Car failed catastrophically on the motorway

[CakeMake]

Hey

Just wondering what others think of this.

My parents have a car that is 11 months old. Three days ago when my father was driving the electrics completely cut out without warning. Nothing worked and the car had absolutely no power. Luckily my father was just about able to glide the car to the hard shoulder where it came to a stop (not even the hazard lights were working).

It was purchased directly from the manufacturer. When it was towed to the manufacturer they ran some diagnostic tests for a couple of days. He received a call from them this morning saying it was fixed. The guy said that is was a “well known issue” with this model and has something to do with the software and the hybrid mechanism.

My issue is this: it’s a nearly brand new car. This shouldn’t happen. He could have been seriously injured or killed had the motorway been more busy or there was no hard shoulder. If it’s a well known fault shouldn’t it be publicised or maybe recalled so other owners can have their cars looked at?

I’m just worried someone is going to get hurt. It’s a very common car and in the top ten most popular.

What do you think?

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We had a cupra. It went back for full refund after 1 month. The ‘brains’ were shocking- it would suddenly reset seat positions, change maps/ displays, lose all presets. It was a nightmare. They had it back so many times to get it updated/ etc, but ultimately they recognised they couldn’t fix it and we got a refund.

OP, I wonder if you should either name the car or have the thread pulled. There’s going to be a lot of people worrying.

Could it be something else e.g. Generating an emp pulse ?

Might be worth flagging with Which. They campaign on car safety.

My dad's Ford mondeo did this. He was doing 70 on the motorway and it just cut out. No warning, no power just stopped. He was so incredibly lucky there wasn't anything behind him. He couldn't even get over to the hard shoulder. The rac person said the cars do it to protect the engine...

Op give us a clue without even mentioning the make/model - they can’t sue you then !! Although they can’t if you’re telling the truth anyway.

This petrifies me especially with those bloody ‘smart’ motorways where there is NO hard shoulder 😱

This happened to me years ago. On the motorway in a section with no hard shoulder to stop on. The acceleration was just gone, the needle dropped instantly and I just coasted to a stop on the carriageway. I can vividly remember the grill of lorry behind me getting closer and closer in the mirror. But thankfully the driver was clearly a good one and had left space/was alert enough to be able to rapidly spot the problem and move out around me just in time.

I switched the ignition off and back on and off it went as if nothing had happened. They replaced a part (ECU?) but no faults showed when they had plugged it in. I remember thinking if that lorry had ploughed over the top of me there would have been no understanding why I just randomly stopped. So scary.

If it’s a Swedish brand with a rep for safety then my sister also has a new one (less than six months old) and the electrics have cut out 3(!!!) times….. same brand op?

Had this with a Ford. Also on motorway when it cut out for about 5 seconds. Really scared. In and out for tests but always fine. It eventually stopped completely one day and it took weeks to diagnose. Eventually it was found to be the cpu itself which was saying everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t.

Bloody hell just say the car. This isn't helping anyone at all is it

What is the point of this thread?

I’ve reported this thread. The OP shouldn’t be posting very worrying information and refusing to give the most important piece of the jigsaw eg the model of the car. She’s either a troll or getting a kick out of scaremongering.

I am in North America until Sunday but will speak directly to the manufacture myself on Monday to get a better understanding and then start writing some letters!

Is your father not capable of contacting the company he bought the car from by himself? Should still be under warrantee. And it will all be in his name/paperwork etc.

This brand is now owned by a Chinese car company, so not completely Swedish anymore.

This happened to me about 20 yrs ago l bought a brand new Citroen, it just cut out on the motorway, a few days after l bought it. The man from the break down recovery was so angry on my behalf that he actually went into the car dealers l bought it from and raised merry hell, l had my six month old son in the back at the time, it was such a frightening experiance for the power to just cut out without any warning. The dealership took the car back and l got another one.

This happened to me in in 2019 with my Citroen C1! I still drive it but I hate it :(

This happened to us with my husbands Golf GTI. Randomly lost all power a handful of times. The dealer who checked it over claimed never to be able to find a record of it on the computer. We handed it back

Anyone else getting Lexus adverts throughout this thread? 😬

I haven't read all the posts OP just your initial one but I sold my house last year, went to live somewhere cheaper but more remote (Scottish island) where I need to rely utterly on my car, and bought a brand new car having had my last one for sixteen years. It also failed catastrophically - after only ten days. It was recovered and went to the mainland to be examined (with much hassle) and I was told they'd fired it up, seemed ok. It failed utterly again a few days after getting it back. I wrote a formal legal letter asking for a new car under the consumer rights legislation and after initial bullying (quite unpleasant bulling), the manufacturer had to concede.

Hmm Swedish brand. Mine was a Volvo. Not even sure why I was coy.

@MNHQ can you comment on some of the posts on this thread, saying that there are times when you are obliged to hand over posters personal details?

@Cakemake I'm concerned over this and have asked MN to clarify when and how our personal contact details can be passed to outside agencies.

The principal statutory defences relevant to defamation actions are as follows: Truth; Honest opinion; and. Publication on a matter of public interest.
Even if it were not so. How would they get your name and address to serve you? Even if they did and we became aware of it it would put a lot of people off their product.
I feel for the safety of others you should share.

@HandbagAtDawn agree.

Why the post, then refusal to name the car?? This is going to make some people’s anxieties sky rocket.