problem isn’t rectified, today tonight, or current affair can take over.. I guess I’ve been patient enough since last Nov/December when I purchased the car..$56,000 wasted on a heap of junk…imagine what will happen after warranty finishes? 2006 Car of the Year ? load of crap… Im getting it fixed and then it will be goodbye Charlie to Calais….I have had enough… Just because I am a female doesn’t mean that technicians can fill me with crap about what’s wrong…. I come from a family of many mechanics, but because this car is new and under warranty, they are unable to even touch it as there could be other implications re this….. So how happy do you think I am with my purchase ? Really upset about the whole ordeal.
Margaret
kim mooney

i purchased a holden viva under 8 months ago ,since i have had it i have had never ending problems , it has been using oil like i am pouring it in the motor as i do fuel ,so they put some rings in it and some other parts in the motor , the car stopped in my garage and couldnt start it , they needed to put a new fuel pump on it and whilst it was getting fixed at the service centre it gained a few nice big scratches in the front guard ……… and holden cant promise me all this will fix the problem ….
try and talk to someone in higher management is impossible .
disgusting car , disgusting warranty service !!!!!!!!!!!
woz

Simple, don’t buy a Holdenwoo, or was your thinking before purchase that Viva was wholly made in Australia, I wish Holden would wake up to themself’s and let everyone know false advertising is bad for PR…
Me.

Hey WOZ!! Notice that Holdenwoo fans don’t seem to comment you after you make posts like that? When my name was “Going Ford Is The Going Thing” I was first to get targeted from dumbarse Holdenwoo nuts.
harmful81

i like the thought of connecting all wiring to the battery. Not too difficult to do on most cars if any additional equipment is needed – eg additional driving lights. becomes quite an exercise when the batteries situated in the boot but. Bit of an overthought from the peanut factory at holdrnwoo ild say.
woz

Dont worry me, I will back you up, I know many holden people that generally give me the S**T’S if you say one thing that targets the beloved Holdenwoo company they get so agro with torment.

Notice they get very personal (insulting) when scrutinized, you can see now why we retaliate…
Kezza

VE SS Commodore The last few days after starting the car the ABS warning light flashes, after I switch the car off and restart it the ABS warning light goes out. But the other day the ABS light came back on again, then I switched the car off and when I turned it back on the ABS warning light extinguished.
Has anyone else had a similar problem..?
ps I also had the battery drain issue – I took it back and they upgraded the bcm and now all is ok.
wally

Uhhhhhhh thank GOD i got to read all about complaint because i was gonna order a new Holden Calais for myself on the 2008, for hard for some1 now to make me buy it.
Nave

I think you guys have bought lemons. I bought a Holden Viva 2 years ago. And the car has never had any problem. It has done 30000 kms and nothing has been done to the car beside just 1 regular service at 15000 kms. Everything works very well.

At the same time my mate bought a brand new IS250 (Lexus). And since Lexus is Toyota it is supposed to be very reliable. It turns out to be crap. It has to go back to the dealer a couple of times.

So it just luck I believe.
Jeff

I have a brand new VE GTS $80.000.00 worth with a rear end that sounds like it is going to fall out of the car. HSV say this is standard of the world class car. The car has only done 1900 km and the fault has been in from 10km and HSV have not got a clu, or care, and the dealer where i purchased the car have not got a clue. The suspension noise is substandard and someting you would here in an old farm patic basher that has stuffed suspension and no shockie rubbers. I have given holden a week to fix the issue or at least fix the admitted fault to the car. HSV have walked away from any more warrantee on the suspension because the substandard noisy bottoming out suspension is standard of their car. Not even the FJ holden had that problem. holdens $1,000,000,000.00 car is an example of how much money one could spend on designing junk. I would be interested to hear from other VE GTS owners of similar noisy suspension because a good way to deal with a bully company selling a poor product is a legal class action against them this way you get results, holden get plenty of bad publicity and more people will get to hear about holden and stay well away. Sad because i have owned 5 new holdens 2 which were HSV’s over my life and you are tteated by contempt.

tony

Hi, I have a 2006 VE GTS, I also have suspention problems, I first had a back strut replaced under warranty
55,000kms. Then a week later back in for another warranty problem and they said that they bent the strut while on the hoist, rear strut replaced again. Now at 60,000km out of warranty, I have front suspention problems. When MRC is not on the noise is more frequent. I am thinking of changing the struts and doing away with the MRC.

Tony

Pablo

All car companies do whatever it takes to avoid repairing warranty claims. When they do finally agree to fix a problem, they get an apprentice to fix it as it gives him a good opportunity for practice & doesn’t cost the workshop as much in lost dollars per hour.
It took 80000kms, 2 years & 2 different dealers to fix the endless problems I had on a 2003 Rodeo LT (bought new). Holden had the car at least once a month for warranty work.
I ended up getting the national fleet account manager to finally agree to fix the relatively simple problems (by a qualified mechanic) that had plagued the car from day one.
Dealing with Holden was big pain in the arse!
Kyle

A/c in 5 times before repaired. Frount strut mounts been replaced. Rear tyres replaced after 40000 km while frount tyres OK. 1999 Camry still drives smoother and quieter
Chris

The problem with the ABS light coming on is the same problem we have in our Rodeo ute, the local dealer told us to replace the $3500 (NZ) control unit, whick we did and now the problem is still there. Interesting now they say it might be a battery problem or bad earth. Is this a common problem they have? Is there an actual fix for this???
Daniel

I have a VE Calais, Sometimes when i turn it on it says Check Engine, and once I turned the key and it jusy kept trying to start but the engine wouldnt turn, Is this related to the Battery Thing ive been reading about??
gb

