ECU went on fire while work was being carried out

Dublintom16

Hi my brother put his car in to a garage to get some work done on the headlights and while the work was been carried out the ECU went on fire. Am I right in saying that the garage are liable for any damage done to the car and what advice would you give to take further action.

Cheers guys.

Seth Brundle

Without knowing why the ECU went on fire or whether the garage were doing something that caused it, we would just be speculating.
However, if they were just working on the headlights then my guess is that there was an existing underlying issue there.

Dublintom16

Is there a way to prove the work they were doing could have caused the ECU to catch fire. He rang Volvo and they said the ECU should have never go on fire. Is it a case of getting legal advice.

Seth Brundle

You'll probably need independent scientific advice before making any accusations.

Atlantic Dawn

What work was being done on the lights?

What would happen if the lights being left on in the garage as they worked on it drained the battery and then someone incorrectly hooked up a battery charger pack to the battery, would that fry it?

Seth Brundle

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What would happen if the lights being left on in the garage as they worked on it drained the battery and then someone incorrectly hooked up a battery charger pack to the battery, would that fry it?

Potentially but it would need to be independently checked what occurred before any allegations are made to the garage. For all we know the fire was down to other wiring or something else. For all we know, the car was still in the car park and hadn't been touched by the garage!

The OP does say that "while the work was been carried out the ECU went on fire" - I'm assuming this means that it occurred whilst in their care rather than the garage admitting that it actually occurred when they were working on the electrics.

Anyhow, before it goes any further, the OP should confirm what was being done on the lights, whether the garage were qualified to carry out the work, whether the garage had disconnected the battery (as is usually advised), what other electrical issues or alterations existed on the car and if the garage were physically working on the car when it went on fire, what exactly were they doing.

Dublintom16

The garage where fixing the lights as they were not working (more than just a change of buld) when the battery was reconnected and they went to test the lights they shortted out and that's when the ECU went on fire.

Seth Brundle

Dublintom16 wrote: »

The garage where fixing the lights as they were not working (more than just a change of buld) when the battery was reconnected and they went to test the lights they shortted out and that's when the ECU went on fire.

It sounds like they could be at fault but in order to get them to pay, you would probably need to prove that whatever issue existed beforehand with the lights didn't contribute to it nor did any other existing issue.
What did the garage say?
What exactly were they supposed to be fixing?
We're they supposedly qualified to fix it?

Seth Brundle

Any update on this?