Interesting/worrying story from Scotland - ZS with no brakes.

Why has this topic gone quiet? Surely there are some answers to the many valid questions? Are we to conclude it was just an anti-EV stunt paid for by an anti-EV paper?
 
It's odd that Brian hasn't returned after that first post. If he offered some explanation for the odder aspects of his story it would go a long way to calm scepticism.

Like that article linked above, I find his decision to phone his wife in the first instance and ask her to come out (presumably in her own car) and "warn other drivers" of the approaching menace. First, how far did she have to come? Then, how long did it take her, and how did she actually find him? Did they stay on the line as he guided her to his current position? Then, what did she actually do?

Without any explanation for all this, the suspicion that she was already stationed nearby to escort the "runaway" to prevent a collision with an innocent third party has to remain on the table.

I have wondered, what would I do in this situation? First, 30 mph and 15 mph are rather different speeds. I certainly wouldn't contemplate jumping out of a car going at thirty, and I very much doubt I'd contemplate it at 15 either. You have a much better chance in an unavoidable collision if you stay in your car with its crumple zones and its seat belt and its airbags, than throwing yourself on to the tarmac. And even if if could be accomplished, what would it gain? Abandon the car with nobody to steer it, so it crashes into some innocent passer-by?

Phoning the police wasn't a bad idea, and in fact the police turned out to be a lot quicker off the mark and a lot more resourceful than I would have expected. But relying on the police getting there so fast seems unrealistic. I think I might have been looking for somewhere safe to run the car to a standstill, like a grassy bank or something like that. I'm not sure I'd have had the presence of mind to keep going round a roundabout, although if I was on a roundabout and had observed that the car slowed when it was on the circle, maybe I would.

I wouldn't have phoned someone several miles away asking her to get in her car and come and find me while I was travelling at 30 mph though.
 
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Rolfe said:
I have wondered, what would I do in this situation? First, 30 mph and 15 mph are rather different speeds. I certainly wouldn't contemplate jumping out of a car going at thirty, and I very much doubt I'd contemplate it at 15 either. You have a much better chance in an unavoidable collision if you stay in your car with its crumple zones and its seat belt and its airbags, than throwing yourself on to the tarmac. And even if if could be accomplished, what would it gain? Abandon the car with nobody to steer it, so it crashes into some innocent passer-by?
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What to do if you were truly in this situation would depend a lot on surroundings assuming the emergency / parking brake / gear selector wont work. If there was a nice armco rail at the side of the road, rub the car along it to scrub speed off, decent kerbs or walls can do that too. Other options if on open roads is to continue driving until the battery was flat. If the speed is low many laps of a roundabout with the police called to stop other traffic using it until the battery is flat.
 
An interesting question. It does depend on the actual situation - if the car was running on ACC that won't disengage would mean that any attempt to slow the car, unless done from in front, would mean more power would be added. Or if the car was stuck on a particular power level, scraping the armco should work. In this forum we have previously joked about having a "big red reset button" and that now sounds quite appealing! Some secondary system that would definitely release the main battery contactor would be useful.
 
Tim Green said:
In this forum we have previously joked about having a "big red reset button" and that now sounds quite appealing! Some secondary system that would definitely release the main battery contactor would be useful.
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It really needs to be risk assessed, how likely is it to happen and if it does how catastrophic could it be? The big red button you mention is present in the shape of a black brake pedal which can be operated at any time.

I dont believe this guys story, right from the start for reasons i said earlier. It would be interesting to see how many members on here have experienced a runaway of any electric vehicle?
 
I have read one more report of apparent brake failure on the ZS, someone trying to park ended up low speed smacking into something. It was last month so memory is vague but there was some detail and a video.
 
DisterBertieBear said:
I have read one more report of apparent brake failure on the ZS, someone trying to park ended up low speed smacking into something. It was last month so memory is vague but there was some detail and a video.
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Wow, people hitting another car when they're trying to park eh? That never happened before EVs!

EV propaganda is just giving people more excuses to use when they mess up.
 
fidra said:
The story was also in the Times:
Police forced to run malfunctioning electric car off the road

And I saw it on the BBC website. It was a MG ZS.

I recall seeing similar stories in the past about non electric cars having accelerators jamming and being unable to stop. I always wondered why they didn’t knock the car into neutral.
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The headline [ presumably ] should have been “malfunctioning electric car driver”

Edited by moderator: Added the word "presumably". We don't know for certain. Alas, in these cases, we almost never do, but the damage is still done (to EV perception).
 
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And until we find out exactly what happened and why, it affects us all. What company would willingly insure our EV’s if such a catastrophic failure were possible?

