Warranty Question DA40 NG

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Mdm0515
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Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Mdm0515 »

I'm having a bit of a warranty disagreement with Diamond and I'm curious of DAN perspectives.

My 2019 DA40 NG (plenty of warranty period remaining) had a nose wheel fairing failure as a result of normal ops wear and degradation at the point where the allen nuts fit to the assembly. Buffeting during flight caused a 'tear' into the fiberglass which just grew over time. The fairing needed to be removed to avoid further damage. Diamond claims this is not warrantable and I don't understand why. It's a stock part with no contact damage and it seems it should be covered. Any thoughts are welcomed.

Thanks in advance
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Colin
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Colin »

which just grew over time
That suggests that you could have spotted it during a pre-flight inspection and yet continued to fly.
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Boatguy
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Boatguy »

I have just short of 500 service hours on my 2018 DA40NG and have had no issues with the nose wheel fairing. It's hard for me to understand what happened to your fairing.

It's certainly possible that there was a flaw in the manufacturing. It's a small fiberglass piece, hand made in a mold and poor craftsmanship can result in inconsistent material thickness, strength, etc. As Colin notes, once a problem manifested itself, continued flight would only make it worse with the air flow tearing at the flaw.

How many service hours on the plane? Can you post a picture? How confident are you that there has never been any contact damage? Are you the only person who flies or moves the plane? No FBO's towed the plane while you were not present, etc.?

I always got generous warranty treatment, including Diamond's replacement of some items that I was surprised even needed to be replaced. Literally thousands of dollars worth of warranty replacements, though mostly from Austro. I'm kind of puzzled why there would be conflict over a relatively (as airplanes go) inexpensive piece of aerodynamic trim.
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chili4way
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by chili4way »

Normal ops wear and tear -- this seems unlikely. However, you'd have to convince Diamond that the part had an initial defect or was installed in a problematic fashion that damaged the part.

could have spotted it during a pre-flight inspection and yet continued to fly -- in the context of your question "should this be covered by warranty" this answer implies that if you had taken action sooner, Diamond would have covered replacement or repair. That's unclear. However, it certainly would have reduced the cost of a repair and perhaps Diamond would have given you the benefit of the doubt if the resolution cost was lower than it appears to be now.

At this point, if you're unable to show Diamond that there was a part or installation defect in the NLG fairing, you'll end up paying for repair or replacement.

As noted in other posts, what we as owners might think Diamond would have in stock (e.g. fairings or winglets), they often do not. They appear to build what is required for their manufacturing requirements.
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Davestation »

Mdm0515 wrote: Sat Jun 05, 2021 3:38 pm failure as a result of normal ops wear and degradation at the point where the allen nuts fit to the assembly
I don’t think this is normal. If the screws remain tight then it should never wear out - the problem is that if the screws come loose then it will wear out the hole and potentially damage the assembly, but this usually takes a while unless they’re so loose it’s just flopping around constantly.

As others have said I think that if the above was the case it should have been caught sooner and then Diamond would have covered the rework of the holes, assuming the screws came loose before another mechanic disturbed them. Since it’s a 2019 I have to assume that it went through at least one Annual where the fairing was removed and reinstalled, in which case it seems that loose hardware is mx induced and not a factory defect.
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Mdm0515
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Mdm0515 »

Happily Diamond agreed with me after we discussed and analyzed. Warranty coverage was confirmed for unexpected part failure
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Colin
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Colin »

I didn't enjoy having kwheel fairings on my DA40 in any case.
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Charles K
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Charles K »

One of my preflight items is physically checking the three main screws on my nose pant on each side as they can come loose. Lost one or two over the years. I always carry the right tool to tighten them. I consider it just one of the plane's quirks.
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Steve
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Re: Warranty Question DA40 NG

Post by Steve »

One of the advantages of having the metal tow bar protectors on my airplane is that two of those screws on each side have been replaced by drilled Allen head cap screws, which are safety-wired. No way they are coming loose. Additionally, the aft-most screw has some Loctite on it. No loosening there either. In fact, one year I had to grind a slot in the screw to get it out after the hex recess rounded out.
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