Dear Honest John,

Before I commence its really important I am fair with all the facts.

Dacia has 2 factories which produce the Duster model, one in Romania one in India.

The factory in Romania produces good quality Left Hand drive Dusters with very few (if any) reports of any build quality issues or lack of factory quality control.

The same Romanian factory also builds the Sandero, Sandero Stepaway and Logan MVC models; all of which are proving to be problem free when it comes to build quality.

The same cannot be said for the Indian factory which build right hand Dusters for the UK.

Of the faults owners have found so far on the Indian built Dusters;

· Change in specs randomly by Dacia with no notification (for example they dropped the chrome instrument surrounds on the ambience model, etc).

· Change of extra pack items and quality of items (they dropped the alarm from the protection pack with no notification to owners who had ordered the pack/they changed the boot protector from a hard wearing mat to a soft sponge like mat with no notification to owners).

· Underneath bungs/grommets are missing from some cars, it’s the hole used in the factory to transport the cars along the assembly line. Dacia unable to confirm if they should or should not be bunged up, they tell some owners its for drainage, despite the fact the holes are not at the lowest point, are lipped inwards and are huge. This is already leading to some rust.

· Under sealer missing in places, grommets not sealed, rust evident

· Rust on numerous Dusters, in various places under the bonnet and inner wings. Rust also found behind seals on rear doors.

· Seats losing their stitching or stitching partially missing.

· Some owners who specified the protection pack with parking sensors have not received the visual warning lights on the dashboard for the reverse sensors, some have.

· Rattles- various interior rattles from the seat belt holder to the steering wheel; steering wheel rattle is due to incorrectly positioned wiring which is in contact with the plastic cover.

· Wiper blades are practically useless, Dacia will change them if owners complain.

· Owners finding car seat head restraint area material is ripped and damaged. Problem may be caused by head restraint clips being fitted before seat back cover was put on.

· Door protectors and wheel arch protectors fitted loose and/or incorrectly, and with visually obvious defects such as bending plastic or poor overlaps.

· Drivers seat having lots of play and movement when stationary and locked into position. Some dealers push Dacia into a replacement seat base, others fob off customers.

· Some cars pull considerably to the left, there is a clear problem with the rear axle. Dacia don’t want tot know despite independent evidence of bad tracking and allignment from new.

· Brake pipe union joints failure, handbrake adjustment problems and brakes not lubricated, dealers report it’s something which has been missed by the factory. Dacia have put out an unofficial ‘blue’ recall to dealerships. Some owners claim brake pipe cover shields have been found missing by dealers on some cars.

· Rear springs not properly fixed into retaining cup, owners experience heavy knocking from rear.

· Catalytic convertor failure, owners get a warning light on the dashboard. Dealers first fix is to reset the light but the probable soon comes back. Catalytic convertors failing/not installed correctly.

· Some owners report their cars are over heating in slow / stationary traffic. 30A fuse blows but real culprit is cooling fan that doesnt work. Part is unavailable due to demand. Owners left with courtesy cars.

· Door seals failing, mainly due to being installed incorrectly. Owners and passengers getting wet on rainy days. Problems with part supply to repair and replace dodgy seals. Other water ingress issues including water into footwell.

· Dusters displaying warning lights and going into limp home mode. Dealers get a number of error codes which Dacia/Renault technical support so far has not responded. Example on Dacia owners forum of Duster been with dealers for 2 months and still they cant work out what’s wrong with it.

· Paint work from the factory on cars is poor, marina blue inparticular suffers from white specs within paint. Dacia don’t want to know. Lacquer top finish is also poor and easily scratches.

· Day time running lights fitted as part of extras package have been falling out of recess, clip to hold them in is inadequate.

· Trip computer display failures, replaced by dealers.

There are more issues than the list above on the Dacia owners forum, but im sure after reading that list you get the idea.

The most disappointing thing o the whole episode has be the awful response from Dacia/Renault customer services.

They have denied problems, they have been slow or simply non responsive on issues, and have provided little help to owners

To further compound matters, there is a major parts shortage.

At salvage yards, you can see all current Dacia models (Dusters, Sanderos and Stepaways) written off with the most trivial of damage as Dacia cannot source spare bumpers until next year!

The Duster is a cheap vehicle, but cheap does not mean badly built with glaring omissions and non existent quality control.

Why do European Duster owners have good quality Dusters, while UK owners are stuck with poorly built examples of the exact same car?

To summarise; if you buy a Sandero, Sandero Stepaway or Logan MCV built in the Romanan factory the evidence and feedback tells you your buying a well made car.

Buy the Duster built for the UK from India, and your rolling a dice.

Please see the Dacia owners forum and other sources for evidence and further stories of problems.