John Lewis (apparently) already refusing to cover EV’s in case a minor shunt causes unseen damage to the HV battery.

If this event turns out to be a silly stunt, or driver error blamed on a malfunctioning vehicle, then I hope they throw the book at the guy for the damage and uncertainty caused.
 
I do have a tangentially-related story. One fine afternoon I cleaned my bike. Pedal cycle, I mean. Gave it a good wash down with soapy water and a soft brush. Then I had the indescribably stupid idea of riding it to the top of the cul-de-sac where I lived and back to dry it a bit, before putting it in the back of the car.

Why indescribably stupid? Because I'd taken the wheels off so I could wash it properly, including inside the mudguards, and to take the wheels off you have to unhook the brakes. I hadn't hooked them back up again, not even the rear brake, belonging to the wheel I wasn't going to take off again to put the bike in the car.

I pedalled up the cul-de-sac in blissful ignorance, then turned to go back down. The bike began to pick up speed on the gradient. I touched the brakes, and discovered I didn't have any. It's amazing how fast you actually think, in that situation. Ideally I'd have gone on to where the cul-de-sac joined the main residential road of the estate, and turned uphill. Two problems there. One was that as I gathered speed there was a good chance I'd be going too fast to make the turn. The other was that a car might be coming along the road and the accident would be much more disastrous and I could get seriously hurt. The road was too narrow for me to have any chance of turning where I was to face back uphill.

I aimed the front wheel of the bike into the gutter to try to take off some speed, and jumped off. I couldn't get to any grass, so I landed on the asphalt pavement. I was a bit scraped and bruised, mainly my left leg, but nothing that wouldn't sort itself out with two or three weeks rest.

(I continued with my plan of going to visit a friend in Yorkshire with the bike. Two days later we were cycling on a canal towpath when, in the middle of some hesitation about where we were going, I overbalanded on the cobblestones and sprained the ankle of the leg that hadn't taken the damage in the previous incident, quite badly. Picture me trying to drive 200 miles home that evening, in a manual transmission car, with only my left leg working at all, and that not well.)
 
Just called MG Brighton, and it's the first call they have had about this, but they are aware of it. Btw, the brakes in an MG ZS EV still use a cable and hydraulics, so unless his brake fluid leaked out (which would have caused an alert well beforehand on the car), he could have just used the brake.

He is a YouTuber, and so far as I've seen, he is spreading misinformation. MG hopefully will sue him for spreading bullshit, unless otherwise proven.
 
DudeMG said:
Btw, the brakes in an MG ZS EV still use a cable and hydraulics, so unless his brake fluid leaked out (which would have caused an alert well beforehand on the car), he could have just used the brake.
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When you say "cable" are you thinking that the handbrake is effectively operated / controlled via a steel cable to action it ?.
The ICE model has a manual handbrake using a cable, but the ZS EV ( Both Gen1 & Gen2 ) have an electronic handbrake, that has two independent actuator electric motors fitted to both rear brake callipers.
When the actuators are actioned, they apply force to the rear pads to clamp the brake discs.
 
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So I'm in the process of re-insuring my car, due 5th November. I did a quote with Quidco before this all happened and the price was around £400. Went back to do another quote yesterday and the price had increased to over £450.
Could the insurers be reacting to this incident do you think, or coincidence?
Luckily I still have the link for the £400 quote incidentally!
 
Insurance quotes can vary depending on the dates you get them. According to Martin Lewis, the ‘sweet spot’ is 23 days before renewal. When I bought my car last year, I tried to use a prior quote (couldn’t actually buy the insurance then, as I didn’t know what date the car would be available), but when I arranged the insurance, it wouldn’t allow me to use that cheaper option. I think I paid a further £30.

I hope it works for you.
 
SimonS said:
Link copied from FB. Seems genuine at first glance. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10233014447645997&id=1311400923&mibextid=WC7FNe

Screenshot for those that don't do FB.

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I read this story first and thought the MG pilot stuck on, as one other user mentioned the brakes are mechanical... if the brake light switch failed would the car know the pedal is pressed?! Could have been a very simple fault causing a bigger issue, the car wouldn't just drive itself!? Surely. The engine off button won't work if the car is moving surely also, so the first point would be deactive the MG pilot, "after coming to a stop the car moved on again" ...
 
Belfastboy said:
I read this story first and thought the MG pilot stuck on, as one other user mentioned the brakes are mechanical... if the brake light switch failed would the car know the pedal is pressed?! Could have been a very simple fault causing a bigger issue, the car wouldn't just drive itself!? Surely. The engine off button won't work if the car is moving surely also, so the first point would be deactive the MG pilot, "after coming to a stop the car moved on again" ...
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I think you are overthinking it.
 
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