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Brakes failed

RichRead

Standard Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
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Location
london, england
Driving
MG ZS EV
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Anyone had their brakes fail?
I’ve had it twice where when pushing the brake pedal it cancels the KERS but doesn’t engage the brakes. 2nd time was on our downward sloped driveway and ended up smashing into the house.
MG customer service not taking this seriously. I was wondering if anyone else has had same or similar issues?
 
View attachment 4871Anyone had their brakes fail?
I’ve had it twice where when pushing the brake pedal it cancels the KERS but doesn’t engage the brakes. 2nd time was on our downward sloped driveway and ended up smashing into the house.
MG customer service not taking this seriously. I was wondering if anyone else has had same or similar issues?
OMG that is worrying!
 
Looks terrible. The only time that I’ve had issues is if pressing both brake and accelerator at the same time. Good luck with sorting it out.
 
View attachment 4871Anyone had their brakes fail?
I’ve had it twice where when pushing the brake pedal it cancels the KERS but doesn’t engage the brakes. 2nd time was on our downward sloped driveway and ended up smashing into the house.
MG customer service not taking this seriously. I was wondering if anyone else has had same or similar issues?
This is concerning. What do you mean by cancelling KERS. Do you mean, for example, KERS changes from level 3 to level 2.
It may be you have a damaged brake pipe, however I am unsure how this would alter the KERS setting.
 
The first time it happened I was coasting to a stop. You could feel the kers slowing the car down. When I put my foot on the break the car speed up. Which is why I described it at cancelled the kers. (Sorry, I’m not very technical). I can’t imagine why it would have felt like it sped up instead of slowing down.

In that instant I pumped the brake pedal and the car stopped. On the driveway I didn’t have the time. It just hit the house with my foot flat on the brake and the pedal to the floor.
 
OMG.
I thought brake hydraulics on cars used more than 1 circuit or something so that there shouldn't be complete failure.
It certainly sounds like a mechanical failure on the brake line which clearly should not happen.

The electronics could well alter the KERS based on the brake pedal position/pressure but I didn't think it switched it off. I can't see how the car could accelerate really in this situation although it may feel like it does.

I hope you can prove somehow what happened, you can imagine MG saying "you must've pressed the go pedal...."
 
Had you been using the cruise control before this? Mine sometimes lurches forward towards the stationary car in front when I activate MG Pilot in traffic. It's as if the radar hasn't had time to activate. I end up having to stab the brake to stop the car hitting the one in front.
 
Defo not wrong pedal pushed. The sense of speeding up was due to the kers not slowing it down.

If my foot was to the floor on the wrong pedal then the damage would have been significantly more.

MG’s first official response was to blame the presence of a dash cam in the car and that this somehow caused the issue. They refused to both look at the dash cam footage or inspect the car. The repairs won’t investigate the braking system as their mandate comes from the insurance and not the manufactures and the insurance won’t intervene or investigate.

Will have to wait for the cars return before I can take it to a MG dealership for investigation.
 
Had you been using the cruise control before this? Mine sometimes lurches forward towards the stationary car in front when I activate MG Pilot in traffic. It's as if the radar hasn't had time to activate. I end up having to stab the brake to stop the car hitting the one in front.
No. Had just done the school run. Why the radar didn’t activate the autonomous braking is something else that needs investigating. Not sure how that system is supposed to work to be honest.
 
You may be pressing the accelerator pedal by mistake. This happens to me occasionally when driving my wife's MG ZS (ice) at low speed coming to a stop. The right hand edge of my size 11 shoe somehow catches the edge of the accelerator as I brake causing the engine to rev (which I can hear in the internal combustion car). Pressing the clutch quickly solves the problem, as well as moving my foot properly to the brake. I have done it once in my ZS EV but with no engine revs to warn the wrong pedal has been pressed it was a bit disconcerting particularly as there is no clutch to press to quickly get out of the situation to disengage the drive and then property press the brake pedal.

Edit: some suggest this approach

.
 
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I go with Scriv/Dr Dave. I would be very surprised if the braking system is computer controlled, which it would have to be to have total failure. If some hydraulic component failed, it would remain in that state so would be easy to see. Hydraulics are very reliable.
 
That's a worrying response. So are they effectively saying that installing a dash cam invalidates the warranty?
I read somewhere that every modification that you do to the car that is not MG approved , voids the warranty.

Check your booklet , it says it somewhere.

But still....
 
I read somewhere that every modification that you do to the car that is not MG approved , voids the warranty.

Check your booklet , it says it somewhere.

But still....
Plugging a dash cam into the 12v socket or usb port does not void the warranty, these sockets come with the car and are ignition on activated, are designed to be used with assessories. You are not modifying the vehicle. I think there is a misunderstanding here, modifying a vehicle has a different definition.
Edit: I should also add that the MG ZS ice new version has a usb at the rear view mirror. This is specifically to power a dash cam to avoid the need to run a cable from below to the windscreen. MG are providing the facility for the powering of a dashcam.
 
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I'm sorry, but I would not take this seriously if I was MG either. The braking system is seperate and not computer controlled. So as long as there is no air in the brakefuid (could happen after maintenance) or the brakefluid got overheated (breaking for a long term going downhill) or a leakedge the brakes should work.

The only thing that could happen to let the brakes go is a faulty wheel speed sensor used for ABS. That system is electric and would cause ABS to activate when it shouldn't. Partially disables braking. Since you did not mention that I doubt that would be the problem.


I have never treid breaking and pushing the gas pedal at the same time. The brake could disable the engine on an EV. On a ICE car that is not always possible so i do not know if MG implemented that.
 
I think the things with dashcams perhaps relates to powering via a (vacant) fuse - in the "olden days" it was easy to do this, now with CANBUS night quite so. In my ICE, I asked a dealer to mark a suitable fuse for my to piggyback onto for a dashcam, which was done, when connected I had all sort of problems with tacho/speedo spinning around, ALL warning lights coming on, all trip meters reset and so on. I checked my wiring/piggy-backing and all was OK as far as I could tell. Asking around on forums specific to my vehicle, I was told the CANBUS was exceptionally sensitive and this is what would happen. Many others had it too.

Anyway, the brakes, I have no idea about other than to say that's effin' scary! When parking my MG, it does sometimes get confused when going from a standstill into slow reverse and doesn't release the "hand" brake and tried to move with that on. It maybe something I'm doing, I dunno.... Sadly these days there's no manual brake handle to pull that you can use to stop the car!
 
Pressing the brake pedal at the same time as the accelerator should cancel the power to the accelerator.
The brake pedal going to the floor is a bit worrying, I'd suspect ABS pump or master cylinder failure.
When you say the KERS stopped working, how fast were you going into your drive, KERS only works above a certain speed, something like 5 or 7 mph ?
Was the drive slippery at all ? It could be ABS releasing the brakes.
 
According to the manual it should be able to detect stationary objects from 2MPH. But it also says that buildings can affect the performance of it, so it may not have stopped because it didn't detect an obstacle such as a car or pedestrian. Which is stupid. The manual says it uses the camera and the radar for the AEB.
 

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Is there a way to load the dash cam video on this thread or is it photo’s only?

In the video you can hear the KERS working as the car approaches the house. You can see the speed go all the way down to 4mph before turning onto the drive. You can also hear there was no warning alarm from the car, etc.

All these comments have been immensely helpful. Hope we can get to the bottom of this and not be put off from driving the car ever again.
 
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