Airbag partially deployed whilst parked up after dealer update

FiFi said:
Hi Tigi not sure what you mean but if you can see the airbag pushing through the plastic seal of the centre section of your steering wheel and it’s white dust on the steering wheel would you take the chance of driving it? Might not activate but I definitely won’t be putting it to the test
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'airbags' aren't filled with air - they are filled very rapidly by the gaseous products of the combustion (deflagration) of a substance such as sodium azide (there are other substances; pyromechanics is a big and very specialist subject); if the airbag has initiated it will be quite obvious, although the bag itself will, after inflation, deflate (mostly) equally rapidly as the gas cools. It sure as hell shouldn't have 'a bit poking out...'
Pls let us know how this develops.
atb - ttp
 
We called to check in tonight and nothing yet - not that I’m surprised and as they have given us a car then I’m happy for it not to be rushed through. They are waiting on an update from MG currently & they are still investigating.
 
Does anybody remember the day when purchasing a car, you received a finished product. Like a video game, it had been tested, and what you received was what you were going to have. Now, with Tesla and all cars electronic, after an update, you never know if you are going to have an update which will completely change the way the car drives. Just like games. Feels like we are somewhat driving a video game.

slightly off topic.
 
BadGolf said:
Does anybody remember the day when purchasing a car, you received a finished product. Like a video game, it had been tested, and what you received was what you were going to have. Now, with Tesla and all cars electronic, after an update, you never know if you are going to have an update which will completely change the way the car drives. Just like games. Feels like we are somewhat driving a video game.

slightly off topic.
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I suppose it depends on how much faith you put in the manufacturer?

I used to love seeing what had changed with the early OTA updates that were regularly ported to the model 3. My performance model had 2 power increases during the time I owned it, think it gained just short of 50hp in total. Also lots of UI improvements, bug fixes and new functions added such as auto battery pre-conditioning. I can't remember anything that felt 'untested' and made it worse.
 
Polestar are quite explicit about their software versions and what each update includes (bug fixes, enhancements or new features).

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BadGolf said:
Does anybody remember the day when purchasing a car, you received a finished product. Like a video game, it had been tested, and what you received was what you were going to have. Now, with Tesla and all cars electronic, after an update, you never know if you are going to have an update which will completely change the way the car drives. Just like games. Feels like we are somewhat driving a video game.

slightly off topic.
Click to expand...
The issue here is twofold: (i) the scale of model testing needed to provide an adequately high 'confidence interval' (level of confidence of correct operation) prior to release, (ii) ensuring the 'model' adequately represents reality. Key to understanding complex systems (like the new cars) is that the budget bounds the modellers manhours-on-job, hence bounding the V&V (Verification; part (i) above) & Validation (part (ii) above) effort. A big area...
 
My husband has a Tesla - in general I do not ever compare or contrast my MG4 with his on performance or range, features etc as that would be ridiculous. However, his updates are direct to the car and a detailed report of what is being updated is provided and this can be accessed. Off topic the AA guy last week told me of a call out he went to when he was told to leave the Tesla he was attending on the drive as the repair that was needed would be sent through to the car and it would be repaired by next morning which he said felt like a real wow moment.

Dealer says I’m not to assume that this issue is due to an update and we need to wait for the investigation to be completed to be sure that this isn’t just a coincidence. However, a big concern for me whichever way this goes is that the dealer does not know what is going on your car. I want to know what they are adding to my car when I get my car back. I don’t want just a code to the unit concerned, I want to know what it is and what it does. This has to change and something we should push for I think.

Also, since all updates apart from to the entertainment system are updated at the dealer & I picked up my car on 5th November and by 14th December there were 5 updates available for my car so what are we supposed to do about having these updates added when there is no other need for the car to go back to the dealer? Do we call the dealer every now and then asking if updates are available and book it in? Will they do an update whilst you wait appointment? Otherwise the updates will back up and our cars will be running on different versions? It does feel a bit ’clunky’.
 
