Heard about it on Watchdog Tuesday 15th March 2005, considered my spare wheel was safe

 

enough as I had to go through a rigourous exercise of releasing it when I had a blow-out, checked it in the morning Wednesday and it was there. Came home, visited a friend, picked up my children, went to the supermarket, came home, no rattling of cage, so it was there when I parked outside my house.

Come Thursday morning, about to pull off and the clanging sound came. Knew what it was instantly. Reported it to the police and visited the Vauxhall outlet I purchased it from, nothing they can do other than offer the K-Lok, at my expense. Stated to the manager that the metal used to form the cage is weak, should have been much, much stronger. The manager said it happens to other makes of cars with external spare wheels. Not the Mercedes SL320, I said, and their's is on the boot lid. The cage is fitted as standard, simply because Vauxhall are not paying that much more to secure the whole mechanism from thieves. It's weighting up which is more valuable to the customer, a spare wheel or their vehicle. If it only costs under £100 for the K-Lok, why not fit it and add it on to the cost of the vehicle??

Would have preferred that than to have a thief tamper with my vehicle, much less steal from it. Can Vauxhall really be that scheming and supply a cage that is so weak in protection, it might as well not be there? Surely not? Thieves find it lucrative to steal the wheels and then Vauxhall bank on customers returning often to purchase spare wheels and tyres and additionally, perhaps, the K-Lok? That is scandalous. How much is that per Zafira owner? How can they say it is not a manufacturing fault when clearly the device (the cage) is fitted to a standard where someone steals the wheel in mere seconds? The device is not of proper standard, so whoever it was who said it is, for Vauxhall to mass produce with these cages, clearly has not inspected them thoroughly. If the same concept is evident to include preventive measures to reduce the ease one's vehicle is stolen, surely it is equally evident for the external spare wheel. My suggestion is that the cage should have been made of industry-approved titanium, with four points secured to the under-body with nuts, similar to that used to secure alloy wheels. These nuts would therefore be accessible to release with a supplied specific release tool exclusively to the nuts, that no wheel brace or tyre iron can open. With the spare secured in the exact position it is currently, lifting up the floor panel from within the inside rear of the vehicle gives the same access, and then you would use the specific release tool to unscrew the nuts, releasing the titanium cage and the spare wheel.

This is what I would have looked into, being a concerned security adviser at Vauxhall. So far I have heard one story of how the K-Lok has prevented one thief, I want to hear more before I decide on an advance security measure. Vauxhall indicated I need a wheel and tyre, another cage and the option of the K-Lok. Option. Having paid thousands for it brand new, I have to pay another hundred or two for extra security which Vauxhall should have, at the least, bore more thought into.
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The Zafira is a good all round family car

Based on the Vauxhall Astra chassis, there are quite a few similarities between the two cars, such as the general driving ride and the quality of the car as a whole.

There have been a few problems that general users have seen with the cars, such as:

• The engine cutting out when idle.
• The In car radio not functioning correctly.
• A squeaking noise from the brakes after only 10,000 miles or so use.
• Spare wheel thefts.
• A necessity to keep refilling the oil on diesel models (1 litre every thousand miles or so).
• Small storage space.
• Strange engine noises which can not be located or fixed.

Saying this, however. The car is very practical and does have some very good points. The innovative ?Flex 7? seating system makes it very easy to switch the car from 5 to 7 seats without too much hassle.

Other nice features include easy access to the car thanks to the wide opening doors, ideal for families with small children, and an anti-stall device. Designed to stop the car from stalling a low revs.

The car is generally very good and although a minority of owners have had some problems, it represents extremley good value for money and provides a great means of getting the whole family from one place to another.