MG owners beware!

[Dustydog]

Here we go again! Someone starts an honest thread with factual details involving a person with mobility issues, a well known EV make ,Police Officers and a breakdown company.
The technical details and reasons for the catastrophic failure will surface in due course I am certain.
Meanwhile rather than raising spurious “ I know better “ comments isn’t this the place for freedom of speech and ALL suggestions for the failure? Surely no one is looking for an accurate conclusion today🤔🤔.

A fundamental principle of “Fail Safe” should be followed in the design of any software , mechanical or electrical item. The driver of any vehicle should be able to bring it to a safe halt . Frayed Marina throttle cables excepted🤪.
Even if the software failed why wouldn’t the F/R lever work, Handbrake, on / off switch or whatever??
All speculations , stupid or sensible will be of great interest to me👍👍

 

[Jcloughie]

I had a jammed throttle on my Marina 1.8 estate when on the A38 dual carriageway between Exeter and Plymouth. Quite frightening. Cause was a frayed cable.

I had a similar occurrence in the 70’s. Mine was a jammed throttle in an Opel Record Coupe. Outside lane on M6 Cheshire, it was busy, but I managed to get over to the hard shoulder with the clutch dipped. The engine was revving hard. Stupidly, it took me a few seconds to realise, I needed to turn the ignition off.

John

 

[Buckman]

Wonder why he thought his wife could contact the vehicles ahead when she would not have a clue what the drivers phone number was.

Other thing that struck me was why he didn’t stamp on the brake pedal?

Good question as I think most of us in a similar situation would contact the police direct. Maybe the brake pedal was inoperative. Seems to be a glitch with the software as others have reported other issues with some functions not working or going weird on their MGs. Where is the car manufactured?

 

[Jcloughie]

Wonder why he thought his wife could contact the vehicles ahead when she would not have a clue what the drivers phone number was.

Other thing that struck me was why he didn’t stamp on the brake pedal?

The report seems to suggest the brakes would not work. But I agree. The brakes have to be totally separate from the other mechanical attributes of any vehicle. So should have worked even if braking against the engine.

Do EV’s have a neutral? I have only driven one, ann MG 3, but I cannot remember.

John

 

[otherclive]

The report seems to suggest the brakes would not work. But I agree. The brakes have to be totally separate from the other mechanical attributes of any vehicle. So should have worked even if braking against the engine.

Do EV’s have a neutral? I have only driven one, ann MG 3, but I cannot remember.

John

This Is Why Electric Cars Don’t Have Neutral | EV Car Tips

Electric cars are able to drive without transmission and without a neutral gear. Electric cars can be as quick as the fastest sports cars and…

evcartips.com

 

[GaryB]

Just a ramble. My previous V90 (2018 D4) had the Volvo "pilot assist" system and also adaptive cruise control. This was essentially a time-limited autonomous function where the car would steer itself for up to (from memory) 10 seconds. It detected the resistance in the wheel from the users hands, so if you rested your knee against it to give a bit of resistance it would stay active for a lot longer! This and the adaptive cruise control meant you could (if you were daft enough) let the car drive itself.

While this is all great technology, as an engineer I used to worry/think about that the car had become "educated" and with everything (including the handbrake) being electronic, could it malfunction to the point where I had no power to stop it?

The Rise of the Machines, Swedish style!

 

[Raywood]

It does look as if the computer can simply take control, presumably a problem with them programme. It does seem to have been unique, so while it has made people wonder I would hope that it can be rectified fairly quickly. If it is the computer programme it is unlikely to affect other makes and presumably the boffins responsible will be looking at it and can hopefully sort it quickly.

 

[Jcloughie]

Further to the above.

I had the use of a Moka EV today, quite a pleasant drive though a little small. It did have a neutral. I never used it though.

Out of curiosity I looked up the manual, seems it is there as a freewheel mode for some car washes. But the procedure to use it is a tad convoluted.




John

 

[Dustydog]

And there’s me thinking EVs and water don’t mix🙃🙃😜😜

 

[Buckman]

If an EV does not have an engine, how do you keep the engine running?

 

[otherclive]

View attachment 5703

Further to the above.

I had the use of a Moka EV today, quite a pleasant drive though a little small. It did have a neutral. I never used it though.

Out of curiosity I looked up the manual, seems it is there as a freewheel mode for some car washes. But the procedure to use it is a tad convoluted.

View attachment 5704


John

Sounds more like something your GP would use to assess mental capacity. 😂


Imagine the queue that could form whilst ferreting around in the glove box, then getting timed out after 5 seconds.