FiFi said:
My husband has a Tesla - in general I do not ever compare or contrast my MG4 with his on performance or range, features etc as that would be ridiculous. However, his updates are direct to the car and a detailed report of what is being updated is provided and this can be accessed. Off topic the AA guy last week told me of a call out he went to when he was told to leave the Tesla he was attending on the drive as the repair that was needed would be sent through to the car and it would be repaired by next morning which he said felt like a real wow moment.

Dealer says I’m not to assume that this issue is due to an update and we need to wait for the investigation to be completed to be sure that this isn’t just a coincidence. However, a big concern for me whichever way this goes is that the dealer does not know what is going on your car. I want to know what they are adding to my car when I get my car back. I don’t want just a code to the unit concerned, I want to know what it is and what it does. This has to change and something we should push for I think.

Also, since all updates apart from to the entertainment system are updated at the dealer & I picked up my car on 5th November and by 14th December there were 5 updates available for my car so what are we supposed to do about having these updates added when there is no other need for the car to go back to the dealer? Do we call the dealer every now and then asking if updates are available and book it in? Will they do an update whilst you wait appointment? Otherwise the updates will back up and our cars will be running on different versions? It does feel a bit ’clunky’.
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FiFi; we all sympathise/agree with the sentiment and overall meaning of what you've written there, but the reality of 'code' is that most often the 'bugs' are very simple 'low-level' instructions that occur due to a number of reasons - coder error at the fundamental stage is only one of them. Usually the bugs can be pre-empted at coder level by doing such stuff as 'N2' (n-squared) analysis, which is a way of checking all inputs and outputs of a function. But at a lower level, where the machine code is (usually) auto-compiled (i.e. the actual computer instruction set is created from the human/high-level function designer), the compilers can (do) have their own bugs, so even flawless top-level 'code' can have bugs introduced within the actual compiling hence computational stages. [See 'Incose' for further insight.]
I don't mean to be pious or preachy here, just realistic. We collect our sesr tomorrow, hopefully (if the airbags/keylocking/breather/... are all sorted prior), but our ID.3 has a few foibles on the car computer side, so even paying for 'German efficiency' doesn't get one entirely out of the problem area.
Good luck!
 
turntoport said:
FiFi; we all sympathise/agree with the sentiment and overall meaning of what you've written there, but the reality of 'code' is that most often the 'bugs' are very simple 'low-level' instructions that occur due to a number of reasons - coder error at the fundamental stage is only one of them. Usually the bugs can be pre-empted at coder level by doing such stuff as 'N2' (n-squared) analysis, which is a way of checking all inputs and outputs of a function. But at a lower level, where the machine code is (usually) auto-compiled (i.e. the actual computer instruction set is created from the human/high-level function designer), the compilers can (do) have their own bugs, so even flawless top-level 'code' can have bugs introduced within the actual compiling hence computational stages. [See 'Incose' for further insight.]
I don't mean to be pious or preachy here, just realistic. We collect our sesr tomorrow, hopefully (if the airbags/keylocking/breather/... are all sorted prior), but our ID.3 has a few foibles on the car computer side, so even paying for 'German efficiency' doesn't get one entirely out of the problem area.
Good luck!
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The only coding issues I had with my 2020 Mitsi ASX was with the service staff. Their computational output vs their instructional input were always naff. I believe there could have been a coding glitch in the centres revolving around the ‘I’m too good for this job’ or potentially the ‘I’m doing the bare minimum to get by’. The latter involves a severe deficiency in their listening module. I think they were recently testing the new ‘Blank Stare 2.0’ module.

Definitely well tuned with the ‘Don’t think outside the box’ harmonisation program.
 
