Shudder on Renault Duster EDC Automatic Gearbox - NO support from Renault

My Renault Duster 1.5 EDC has been shuddering when changing gears since the day I drove it out of the dealership. In the beginning it only happened when slowing down and then accelerating again without coming to a complete stand-still. It started getting worse over time though, starting to shudder between 2nd and 3rd gear, then 3rd and 4th gear and eventually between all the gears. At first the Renault Clearwater Dealership (where I bought the car) said the timing of the gearbox was out and they started off by changing some settings. I collected the car the same afternoon, but it was still shuddering.

After taking the car back numerous times and replacing the same component 3 times (over a 6 month period), they asked that I take one of their Co-Techs and the New Vehicle Sales Manager (who knows f-all about cars TBH), for a drive in my car and then compare it to their demo model (the one I was driving as a loan car at the time). After the two trips, the Co-Tech agreed that my car was shuddering whilst the demo wasn't.

The Dealer Principal promised to send me the Co-Tech's report, but after 3 weeks of begging I gave up and escalated the matter to MIOSA, asking for the finance contract to be canceled on the grounds that the car has a major mechanical defect. After receiving the complaint documents from MIOSA, the Clearwater Dealership contacted Renault South Africa, who got an "independent assessor" to have a look at the car and wrote a report saying there was nothing wrong with the car. He is of the opinion that the shudder on the gearbox is an inherent characteristic of the vehicle, yet the loan car from Clearwater (same model Duster with similar mileage) that I was driving for weeks while they were trying to figure out the problem was definitely not shuddering. Neither did any of the three Dusters I test drove before I bought mine. If a shuddering gearbox was an inherent characteristic of the vehicle I would have never bought it in the first place!

My pleas for help kept falling on deaf ears, so I took the car to Renault Multi-Franchise in Alberton. Their Co-Tech found the problem within a day - the whole clutch kit had to be replaced!!!! But for almost 6 months Renault Clearwater kept telling me there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THE CAR.

Now, 4 months after the clutch kit being replaced, THE SHUDDER IS BACK. I sent an email to everyone at Renault SA who was involved in the first place saying I want them to take back their piece of sh*t and either give me a new car or give back my money, because I paid R350k for the RIGHT to drive a NEW car. I am NOT going to go through another 6 months of them ******ing me around and I'm sure as hell not going to have the clutch kit replaced every 4 months.

I'M the one who keeps on getting inconvenienced - having to take off work to take the car to the dealership and fetch it again. I'M the one whom they expect to sign a document making me liable for a R15 000 excess fee should something happen to their loan car while it's in my possession. Why do I have to bear the risk of that if they sold me a defective car in the first place?

The CPA states that if the goods bought from a supplier are defective (not suitable for its usual purpose or for the purpose it was bought, of poor quality and bad working order, or not useable or durable), a consumer has 6 months from the date of delivery to return the goods to the supplier, at the supplier’s risk and expense. At the consumer’s choice, the supplier must fix, replace or refund the goods bought by the consumer. I brought the issue to their attention within the required 6 month period, but they denied me the right of choice by insisting on fixing the problem and ignoring my repeated requests for a replacement or refund.

Is there ANY WAY we as consumers can shield ourselves against these corporate bullies? Because no one seems to be enforcing the CPA's laws and MIOSA takes weeks or even months to rule on their cases.

And in the meantime we are forced to drive cars with potentially life-threatening defects.