• We are having a problem with new Hotmail members being unable to receive activation emails. Please avoid using a Hotmail email address. Thanks.

MG4 Undertray dip/bulge

Cannot understand why some cars of exactly the same MG4 model have undertray bulges and some do not in the same way that some have oil leaks and some don't.
I understand most cars are mass produced these days and/or assembled by robots but quality control checking must be a factor in the case of MG4's as you do not seem to hear of haphazard faults like this with other makes...they either all have the fault or none have it.
There may be exceptions but not to the degree of MG4's, surely?
 
Cannot understand why some cars of exactly the same MG4 model have undertray bulges and some do not in the same way that some have oil leaks and some don't.
I understand most cars are mass produced these days and/or assembled by robots but quality control checking must be a factor in the case of MG4's as you do not seem to hear of haphazard faults like this with other makes...they either all have the fault or none have it.
There may be exceptions but not to the degree of MG4's, surely?
Cars are not assembled by robots. They are assembled by a mixture of robots and thousands of human workers. Mistakes are common, especially when a factory is new (and so are the robots and workers). Most likely pressure to get cars out has overriden quality control.
 
But his point is right in that mass production relies on all parts being made to drawing such that they can all be fitted to eachother.
 
But his point is right in that mass production relies on all parts being made to drawing such that they can all be fitted to eachother.
Yes, the undertray is I would guess made by a 3rd party and thousands arrived, didn't fit properly and they chose to fit them anyway to avoid delays. A poor decision.
 
Yes, the undertray is I would guess made by a 3rd party and thousands arrived, didn't fit properly and they chose to fit them anyway to avoid delays. A poor decision.
Yes, and wouldn't the MGZS EV be manufactured at the same factory along with other ICE MG's?
Chinese MG's have been around for some time so the factory would not be that new as suggested in #482 surely?
In the case of the MG4 if they are rushing production at the expense of quality control as you suggest it will come back to bite them you know where at some stage. :sneaky:
 
ZS cars are made in both Shanghai and Zhengzhou, MG4 cars is made in a factory based in Ningde, Fujian.

Yep, but according to that article the factory began in 2019 and produced it's 400,000th MG vehicle last June with the first MG4 (Mulan) coming off the assembly line last May so they should know what they are doing by now as far as quality control is concerned.
It claims it is the biggest car manufacturing plant in Asia with one car being produced each minute on average....maybe that is the problem. ;)
 
Last edited:
But his point is right in that mass production relies on all parts being made to drawing such that they can all be fitted to eachother.
I think you over estimate the capabilities of CAD and manufacturing. I work at an engineering company and “accumulation of tolerances” and human factors (ie crap design) are not in the least bit unknown
 
Yep, but according to that article the factory began in 2019 and produced it's 400,000th MG vehicle last June with the first MG4 (Mulan) coming off the assembly line last May so they should know what they are doing by now as far as quality control is concerned.
It claims it is the biggest car manufacturing plant in Asia with one car being produced each minute on average....maybe that is the problem. ;)

It seems that cars being made in Fujian aren't as good as elsewhere as we've not had the same issues that are affecting the MG4 seen on either the MG5, ZS or even MG3.
 
Yep....maybe we should check out forums of the MG HS and others that are made there for possible similar issues. :)
From the MG forum that I visit elsewhere, a lot of MG HS owners are complaining about the DAB reception from the temporary DAB module that MG Motor UK have had to install in to the USB socket as well as the in car entertainment unit being very laggy and temperamental. It seems that regardless the price of the car, the quality from that factory isn't as good as it should be.
 
From the MG forum that I visit elsewhere, a lot of MG HS owners are complaining about the DAB reception from the temporary DAB module that MG Motor UK have had to install in to the USB socket as well as the in car entertainment unit being very laggy and temperamental. It seems that regardless the price of the car, the quality from that factory isn't as good as it should be.
It appears that this factory claims to now be able to produce 300,000 MG's per year in it's 'first phase' so probably therein lies a quality control issue.
Bigger is not always better, as they say.....:sneaky:
 
Last edited:
I've got one of those, Read all these posts about and had a look just before christmas -- all ok,
Had another look yesterday and .... there it is.
I would solve this by putting in a couple of new fixing screws which seem to be omitted
on the bowed area onto a safe anchorage . simple ??? (or is it me thats simple?)
I can only assume this (in light of above dialogue) Is part of the overall aerodynamics so important in an ev. hey ho engine gets a bit of extra cooling mud and crap included of course until
Mg dealer fixes it in a couple of weeks. fair play to them they came back straight away with date and time.
I will report on what remedy they come up with because a simple replacement will not do. It need another fastening (or two) IMHO.
 

Attachments

  • 9qolE6%sS%CHBk3DR5kKsQ.jpg
    9qolE6%sS%CHBk3DR5kKsQ.jpg
    637.1 KB · Views: 92
saic will be keen to address qc issues 'at source' (i.e. the factory); it costs around 50 times more to rectify problems at user level.
The fact they are happy to continue to punt out cars with the misaligned undertray kind of suggests they aren't that fussed about QC issues.
It kind of looks like the tray needs a bit of a redesign with some kind of strengthening incorporated, especially along the front edge
 
The fact they are happy to continue to punt out cars with the misaligned undertray kind of suggests they aren't that fussed about QC issues.
It kind of looks like the tray needs a bit of a redesign with some kind of strengthening incorporated, especially along the front edge
Agree Leni, but the undertray will need careful redesign (if it already hasn't had it) - the car body will be deforming (hopefully elastically) under loads, so the tray needs to be able to withstand aero lift & + mechanical loads from the fixing points, all across a 100 deg C range (say -40 to + 60deg C) without embrittlement or degradation in oils. 'Thicker plastic' might actually make things worse... This is why engineers enabled to do proper engineering are invaluable. The underpan has maybe been seen by the design team as a 'low priority, as it isn't seen by the customer' - wrong!! At least UV degradation shouldn't be a problem.
atb - ttp

buji: ccp your note/picture for mine, talking to local garage now.
 
What you are saying about the temp ranges probably explain why some members have had theirs crack and break off this winter
 
I've got one of those, Read all these posts about and had a look just before christmas -- all ok,
Had another look yesterday and .... there it is.
I would solve this by putting in a couple of new fixing screws which seem to be omitted
on the bowed area onto a safe anchorage . simple ??? (or is it me thats simple?)
I can only assume this (in light of above dialogue) Is part of the overall aerodynamics so important in an ev. hey ho engine gets a bit of extra cooling mud and crap included of course until
Mg dealer fixes it in a couple of weeks. fair play to them they came back straight away with date and time.
I will report on what remedy they come up with because a simple replacement will not do. It need another fastening (or two) IMHO.
does your car whistle between 40mph-60mph?
 
These threads are getting so long now it’s hard to remember if this has been said - or even if I said it!
Anyway - I struggle to understand why after this car has been out for such a long time outside of the UK there is still this tray issue. It’s not really that difficult to sort out surely! It really is poor to have this still being churned out to customers.
It doesn’t look good, If ever there are other issues during the life of the car - I can’t see MG getting them done quickly, if they can’t even fix faults on cars when they are new.
 
It's difficult. Mentality is they think they can get away from this, it's not a "big deal"
 

Are you enjoying your MG4?

  • Yes

    Votes: 425 79.9%
  • I'm in the middle

    Votes: 70 13.2%
  • No

    Votes: 37 7.0%
Support us by becoming a Premium Member

Latest MG EVs video

New EVs from MG: MG S9 & MG9 plus hot topics from the forums
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom