MG4 Undertray dip/bulge

[Vingnut]

I think it's important to notify MG on the basis if anything goes wrong later on, it's on MG and not the car owner.

 

[PristDean]

They're keeping their fingers crossed in respect to reduced oil level being ok in the gearbox so I don't think they are going to lose any sleep about a slight dip in the undertrays.

Hardly a 'slight dip'. This warping in the tray causing a gap. That gap creates the risk of or directly introduces unwanted ill effects on the car. I didn't spend over 30k just to accept a product with defects.

MG have said and it has been confirmed on the podcast by Miles that they are not going to fix this as a policy because it has not safety or other significant implications. Some people have had replacements but I don't think many and mainly early on before there was a policy. I am not saying don't try but your dealer may not know the policy if you are the first to ask. Good luck though.

I do get it, everyone wants their new shiny purchase to be perfect. But my view is it makes no practical difference so a bigger fuss is being made than is warranted.

Policy or not.... someone had it fixed under warranty. MG can't just decide to make up a policy when it suits them to avoid claims

We are not making an unwarranted big fuss and yes, I do want my shiny new 30k purchase in a healthy condition. That's not too much to ask in my view.

 

[tsedge]

Hardly a 'slight dip'. This warping in the tray causing a gap. That gap creates the risk of or directly introduces unwanted ill effects on the car. I didn't spend over 30k just to accept a product with defects.

You do realise that almost all cars until recent history had completely open undersides and got covered in all sorts of road muck routinely? 5 minutes ago this was normal and people were not worrying about ill effects.

Policy or not.... someone had it fixed under warranty. MG can't just decide to make up a policy when it suits them to avoid claims

There was a time before the policy was set which is probably when this someone had it fixed. MG can introduce a new policy whenever they like.

We are not making an unwarranted big fuss and yes, I do want my shiny new 30k purchase in a healthy condition. That's not too much to ask in my view.

There's nothing unhealthy about it according to MG.

But go ahead, and good luck and yes I think you are making an unwarranted fuss but that's ok for us to disagree. People think I make unwarranted fusses about all sorts of things!

 

[PristDean]

You do realise that almost all cars until recent history had completely open undersides and got covered in all sorts of road muck routinely? 5 minutes ago this was normal and people were not worrying about ill effects.

There was a time before the policy was set which is probably when this someone had it fixed. MG can introduce a new policy whenever they like.

There's nothing unhealthy about it according to MG.

But go ahead, and good luck and yes I think you are making an unwarranted fuss but that's ok for us to disagree. People think I make unwarranted fusses about all sorts of things!

They cannot introduce a policy to avoid warranty claims, that's ridiculous.

Under trays on cars are there now to protect the battery and other components never found on ICE cars

It's not what MG thinks that counts, its what we have found with the product they have sold us. In my & others views, defective.

Yes, I will go ahead. I appreciate others will not and will be happy to live with defects, in which case they would likely do well to avoid this thread and not worry about it.

 

[tsedge]

They cannot introduce a policy to avoid warranty claims, that's ridiculous.

Of course they can. The OEM decides what to approve when the dealer asks to make a claim, not you. They can classify this as a non defect.

Under trays on cars are there now to protect the battery and other components never found on ICE cars

This is a thin piece of plastic designed to improve airflow, not a steel bash plate. The battery is already protected independently and ICE cars have a ton more exposed components under the engine (to take just one area) than EVs do.

It's not what MG thinks, its what we have found with the product they have sold us. In my mine others views, defective.

Yes, I will go ahead. I appreciate others will not and will be happy to live with defects, in which case they would likely do well to avoid this thread and not worry about it.

I wish you good luck with it. I will take your advice and not comment further, I have said my piece.

 

[PristDean]

Of course they can. The OEM decides what to approve when the dealer asks to make a claim, not you. They can classify this as a non defect.

This is a thin piece of plastic designed to improve airflow, not a steel bash plate. The battery is already protected independently and ICE cars have a ton more exposed components under the engine (to take just one area) than EVs do.

I wish you good luck with it. I will take your advice and not comment further, I have said my piece.

Okay, good. But realise you are wrong, they cannot just make up a policy to undermine a warranty which was sold with the car. The wording of which includes 'failures' , these are competent failures

The tray is there for a reason, MG put it there for a good reason and it's defective.

Good luck with yours as it stands.

And for anyone making a claim, please ensure you mention the person who has already had theirs fixed under warranty and the below provides good consumer information for warranty claims on car defects:

Your rights if your car has a problem: The section 'I bought my car from a dealer' in particular

 

[Rolfe]

I can understand someone deciding to live with it if he doesn't think it's important, but not this concerted effort to dissuade others from pursuing the matter. What's the worst that can happen? We waste a bit of time?

