Park brake motors burned out (service mode)

[car]

Late 2020 MG ZS EV, approx 60k miles.

Hi, I recently had my rear brake pads replaced at my local garage. They advised me that there was now a warning light on the dash (autohold fault). Not only that, but the parking brake also doesn't work, meaning I had to put logs behind the wheels to stop it rolling down the hill (the electric motors also won't hold it when the car is turned off!) Local garage said I'd now have to take it to MG to get fixed, but they had spoken with MG who advised it was a warranty issue and was quite common in the zs.

The MG dealer says it isn't a warranty job as the electric motors that move the pads back when the car is put into service mode have burned out and this was apparently caused by my local garage not puting it into service mode the correct way. (The local garage say it was done with their computer system)

The repair is now going to cost several hundred pounds.

Is it possible that the electric motors on the brakes were burned out in this manner? (should they not be protected by a fuse to prevent this, or have a failsafe mode whereby they won't try to turn if an attempt to put it into service mode is made by the wrong means?)

Is it possible to put the car brakes into service mode the 'wrong way'?

I'm now stuck with having to pay for a repair as we really need the car back on the road, but the repair is required either because of what the local garage did, or a poor design by MG.

Any advice appreciated.
(my local garage is usually very good, hence trusting them to replace my pads. Servicing always done at an MG dealer)

 

[leonkernan]

Well it went to your local garage fine and came back with errors.
I know who i'd be pointing the finger at, the how isn't important, they should fix what they broke.

 

[Tim Green]

Well I agree with Leonkerman.
You should not accept it back until it is fixed by the garage.
I do not know how "service mode" works, but I would imagine it puts the servo into some unusual position so that the pads can be changed. In that unusual position, it may be necessary to remove the power from the servo so that the motors doesn't burn out. Who knows?
Either way it needs to be fixed and fast as the car should not be used with no parking brake. In fact, the garage were irresponsible allowing it off their premises.

 

[car]

The local garage couldn't fix it but said they had spoken with the MG dealer and they advised it was a warranty issue. The MG dealer now says it isn't warranty. I guess that on inspection, the diagnosis was different to what they initially though.
That leaves me having to pay the MG dealer so that my car becomes useable. As you said above, my car went to the local garage for a simple pad replacement and came back broken.
The fact that the garage clearly didn't road test the car to see the what the fault light would mean, therefore allowing me to drive home with no park/handbrake and having to 'chock' the wheels is really unprofessional.
(I called MG assist to tow the car to the MG garage as it wasn't safe/legal to drive it myself).

I think the local garage should be paying for the repair, (and they can fight with MG over whether it is warranty or not) however in reality I'll have to pay just to get the car back.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Try this.

What should I do if I’m unhappy with the garage’s work on my car?

Are you having problems with your garage or warranty? Search our knowledge base for an answer to your questions

www.themotorombudsman.org

You can get a template complaint letter from Martin Lewis's website; moneysavingexpert.com.

 

[Tim Green]

Or if you belong to AA or RAC they have legal depts that might help?

 

[Alb]

The liability rests entirely with your local garage.

 

[Lovemyev]

We had one of the handbrake motors replaced ( under warranty ) on our 2020 ZS EV.
The motor failed / stripped the splines and the handbrake would not release.
Car was recovered to the local dealers and a new motor and new brake calliper was ordered.
Three weeks to obtain the motor and four weeks to receive the calliper assembly.
Here ( was ) the prices of the parts back then from MG.

Handbrake motor = £68.00 ( ITEM 14 on the drawing ).
Calliper assembly = £88.00.

I am really struggling to understand why the estimate for the repair is "several hundred pounds" TBH ?.
Of course they will not reinstall the pads that are already installed, unless they are OEM pads.
So, you are looking at 2 x Handbrake motors and a full set of pads and lets say 2 hours worth of labour ?.
Your location in the UK will have a bearing on the labour price of course here.
I agree with the other members, you either give the local garage the chance to rectify the problem they caused, or if not they pay for the dealer to fix the car.
Which myself, I honestly don't think they will be too happy about doing.
The think the absolute bare minimum they should offer, is a full refund of the original job.
Did your local garage replace the brake disc's ?.

 

[car]

Replaced pads only, discs are still fine. OEM pads, and the pads aren't the issue.

Costs that MG said are approx £150 for a diagnosis and at least £450 for parts. Don't yet know if that includes labour.

 

[Lovemyev]

Replaced pads only, discs are still fine. OEM pads, and the pads aren't the issue.

Costs that MG said are approx £150 for a diagnosis and at least £450 for parts. Don't yet know if that includes labour.

The £150 is likely to be their minimum charge of one hour maybe.
I understand that the pads are not the issue, but they would not reinstall them, unless they are OEM equipment as they need to offer a warranty.

 

[Harris]

Hi I’m wondering if there was any resolution to this issue. I have just encountered the exact same problem. My garage is adamant that they have done nothing wrong and that MG should have recalled the affected models and disabled the option to put the car in service mode. Two technicians at different MG dealerships also let slip that prior to having the MG equipment they had the same issue when attempting MG brake repairs. At no point have MG communicated to customers that the cars cannot be repaired at a non-dealership garage nor have they communicated this known issue to customers.

 

[Lovemyev]

. At no point have MG communicated to customers that the cars cannot be repaired at a non-dealership garage

I guess they see it like this.
It is not within their interest to reveal this information, in order that MG owners will use the official dealerships for the brake work to be carried out on a their cars.
My view on this is simple, if the dealer prices of the OEM parts etc was not so expensive, then they would get the work !.
The discs and pads are nothing special at all, but the prices are extremely over inflated.
If I remember correctly, the issue is created when putting the handbrake into service mode via a third party tablet etc.
I think the dealers had the same problem on the first cars that required rear brake work.
So, I can only come to the conclusion that they are not selecting service mode via a diagnostic computer and are favouring removing the two handbrake actuators from the brake callers ( 4 bolts - 5 minutes ) and then manually winding back the piston in the callipers with the appropriate torx bit and a racket, in order to provide sufficient space to install the thicker rear brake pads.
Again, this is a complete assumption on my part of course, but this would be my chosen route if I was going about this job.
One of the forum members has been able to replace the rear discs and pads on his ZS EV himself at home.
So, proof that it can be done .