The MG4 Trophy that I used to love...

[Prodeepta]

I have found the screen on MG4 often unresponsive. The glove box light came on intermittently and finally went about three months ago. I have had the car since the end of May. Last week I drove to Stratford upon Avon and needed to recharge for driving back to London. I tried two fast chargers there; it did not work. Drove to Rugby Motto Service area of M1. I tried about 7 of the charging stations. None worked. While the car said it was connected, the charging point said "Failed to communicate". After five hours of fruitless trying (had to wait for my turn to access the charger from time to time) and spoken to their help centre I was advised to call AA or RAC. It was AA in my case. The mechanic arrived after an hour and could not work out why it was not charging. He said the car does not show on their system yet as it is a fairly new model! In the end, he booked Relay and I was brought home about 11pm. I put the car on charge (the car has been charging fine at home!). The Relay mechanic advised taking the car to the nearest dealer garage in the morning and get them to sort it out.
In the morning, when I called dealer Glyn Hopkins, I was told the car could be checked by my nearest garage on 19 February! I told him this was unacceptable as I was prevented from driving away from London for fear of being stuck somewhere else. I was offered an appointment at their Waltham Abbey garage, about 20 miles from me on Monday 8 January. I was given a number for MG Customer Care, whom I called to complain, I was told that there was a still unresolved technical hitch with the software. Waltham Abbey garage messaged me today to say they will need to keep the car 3 to 5 days!!!!! Hope they will provide me with a courtesy car or else I am not having it. The technical expertise of the staff at the local Glyn Hopkin garage leaves much to be desired and one cannot contact a garage directly. It is crap! I bought MG4, being swayed by the Auto press.

 

[Vingnut]

My dealership told me that MG/SAIC are building a Parts hub somewhere in Europe (not in UK) for the most common parts now.

 

[Tangoed Man]

I have found the screen on MG4 often unresponsive. The glove box light came on intermittently and finally went about three months ago. I have had the car since the end of May. Last week I drove to Stratford upon Avon and needed to recharge for driving back to London. I tried two fast chargers there; it did not work. Drove to Rugby Motto Service area of M1. I tried about 7 of the charging stations. None worked. While the car said it was connected, the charging point said "Failed to communicate". After five hours of fruitless trying (had to wait for my turn to access the charger from time to time) and spoken to their help centre I was advised to call AA or RAC. It was AA in my case. The mechanic arrived after an hour and could not work out why it was not charging. He said the car does not show on their system yet as it is a fairly new model! In the end, he booked Relay and I was brought home about 11pm. I put the car on charge (the car has bee charging fine at home!). The Relay mechanic advised taking the car to the nearest dealer garage in the morning and get them to sort it out.
In the morning, when I called dealer Glyn Hopkins, I was told the car could be checked by my nearest garage on 19 February! I told him this was unacceptable as I was prevented from driving away from London for fear of being stuck somewhere else. I was offered an appointment at their Waltham Abbey garage, about 20 miles from me on Monday 8 January. I was given a number for MG Customer Care, whom I called to complain, I was told that there was a still unresolved technical hitch with the software. Waltham Abbey garage messaged me today to say they will need to keep the car 3 to 5 days!!!!! Hope they will provide me with a courtesy car or else I am not having it. The technical expertise of the staff at the local Glyn Hopkin garage leaves much to be desired and one cannot contact a garage directly. It is crap! I bought MG4 , being swayed by the Auto press.

That is a truly awful horror story. So sorry you are having all these issues. Hope it all works out soon.

 

[Devoniageoff]

I had the same problem here in South Wales, was the charge control unit in the end. Constant hounding of the dealer and took six weeks to repair

Glad you've got yours back now! I've been told that it shouldn't take too long for the replacement charging unit to come...we'll see!! Meanwhile I've now got a loan car, an MG HS plug in Hybrid! Don't want to keep it though!!

 

[Count Zero]

Latest SMMT figures show the MG4 was the 2nd highest BEV in 2023: New car market delivers best year since 2019 as fleets fuel growth

So MG should have a local supply of common spares for the MG4 (as an MG5 owner the case will be weaker).

 

[Devoniageoff]

Latest SMMT figures show the MG4 was the 2nd highest BEV in 2023: New car market delivers best year since 2019 as fleets fuel growth

So MG should have a local supply of common spares for the MG4 (as an MG5 owner the case will be weaker).

