Can someone steal an MG5 while it's preheating? [Video]

[EWD]

Peter Chinkin has done a great video showing how you can pre-heat your MG5 without the worry of someone stealing it from your driveway while it's unattended.

 

[RossN]

However (sorry to be a doomsayer) it is possible to nick anything out of the unlocked car and also the lead...or is the lead still locked in the Zappi ?

 

[EWD]

However (sorry to be a doomsayer) it is possible to nick anything out of the unlocked car and also the lead...or is the lead still locked in the Zappi ?

It's true someone could possibly nick your cable.

But it would probably take more than a casual car thief to work out how to unlock it.

Maybe go for a tethered charger?

I'd be much more worried about them nicking the car than the cable.

 

[Marcad]

But in the video doesn't he say you can't drive it as the key is missing? so with a tethered cable and not being able to drive the car away all that's left is the cars contents. I have children so that's old crisp wrappers, muddy foot prints and things I can't even describe! The thief is welcome to that

 

[Petriix]

It's a tethered cable. You're right, they could steal anything you've left in the boot. The risk is a couple of orders of magnitude lower than losing the car itself though.

It is, of course, possible to lock the car while preheating. You have to wind the window down so that you can reach the door lock button from outside, then close the window (quickly move your arm); then you need to use the mechanical key to get back in.

 

[EWD]

It's a tethered cable. You're right, they could steal anything you've left in the boot. The risk is a couple of orders of magnitude lower than losing the car itself though.

It is, of course, possible to lock the car while preheating. You have to wind the window down so that you can reach the door lock button from outside, then close the window (quickly move your arm); then you need to use the mechanical key to get back in.

I've never tried that on my MG5.

Has anyone tried locking the MG5 while it's still in ready mode?

Does is suffer the same restriction as the ZS EV?

 

[Scorpion]

Peter Chinkin has done a great video showing how you can pre-heat your MG5 without the worry of someone stealing it from your driveway while it's unattended.

As a new MG 5EV owner who hasn't had to do a charge yet, can you still charge with the car unlocked because i got the impression that it has to be locked to charge

 

[Villanbee]

Hi,

Regarding this video, are we sure the car was actually heating or just blowing cold air? The reason I ask us that I can't get my MG5 to heat at all unless I push the footbrake and press the start button to move the right hand dial past the blue section to the zero at the start of the green. In other words, what I'd do to drive it. This, I understand, is 'Ready' mode.

I stand to be corrected, but I'm not sure this car was in the stated 'Ready' mode. I think it was in 'On' mode. My car does not heat in 'On' mode. Does anyone else's?

If I just press the start button twice without the brake pressed ('On' mode), leaving the dial returned to the blue section, the radio comes on, the blowers all work but no matter how high I turn the heat control, no heat comes out. Pressing the button just once ('ACC' mode indicated by a yellow light on the start stop switch) just allows a few systems, such as the radio, to work.

Like I said, I stand to be corrected, but I'm not sure this car was pre heating at all because I believe it wasn't in Ready mode. As a result, and if my car is representative of other MG5s and doesn't have a fault, the findings of the video may not be accurate. Yes, with the keys in the house, you can't select drive etc with the car in the mode it was in (as I said, I believe it was in 'On' mode), but you can't pre-heat the car either!

In fact, I've just done a test. I put the car in what I interpreted above as Ready mode, watched the right hand dial move out if the blue section to the zero position (which it does not do on the video) put the heater on full, checked the car was heating and not just blowing cold air, took the keys in the house, returned to the car and promptly drove it away. The car even warned me twice that it couldn't detect the smart key, but let me carry on driving it. I drove it around the block with no issues at all.

Any comments?

 

[EWD]

I've been able to charge my MG5 while in ready mode, with the heating on, on a number of occasions, with public type 2 chargers.