It's a new car, and this is clearly a fault. It wasn't designed to be that shape. Nobody knows if it's going to lead to problems (beyond the whistle and the reduction in aerodynamic efficiency). At the very least, flagging it up is only sensible.

I had an undertray problem on my Peugeot. It came unfastened at the back and was dragging on the road. It had to be removed. The advice I was given was, don't worry about it, it's not worth having it replaced. Fair enough, the car was about eight years old and well out of warranty. But imagine taking that attitude if the car had only been months old? Or indeed if it had been like that on collection.

 

[wiz043]

You do realise that almost all cars until recent history had completely open undersides and got covered in all sorts of road muck routinely? 5 minutes ago this was normal and people were not worrying about ill effects.

That is correct but I have seen some pics here and on other sites of leading edges of the dropped undertray where there is an obvious one to two inch gap going almost the full width of it where obviously mud or snow or whatever could gather or be scooped up to lay inside the undertray and damage the components above over time.
That is a different situation to cars of the past you refer to with no undertrays where this sort of muck would normally just fall off.

I am not saying this is the case with all MG4 undertrays but if it applied to mine I would be concerned.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

My tuppence worth on this is it may not impact majorly on the car functionality, it will catch crap it's unavoidable, yes cars didn't have them before so the crap was all over rather than concentrated in one place potentially. The suck it up attitude from MG isn't the best but they are probably right as I said re safety and functionality.

It does however sum up MG attitude to certain things.

There was also at least one report last winter of a member hitting a bit of standing water and the dip in the tray catching causing it to be ripped off.

Reason enough to ask again

 

[PristDean]

My tuppence worth on this is it may not impact majorly on the car functionality, it will catch crap it's unavoidable, yes cars didn't have them before so the crap was all over rather than concentrated in one place potentially. The suck it up attitude from MG isn't the best but they are probably right as I said re safety and functionality.

It does however sum up MG attitude to certain things.

There was also at least one report last winter of a member hitting a bit of standing water and the dip in the tray catching causing it to be ripped off.

Reason enough to ask again

Spot on Leni, prevention rather than cure.

 

[Kithmo]

how do we know that this bulge is not normal and the ones without it are not faulty ?
Maybe it's there to improve cooling of the motor, who knows ?

 

[bowfer]

It does however sum up MG attitude to certain things.

Agreed, it’s slack practice.
This and things like ropey stitching on seats, which I’ve seen is still happening even on the latest models by photos on here, just shouldn’t leave the factory.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Agreed, it’s slack practice.
This and things like ropey stitching on seats, which I’ve seen is still happening even on the latest models by photos on here, just shouldn’t leave the factory.

Slack quality control

As both of us were told though every bit as prestige a finish (inside and out) as new Volvos

 

[Rolfe]

Southport MG. The new one whilst a different shade of black fits perfect. It’s clearly a defect and should be in their own interest to protect the motor. Sloppy finish on some things and the software but still an amazing car. I had the MG3 for the day and couldn’t wait to get back in the 4

Jon, would you be able to post a photo of your car's new undertray showing the perfect fit? We have a couple of photos of cars with little or no bulge from new, but having a picture of how it should look once fixed would be extremely helpful.

 

[Kithmo]

I'm wondering if there's some other issue here.
Where the bulge is, there is an alloy casing showing that appears to be slightly lower than the crossmember that the undertray fits to. I'm wondering if it's this casing that is mounted too low, preventing the tray from fitting snugly up to the crossmember.
Has anybody had any success with a new undertray or repositioning it ?

 

[Rolfe]

I've read through the thread and the answer to this would appear to be yes.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

I've read through the thread and the answer to this would appear to be yes.

It does look like that in some cases but it is strange that it is not every car. Does that mean the aluminium casing is not always that low?

 

[Rolfe]

Siteguru said something about a parallax effect making it look lower than it is, and deceiving the eye into thinking it would stop the tray going into place.

 

[PristDean]

So what a debacle this is turning out to be. MG customer services are unwilling to replace the tray on mine, but as tenacious as I am, I am not letting this go and not accepting that the warping of the tray is a "characteristic of the car" or "it's due to the shape of the car" as reasons as put to me by MG customer service.

So I have raised this with the motoring ombudsman as MG will not honour the warranty in my view, will obtain a report on the car from an independent EV specialist and the video below clearly shows the defect. Stuart who's video this has had his replaced and is due to upload a video on the replacement he has had completed.

 

[Rolfe]

Well done.