View attachment 22750

Let's hope so!

 

[Vingnut]

I feel better and better with my MG4 Luxury/Trophy in winter, the anti-spin and anti-skid system is very good. With good (top 2) studded tires on 16" rims, it is very good to drive in varying winter conditions, it's almost like I would say the worse the winter conditions, the better it is.

Gremlins are there, 2 months waiting for slightly odd parts such as an electric seat frame is not good, software that is not optimal or frankly dangerous is worse.
But if you take 20 seconds to set up the car before driving, most of it is actually acceptable.

If MG could add, among other things, LKA under the Custom setting, so that we could select Custom and be done with it (possibly add the option for more users with their own Custom settings) it would have been a big step forward.

 

[gazza487]

If MG are saving money by not building a European spares hub, perhaps they could airfreight parts, though less environmentally friendly?

Bonkers. Long story but I get things shipped from China by air in 12 days from manufacturers, quite bulky but not massively heavy. A shoebox size for around £30.

 

[MSvirus]

If MG could add, among other things, LKA under the Custom setting, so that we could select Custom and be done with it (possibly add the option for more users with their own Custom settings) it would have been a big step forward.

That is just a bandaid, like removing a symptom of something that is underlying wrong. The real solution is that MG would program the LKA sufficiently so it doesn't need any altering by the driver at all, like in most other cars.

 

[Vingnut]

That is just a bandaid, like removing a symptom of something that is underlying wrong. The real solution is that MG would program the LKA sufficiently so it doesn't need any altering by the driver at all, like in most other cars.

That would probably not happen in many many years to come as road conditions are far to diverse for simple sensor systems to cope with, that is why we as drivers need a fast, easy and momenterly working solution to disengage LKA and other stuff that might kill us in certan situasions.
It does exist you know, it's called a physical switch/button and should preferably be located on the steering wheel.

This is a safety feature that should be mandated by NCAP, as no electronic overlord is fault less.

 

[tsedge]

That is just a bandaid, like removing a symptom of something that is underlying wrong. The real solution is that MG would program the LKA sufficiently so it doesn't need any altering by the driver at all, like in most other cars.

From what some people say that is already the case in new MG4s or those with the right updates - which I take to mean that the real issue is MG haven't prioritised a reliable auto-update system so everyone gets the same fixes.

 

[Vingnut]

As we are in to the theme of electronic overlords, here are some lines that might describe what often happens on snowy or wet country roads (all roads where I live) while driving my MG4 Luxury (yes this did happen yesterday... too).


Yesterday my MG4 tried to kill me and my wife again, LKA steered us in to oncoming traffic on our snowy and slippery roads. We got back to our side in time, this time too.

Or.

Yesterday I forgot to turn off LKA as I'm driving on snowy and slippery country roads, and the car tried to kill me and my wife steering in to oncoming traffic. Could not turn of LKA on the fly when it happend, but managed to keep the car on the road while going through the menus after (could not stop, blind hill top behind me).

Or.

Luckily my MG4 Luxury/Trophy has got updates so the LKA now can be easely overpowered when it tries to kill us by steering us in to oncoming traffic on our snowy and slippery country roads. Yesterday it tried again but I once again reacted fast enough and steered it back so we did not hit the 22 ton lorry we were opposing in front.



While writing this it's stil only 4 days since my second cousin was killed when she slid on the ice and she hit a 22t lorry in the front, as far as I'm aware of she was a competent driver (a bit more boy than a girl at that). She left 4 kids aged from 20 something down to 15 ish.
RIP Hege.

I do not know what car she drove (probably an older one), but her accident made me think of how many situations the LKA or the ACC ghost braking have put me and my loved ones in a dangerous position.

I know that putting myself in that spot seeing the pictures of the accident and the road surface knowing the spot (that 3km stretch of road has killed 5 including her since 2008) and being an advanced winter/snow/ice driver, I would have been driving on the snowy edge of the road to get safe grip around the left hand bend and would probably have avoided that accident.

Saying that I also know that if LKA had kicked in because of me driving on the safest spot (the edge of the road), I would not be sitting here writing this if my cousin and I traded places.
On that spot, in those conditions a little twitch or a drowsines brake or indeed any interference with my driving would have made me take a detour over to the opposite driving lane for minimum 10-20m. The traffic on that road is normally at best 3 seconds apart and you will crash being on the wrong side for any length of time.