I've mostly charged with Pod Point so far. I haven't had the chance to try anything else with the lock down.

ready mode = foot brake down and power on button

These are the steps I've taken:

1. Park at the charger.
2. Press the stop button.
3. Open the charge flap and plug the type two cable in the car. Followed by the other end in the charger.
4. The car should start charging after a little while and you can see "in charge" on instrument screen.
5. Press the start button while pressing down the foot brake. Some people report this interrupts the charging but it starts again after a short while but I didn't have this problem.
6. You can use the arrows on the right hand side of the steering wheel to change the display to show the voltage and amperage being used. Normally the amperage would be a positive number as you are using energy from the pack. If it's charging you should see an negative number. When I was charging I saw about -12 to -14 amps on a type 2 charger.

 

[Villanbee]

I've been able to charge my MG5 while in ready mode, with the heating on, on a number of occasions, with public type 2 chargers.

I've mostly charged with Pod Point so far. I haven't had the chance to try anything else with the lock down.

ready mode = foot brake down and power on button

These are the steps I've taken:

1. Park at the charger.
2. Press the stop button.
3. Open the charge flap and plug the type two cable in the car. Followed by the other end in the charger.
4. The car should start charging after a little while and you can see "in charge" on instrument screen.
5. Press the start button while pressing down the foot brake. Some people report this interrupts the charging but it starts again after a short while but I didn't have this problem.
6. You can use the arrows on the right hand side of the steering wheel to change the display to show the voltage and amperage being used. Normally the amperage would be a positive number as you are using energy from the pack. If it's charging you should see an negative number. When I was charging I saw about -12 to -14 amps on a type 2 charger.

Similar to what I'm saying. My point isn't so much to do with the charge (I feel the charging element was not the main point of the video because you could theoretically want to heat your car without it being on charge) rather that, as far as I can see, the car in the video wasn't in Ready mode as it stated and, therefore, wasn't heating.

Like I said, I think the car can only be heated if in Ready mode. I think the car in the video was in 'On' mode and was just blowing cold air. Furthermore, my experiment shows, if the car is in Ready mode, it can be heated but can also be driven away with the keys in the house.

 

[EWD]

Similar to what I'm saying. My point isn't so much to do with the charge (I feel the charging element was not the main point of the video because you could theoretically want to heat your car without it being on charge) rather that, as far as I can see, the car in the video wasn't in Ready mode as it stated and, therefore, wasn't heating.

Like I said, I think the car can only be heated if in Ready mode. I think the car in the video was in 'On' mode and was just blowing cold air. Furthermore, my experiment shows, if the car is in Ready mode, it can be heated but can also be driven away with the keys in the house.

Having re-watched the video he states that the car is in ready mode.

When he tests stealing the car he unplugs the charger, gets in the car without touching the power button and tries to put the car into reverse.

The cars dash the says it cannot see the key and then switches off the HV battery. If the HV battery was on, it had to be in ready mode. Just pressing the on button without the foot brake doesn't engage the HV battery.

 

[Villanbee]

Having re-watched the video he states that the car is in ready mode.

When he tests stealing the car he unplugs the charger, gets in the car without touching the power button and tries to put the car into reverse.

The cars dash the says it cannot see the key and then switches off the HV battery. If the HV battery was on, it had to be in ready mode. Just pressing the on button without the foot brake doesn't engage the HV battery

Having re-watched the video he states that the car is in ready mode.

When he tests stealing the car he unplugs the charger, gets in the car without touching the power button and tries to put the car into reverse.

The cars dash the says it cannot see the key and then switches off the HV battery. If the HV battery was on, it had to be in ready mode. Just pressing the on button without the foot brake doesn't engage the HV battery.

Surely if the car was in Ready mode, the right hand dial would move. Just because he says it's in Ready mode doesn't mean it is.
Watch the video closely. When he engaged reverse, apart from not detecting the key it says the HV battery is shut off. That doesn't mean it was turned on previously to engaging reverse, just that it's shut off. It certainly doesn't mean the car turned it off when reverse was selected because the key wasn't in the car.
Mine does the same. I've tested it.
If it was in Ready mode the dial would have moved. It didn't.
I say again, I put my car in Ready mode, heated it up and drove it away with the key in the house. Surely this proves my point.

