Oficina Coorporativa Factoria Franklin

Muy buen taller, de seguro entre los mejores de Cusco, el acabado de pintura es espectacular.

Muy buena

Muy bueno

On April 3 2023 my rental Hilux was sent to Factoria Franklin to rectify a brake fade and vibration issue, partly due to moisture in brake fluid which reduces its boiling temperature, resulting in loss of hydraulic pressure at high temperatures.

Instead of flushing the brake system, they replaced the the existing brake pads which did not require replacing (having plenty of friction material remaining).

When first queried, Franklin said everything had been replaced, however upon further questioning admitted brake fluids were not replaced because they thought it was still good (no you cannot determine the condition of brake fluids visually), and that genuine Toyota brake pads were used, furthermore they did not know how much thickness remained on the brake rotors, or how much thickness were removed when the rotors were machined.

As expected, the brake fading issues remained, because brake fluid were not renewed as I requested.

Less than a week later the brakes failed more seriously, making grinding noises. Further inspection found the brake pads have been completely worn down to steel backing, within only 760km (!) since replacement, cause being counterfeit Toyota brake pads. The brake pads were purple and no Toyota genuine brake pads ever come in that color.

The counterfeit brake pads caused further damage to the brake rotors, which were already below minimum thickness when Factoria Franklin machined it. The weakened rotor, combined with the abrasion from pad backing, damaged the rotors beyond repair, having cut away part of the edge of a rotor.

Peru is a very mountainous country and this places more stress on brakes than other regions.
However, Factoria Franklin, knowingly that the rental car is from Lima and will need to go down the Andes to return to Lima, yet still used counterfeit parts in this situation, demonstrates their recklessness and indifference to customer’s safety. What is additionally despicable is that after having done the work on the car, 1/8 of the tank of fuel (10 liters) became missing, evidently siphoned out while the vehicle was being worked on.

This business had been dishonest, having lied on multiple accounts, and knowingly placing its customers and importantly, other road users at serious risk.

Perhaps Peru has a very low standard of doing things, but using counterfeit parts is not acceptable in just about anywhere. In many legal jurisdictions Franklin’s action, in knowingly placing other people at serious risk, can be considered “reckless endangerment”.