This is why I do want to be able to be able to choose easily when, where and what electronic overlords should be activated or not. It's just a matter of time before NCAP mandatory electronic overlords are destroying and killing people when activated where it should not be activated.

NCAP, make physical button on the steering wheel mandatory to turn off anything that might disturb while driving on roads not suited for or in conditions not suited for LKA and the like.

 

[NLMGSAN]

That would probably not happen in many many years to come as road conditions are far to diverse for simple sensor systems to cope with, that is why we as drivers need a fast, easy and momenterly working solution to disengage LKA and other stuff that might kill us in certan situasions.
It does exist you know, it's called a physical switch/button and should preferably be located on the steering wheel.

This is a safety feature that should be mandated by NCAP, as no electronic overlord is fault less.

But in fact, NCAP demands the opposite to allow the manufacturer to claim the ncap points given to the lka system. Which is essential for the 5 star rating. It must be a two step, indirect deactivation. This is why it can now no longer be a single button switch.

 

[tsedge]

But in fact, NCAP demandS the opposite to allow the manufacturer to claim the ncap points given to the lka system. Which is essential for the 5 star rating. It must be a two step, indirect deactivation. This is why it can now no longer be a single button switch.

Double click?

 

[Montego]

Well this is depressing! I had the same problem when I first collected my car in March 2023. Would not take charge from anything (including DC). Dealer didn't know enough to fix, and let on that another branch had a Trophy with the same problem. They had to refer to MG but I got impression there was a distinct lack of knowledge. I think mine was software rather than hardware. Dealers need a knowledgebase to help them find problems and solutions. Car was fixed after 10 days and have had no problems since. So good luck!

 

[NLMGSAN]

From what some people say that is already the case in new MG4s or those with the right updates - which I take to mean that the real issue is MG haven't prioritised a reliable auto-update system so everyone gets the same fixes.

That is surely important. But it cannot be enough.
Why? It's in the manual of MG. It says:
The lane assist system does not always recognise the lane lines. Sometimes poor road surfaces, certain road structures or objects may be mistaken for lane lines. When such situations occur, the lane assist system must be immediately turned off.
They do not mention snow or icy roads, but suppose that's what they also mean with 'poor road surfaces'. In that case they tell us to disable it at once/immediately.
Can we do that? No. Not in a fast and safe manner while driving, even after the upgrade offers the drop down menu (SE only).
If it must be immediate, the closest to it is either auto deactivation (sorry driver, I'm not able to assist you) or a button function. Frankly, as all buttons are quite needed for current functions, you either get a complex implementation on one of them, or something like double button press (press both favorite buttons at the same time).
The other option is a voice command. Like it now responds to hello mg, with added words 'set lka to off' it should immediately do so and confirm. No buttons needed.
But I would also very much prefer an extra toggle (voice commands) to switch between Alert, LDW and ELK. Very often, the milder versions are better. Although the update did reduce the strength of ELK, it can still catch you by surprise. And it does...

 

[JonnyG]

............. The other option is a voice command. Like it now responds to hello mg, with added words 'set lka to off' it should immediately do so and confirm. No buttons needed.

Totally agree with this .... why can't we just say "Hey MG, Disable Lane Keep Assist" ... response "Disabling Lane Keep Assist - are you sure ?" .... say "Yes" .... response "Lane Keep Assist Disabled".

So simple and safe IMHO with no big distractions from driving ... and the orange symbol would give double confirmation it did it's job corrcectly.

 

[MSvirus]

From what some people say that is already the case in new MG4s or those with the right updates - which I take to mean that the real issue is MG haven't prioritised a reliable auto-update system so everyone gets the same fixes.

I probably have a lot of those updates, as my car is fairly recent. I don't think my car behaves as some have problem with here, but I still would not call it any good. It needs further sorting, and needs to be programmed to shut off in heavy snow and so on, as I can understand it is more than capable to cause accidents.

 

[tsedge]

But in fact, NCAP demands the opposite to allow the manufacturer to claim the ncap points given to the lka system. Which is essential for the 5 star rating. It must be a two step, indirect deactivation. This is why it can now no longer be a single button switch.

Is there a reference for this 2 step requirement? I couldn't find it when I looked on EuroNCAP's site. I am not doubting it, but would like to see what they say in context. Thanks.

 

[NLMGSAN]

i have it somewhere in their test guidance. If I find I will share it.