I can’t comment on the coding - really, is this my responsibility to be expected to understand that jargon? - I am sure that I cannot be alone in feeling that in purchasing my car in good faith and my dealer adding updates without pre-checking that I am happy with that particular update going on my car that it isn’t really an expectation for me to understand the coding applied or bugs in the system? The technology is out there clearly after all & yes I’ve been told German technology in EVs is also very poor indeed. My dealer has responded to say that they cannot see any issues with the car as MG Assist wiped the car updates and that the white issue popping through as seen in my photos is actually plastic but as they cannot explain the white powder so they have gone back to MG for response. This is scary but thankfully, I have these updates on my app so have forwarded those screenshots which include power steering and the the airbag updates as abnormal. I’m losing confidence in the entire car to be honest - I’m scared that they will want to release the car to me unchanged. In that case I do not want to drive it! My husband said 2 Tesla’s on the drive is overkill- he might end up eating his words! To balance this up - up until now I way preferred driving this car to his Tesla - drive wise - it turns on a hairpin and feels like a much smaller car than it is. The tech is the issue here!
 
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The white powder is probably the talc-like substance coated onto the airbag; it separates the tightly-packed bag material, preventing sticking--togeter, and works as a lubricant during inflation, so preventing bag-burn and subsequent leaks. You shouldn't be seeing it.

Sorry, you're not expected to be code-savvy, the comments were just to put some context re difficulty of achieving 'right first time' results. Of course, spend more, get better results. Usually, but sadly sometimes not.
Good luck!
atb - ttp
 
This is the thing though isn’t it. As it stands right now AA were set to release it as fit to drive (as they didn’t know the car at all on Friday) & MG looking set to release the car as is (but grateful to the service manager who is challenging MG because of the white powder) as they cannot see the updates that I see on the app. I want to be proved but also convinced wrong. I’m neither right now
 
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Apologies for the slow uptake, so was the white powder / part of an airbag deployment or not? (as the OP did note that the system was reporting airbag deployment? ) - how was this resolved?
 
hequals4 said:
I suppose it depends on how much faith you put in the manufacturer?

I used to love seeing what had changed with the early OTA updates that were regularly ported to the model 3. My performance model had 2 power increases during the time I owned it, think it gained just short of 50hp in total. Also lots of UI improvements, bug fixes and new functions added such as auto battery pre-conditioning. I can't remember anything that felt 'untested' and made it worse.
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Sorry I completely disagree. I had one of the first uk M3P’s. Whilst yes Tesla were constantly providing OTA updates they didn’t always get it right. Remember the appalling auto wipers? Many attempts to get this right. The horrendously dangerous phantom braking? Again ages to fix. The UI changes that moved everything around and made it harder to see? Yes OTA is brilliant but by no means perfectly tested each version.
 
Well we have a Tesla too - in my opinion the auto wipers are still not brilliant and the phantom braking will still occur on occasion if on auto pilot. The Auld Langs Syne Light Show update was great though 😆

Regarding my MG4 Trophy - it has been with the dealer since December 15th and remains there. MG can’t see any issues with it but as the dealer concurs - with the white powder appearing on its own around the steering wheel it can’t just be released without further investigation. They are waiting on MG hopefully coming up with an update to fix. The car was perfectly fine before going in for updates and within 24 hours of being returned I had this airbag issue. I know that some of these issues are ‘known’ with fixes promised but with my brand new car I also have the following issues:
Ripple in under tray
faulty heating sensor - no ambient temperature, heating kicks in at 26 but then gets too hot & if you adjust you get too cold so have to settle for too hot or too cold
Aggressive lane assist (which was petrifying) after the update to this it was just as petrifying & tried to drag me on a roundabout
Airbag issue - no idea what this is but powder around steering wheel and plastic pushing out.

This isn’t the only IT issue though. Every time the dealer touches the car I get any one of the following on my MG app:
Electric Power Steering Warning
Illegal Invasion Warning
Brake System Warning
Abnormal alarm

Obviously the Christmas period has caused longer delays in getting things sorted but the dealer have done their best to update us however they can but they don’t have the answers. It is going to take a lot for me to renew my confidence in this car
 

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