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?

Our Kia Sportage has done this once on the motorway and a couple of times on 'local' roads. The garage couldn't find anything wrong. My dad did some digging (it's not that I didn't want to but he's obsessively into cars and knew more what to ask) and apparently it can be to do with the voltage of the battery being too low or something.

I found it only ever did it when the auto start/stop feature was activated so I've trained myself to switch this off every time I get behind the wheel and it hasn't happened since.

She’s either a troll or getting a kick out of scaremongering.

Yep and I’m not convinced MN would give out her details willy nilly and it would only be an email anyway.

Oh, my sister didn't sell the car. She kept driving it until it pretty much fell apart! The incident never happened again AFAIK but she wouldn't necessarily tell me...

Those who reported to @MNHQ, have they clarified their position on passing on personal details to outsiders?

@CakeMake are you going to come back or was it just a case of wind ‘em up and watch ‘em go?

If you read it again without the frothing the OP clearly said they (the company who the OP wrote about) contacted Mumsnet who then contacted the OP. Mumsnet contacted the OP so they didn't pass the OP's details to the company. They passed the Company's correspondence onto the OP.

MN doesn't need permission to delete posts, they do it all the time!

This.

As per my previous post, Mumsnet can only give out your details if they have your permission or if the person wanting the details gets a court order forcing Mumsnet to hand over your details. If they had over your details without either your permission or a court order they are in breach of GDPR and you may be able to sue them for damages.

I'm afraid your first sentence is wrong. You can be sued for libel by someone even if you haven't specifically named them, provided it is clear to readers who you are referring to. So, for example, if you refer to "an owner of an Italian restaurant in Anytown" and there is only one Italian restaurant in Anytown, that is enough to allow them to successfully sue you for libel.

The fact OP is telling the truth protects her from losing a libel case. It does not, however, prevent her being sued by the manufacturer, although it is unlikely they would do so.

prh47bridge truth is a complete defence in libel so no-one needs to be concerned about simply stating the truth. I named the manufacturer of my defective car without any hesitation. It's just a non issue.

My sister's car that failed on the motorway was a Honda Element, circa 2002. (I know this actually happened because I was in the passenger seat at the time.)

I had problems with a mobile phone provider once when I returned a defective phone and cancelled the DD. four months later they started taking the DD again. I didn't notice for a Time and was down four months rental. When I cancelled it again they got nasty saying the reason was that I hadn't returned the charger which I had.

I complained on a forum they threatened court bailiff the lot. So I did some googling. It was a scam they had used many times so I copied and pasted every link emailing the lot to them. They went away.

If you've a car that's failed, you've receipts from tow truck, garage repair reports, websites that point out that particular problem then how is it libel to identify the vehicle

I didn't say otherwise. I was answering someone who seemed to think you could avoid being sued for libel by giving clues rather than naming the make/model. Indeed, I specifically said that the fact OP is telling the truth means she would win if sued for libel. However, that doesn't prevent the manufacturer suing. It just means they would lose if they tried.

Yes but your answer was a bit timid and inferred that it was a possibility that a manufacturer might sue. No manufacturer would sue. It’s not conceivable.

Yikes. This thread got some tempers running high and a bit off topic... I’ve been on holiday in Canada and have only recently got back home, hence why I haven’t replied.

Thank you to all those who left useful advice.

I am going to make some calls tomorrow to clarify and then plan on contacting a few people. To the previous poster that asked why I am getting involved is the fact that my parents are elderly and can be very passive and overly trusting.