 

[EWD]

Surely if the car was in Ready mode, the right hand dial would move. Just because he says it's in Ready mode doesn't mean it is.
Watch the video closely. When he engaged reverse, apart from not detecting the key it says the HV battery is shut off. That doesn't mean it was turned on previously to engaging reverse, just that it's shut off. It certainly doesn't mean the car turned it off when reverse was selected because the key wasn't in the car.
Mine does the same. I've tested it.
If it was in Ready mode the dial would have moved. It didn't.
I say again, I put my car in Ready mode, heated it up and drove it away with the key in the house. Surely this proves my point.

I just had a quick play with the car. I don't have a home charger but I put the car into ready mode and then got out the car and put the key out of range.

I got back into the car and I was able to turn it to D and drive away. It complained about the missing key but I was able to change it to drive and reverse.

It doesn't mean it will behave exactly the same after you unplug it from charging but it is worrying and it's worth more investigation.

 

[Petriix]

Hi,

Regarding this video, are we sure the car was actually heating or just blowing cold air? The reason I ask us that I can't get my MG5 to heat at all unless I push the footbrake and press the start button to move the right hand dial past the blue section to the zero at the start of the green. In other words, what I'd do to drive it. This, I understand, is 'Ready' mode.

I stand to be corrected, but I'm not sure this car was in the stated 'Ready' mode. I think it was in 'On' mode. My car does not heat in 'On' mode. Does anyone else's?

If I just press the start button twice without the brake pressed ('On' mode), leaving the dial returned to the blue section, the radio comes on, the blowers all work but no matter how high I turn the heat control, no heat comes out. Pressing the button just once ('ACC' mode indicated by a yellow light on the start stop switch) just allows a few systems, such as the radio, to work.

Like I said, I stand to be corrected, but I'm not sure this car was pre heating at all because I believe it wasn't in Ready mode. As a result, and if my car is representative of other MG5s and doesn't have a fault, the findings of the video may not be accurate. Yes, with the keys in the house, you can't select drive etc with the car in the mode it was in (as I said, I believe it was in 'On' mode), but you can't pre-heat the car either!

In fact, I've just done a test. I put the car in what I interpreted above as Ready mode, watched the right hand dial move out if the blue section to the zero position (which it does not do on the video) put the heater on full, checked the car was heating and not just blowing cold air, took the keys in the house, returned to the car and promptly drove it away. The car even warned me twice that it couldn't detect the smart key, but let me carry on driving it. I drove it around the block with no issues at all.

Any comments?

The crucial difference is that the car was charging. I pressed the start button with the brake held down. The air was hot. The power flow showed power coming into the car reduced by 3 amps with the heater on, so about 1200W being used.

You absolutely can steal the car if you leave it in ready mode but not charging.

 

[Tom McConnell]

I had always understood that cars could be driven without detecting the key fob but would stop after a short distance, so stop theft.

how far were you able to drive without the key ?

 

[EWD]

I had always understood that cars could be driven without detecting the key fob but would stop after a short distance, so stop theft.

how far were you able to drive without the key ?

I didn't really test that. I rolled out of the parking space and then reverse back in again.

Definitely not a comprehensive test.

 

[Villanbee]

The crucial difference is that the car was charging. I pressed the start button with the brake held down. The air was hot. The power flow showed power coming into the car reduced by 3 amps with the heater on, so about 1200W being used.

You absolutely can steal the car if you leave it in ready mode but not charging.

Yep. That's the difference. So when the car is on charge and heating, Ready mode doesn't move the dial! This is why I assumed the car was in 'On' mode.
My concern, for what it's worth, is that someone may try to pre-heat a car, in Ready mode, without the charging element.
I only charge mine once a week, but had to defrost it many mornings over the last few weeks.
Would it be worth making clear in the video that the whole process is dependent on the car being plugged in on charge when in Ready mode but if the car is not plugged in on charge and is pre-heated in Ready mode then it can be driven away even if the key is in the house?

 

[Petriix]

That's a good point. I'll see if I can edit it...