Look gmh and holden are gone just like the magna sell up while you can still get a reasonable trade in cut your losses and grab somthing reliable toyoda mazda honda subaru suzuki or hyundi even second hand for that matter these things go forever and get back to a reliable car the lion is dead why do your head in over a crap car life is too short.
Jamie

Hi Guys,
More bad news for the VE Calais V. We got ours in Oct 2008 and have nothing but trouble with the key access. Most times it will not open the car and when the doors are key opened the key wont start the car. been in twice , second time on a trailer. RAC said there is a faulta s they viewed it not working. Holden have had the car for a week and claim they cant find a fault.Battery has also drained once and left drver stranded. Holden say’Until it happens again we wont be able to see what the cause is’ Load of SHIT !. When it breaks down we are to ring Holden assist and get it towed again.
Brent

I have a holden viva and bought it brand new in 07. It is now 18 months old and have had trouble with transmission fluid leaking. This is under warranty however I put it in for its service and could not pick up for 4 days. I collected the car drove it home and then would not move from reverse without shaking the entire car, would not move at all in reverse, tried to put in drive and same thing would not move only rev. Called Holden who then came and picked up the car and with half an hour handed the keys back and said its all good and something to do with programming. I spent $500 on its first major service and the car came back in worse condition. Now 5 days after service engine light is on and car won’t move again. I want this fixed and am disgusted
Jeff Bull

I ONCE had a HSV GTR it wouldn’t crank over to start at odd times. It used to hold you up for 20 mins sometimes trying to get it to start. After repeated returns to the dealer I was told it MIGHT need a new chassis module BUT if that didn’t work I’d have to pay for the module, $1200.00. It never got fixed and i never purchased another Holden. I have a Mazda and a Merc now and no trouble with either of them, I mean NOTHING. Fancy having a new HSV GTR 2 months old and being told, if this doesn’t work YOU’LL HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!!! They said my security code had to be burnt into the module and so if it didn’t work they couldn’t re-use the module again. guess what? I never used GMH again instead. By the looks of this forum It seems not much has changed in the world of after sales GMH service.
andrew

Where to start… 2008 VE Calais-V
1. Faulty factory fitted SatNav 9,000k.
2. Transmission replaced !!!! 14,000k
3. Random 02 sensor faults “Check Engine Codes” (all had to be replaced)
4. Both front struts/shocks replaced 25,000k
5. Engine oil spraying over exhaust caused by faulty gasket- 27,000k’s.
6. Plastic demister sections on dashboard warping/popping out- 27,000k’s.
7. electric seat adjuster buttons decaying (paint coming off them!) 27,000ks.

Bitumen driving only, from garage-garage by middle aged man… (not thrashing this car etc)

I don’t know why I like this car so much…but as soon as it is out of warranty. ITS GONE because I just can’t trust it.
Sorry Holden.
Richard

Sadly, i bought a new 06 VE V Calais a $57K lemon – nothing but troubles, and i’ve 4 pages of defects to prove it! 3 months it’s out of warranty and then it’s gone (i feel sorry for the new owner).

replaced components (to date)
ignition keys
idle belt pulley – bearing failure
AC unit – failed
2 x wiring looms,
both tail light assemblies (water ingress), new lights suffering same issue
numerous windscreen wipers – folds over itself and scratches windscreen
CD player,
start battery,
2 x glove box,
steering column shroud
boot rubber – rain entered boot while parked o/n.

ongoing issues, depsite numerous software upgrades:
Stab control intervenes – even while stationary at lights and foot on the brake.
park assist randomly operates while driving above 20km
CD player rejects new CD’s

And the worst part of all these ongoing issues is i have to fight the service dept to get anything fixed under warranty.

The best line from service dept was “these parts aren’t avialable in the country (Aust), we’ll order them in for you”. Despite the car being manufactured less than 30kms from the dealer. Parts aren’t available in the country? BEWARE !!

We’ll never ever buy GM again.
DnBTavious

Blah! A handful of cars built on either a Monday or a Friday! Out of myself and many friends and family, some with new Calais & Caprice never had a problem with any Holden. I would love to see comparisons of Holdens sold that have not had any dramas vs some that have – it would be a very small ratio for cars that have had problems

MattP

You are a very very lucky man to have owned a Holden and not had any issues. Same with your family and friends. I recommend you all go buy lottery tickets.

I have never purchased a Holden (or Ford) with my own money because my experience looking after fleets of them has warned me off them.

Allie

I am looking at buying a 2006 [september] Holden Viva station wagon, 5spd maunal. I want a nice safe family car that isn’t going to cost to much, because I dont have much money. Can anyone give me good reviews about this car or is it all bad?

Sascha

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY A HOLDEN VIVA – THEY ARE LEMONS.

They are actually a rebadged Daewoo, I have had too many problems with my 2006 Viva Hatchback and dealing with Holden even under warranty is a nightmare (well they all are really) but I have had to take my car back over 25 times for numerous faults and Holden say they have fixed the problem only for it to come back within days.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE AND YOUR WALLET.

http://dodge franz chong

I have never had a Holden and most likely Never Will.Have always had Japanese Cars without too many problems
Corum Kurdii

i have a ve omega, having issues with the abs light coming on and the Stability control, like what the fuck i have done to the car for it to be like this, at one stage every single light was on, engine,transmission,battery, and it said i need to contact dealer, i dont trust mechanics cause there all thieves, how do i find out what the problem is cause ill fix it my self, why pay money for rubbish work when u can get ur hands dirty and do it ur self