total loss of power on a busy dual carriage way - I'm really scared it will happen again

[Ezza]

My MG4 Trophy lost all power whilst I was accelerating to get on to a busy dual carriage way on Thursday. It was a hugely scary experience for me & my child as we tried our best to carry out all the correct actions & report the obstruction to emergency services whilst barely being able to hear the operator on the other end of the phone due to the traffic noise. Most drivers seemed to take no notice of my arm waving to slow them, or my red triangle. I sit here now simply relieved that no one was hurt or killed during this incident. Up until now I've loved my MG4 (despite the odd niggle) but now I'm just scared it will lose power again. I've searched through this forum & I still don't know why it happened. I'm hoping that diagnostics will be carried out on Monday & I'm so hoping that I won't be fobbed off with some insincere "explanation" - I don't mean to be overly dramatic but the line between life and death on that carriageway on Thursday was very fine. Does anyone have any information, or experience relating to a similar loss of power? I have seen some posts, mainly by drivers of other MG vehicles that have experienced loss of power. There's also one post by another MG4 driver who experienced similar error messages and power failure to their MG4. I'm also beating myself up because I've occasionally had fault messages pop up which have cleared instantly (before I've been able to read it) or when the car has been restarted. In fact, prior to my breakdown I got an "no ACC" warning & a red power warning (can't remember the wording) and I pulled into a layby to check it out. The problem is that on no occasion have I been able to fund any further information about the warning messages, either on the car or on the app. I've had messages about incorrect tyre pressures during the last 2 years and I've been able to navigate to the tyre pressure screen but it seems that the more important messages just disappear without a trace! On Thursday the warning messages cleared (without any trace) when I locked and unlocked the car. So I decided to continue on the rest of my short journey and all went well for about a minute, until I was on the carriage way, travelling through about 50 mph. And then the warning lights came on with a "stop safely" message - I didn't even manage to get it fully out of the lane. So, I'd be grateful of any information to shed light on this failure. In particular I don't understand why I've been unable to trace warning messages once they've disappeared off my dash.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

In this forum look up " Bowfer " s posts . He had a not dissimilar problem which turned out to be a BMS ( battery management system ) problem, the fact you locked /unlocked the doors can rule out the 12V battery ( but not entirely ) . A quick look through the internet gives lots of potential culprits from corrupted software to overheating battery or isolation faults , plus others in no particular order. We have all had flashing unreadable unstored messages and it is annoying and unnerving when it happens . Hope the diagnostics shed some definitive light on what it is , and you are willing to share the outcome. Assuming the AA retrieved you from the predicament , what did they say?

 

[Alb]

Any significant message will almost certainly be logged and accessible to the service guys. Hope they can reassure you on Monday.

 

[Ezza]

In this forum look up " Bowfer " s posts . He had a not dissimilar problem which turned out to be a BMS ( battery management system ) problem, the fact you locked /unlocked the doors can rule out the 12v battery ( but not entirely ) . A quick look through the internet gives lots of potential culprits from corrupted software to overheating battery or isolation faults , plus others in no particular order. We have all had flashing unreadable unstored messages and it is annoying and unnerving when it happens . Hope the diagnostics shed some definitive light on what it is , and you are willing to share the outcome. Assuming the AA retrieved you from the predicament , what did they say?

The vehicle recovery guy (arranged by the police) didn't do any diagnostics - everyone just wanted to get the car off the road (including all the drivers in the 4 mile tailback). I did get a call through to MG Assist but the police arranged recovery vehicle got out to me first.

Any significant message will almost certainly be logged and accessible to the service guys. Hope they can reassure you on Monday.

I hope so

 

[bedsev]

That sounds terrifying, glad you are all OK

 

[Rolfe]

In this forum look up " Bowfer " s posts . He had a not dissimilar problem which turned out to be a BMS ( battery management system ) problem, the fact you locked /unlocked the doors can rule out the 12V battery ( but not entirely ) . A quick look through the internet gives lots of potential culprits from corrupted software to overheating battery or isolation faults , plus others in no particular order. We have all had flashing unreadable unstored messages and it is annoying and unnerving when it happens . Hope the diagnostics shed some definitive light on what it is , and you are willing to share the outcome. Assuming the AA retrieved you from the predicament , what did they say?

I don't think we've ever seen Bowfer's problem on a Trophy though. The few cars that had it were all SEs. Also, I don't think he lost all power, as in came to a stop. The car wouldn't accelerate, was his issue.

This sounds terrifying, I hope they can diagnose it quickly.

 

[Ian Key]

I seem to remember it was a loose 12V battery terminal that caused some owners to experience a similar problem.

 

[tsedge]

It is a rare problem but we have had it reported before. Certainly start by suspecting the 12V system, get all software updated. Problems with the HV pack are very rare but they do occur, I think one or two people have reported having it replaced.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

My first assumption would have been the 12v system but the OP reported locking/ unlocking the doors and setting off, of course the connections could have jiggled loose, an easy fix which should not take more than two weeks for MG to diagnose. In the mean time Bowfers posts are a long and interesting read in which one or two of us are mentioned with courteous effect, and along with other contributors may give the OP a pre-warning of what treatment/satisfaction to expect in the next few days (weeks). A worse case scenario , but fore warned is fore armed.

 

[dicky ticker Dave]

What was the dealers reaction to this incident they should be jumping through every hoop to rectify this failure. I remember this happening to a Range Rover Evoke in the outside lane of the M5 it lost all power then locked the transmission.

 

[Ezza]

It is a rare problem but we have had it reported before. Certainly start by suspecting the 12V system, get all software updated. Problems with the HV pack are very rare but they do occur, I think one or two people have reported having it replaced.

Thanks for your helpful response. TBH I don't trust the garage (since they didn't upload my service data) & having some knowledge helps me try to make sure they do their job properly

What was the dealers reaction to this incident they should be jumping through every hoop to rectify this failure. I remember this happening to a Range Rover Evoke in the outside lane of the M5 it lost all power then locked the transmission.

Dealership have undertaken some initial diagnostics and the only feedback is "need to carry out extensive diagnostics" - it's not v reassuring, but although I need my car, I need a safe car so I won't be rushing them. Or perhaps I'll just trade it in... :-(

In this forum look up " Bowfer " s posts . He had a not dissimilar problem which turned out to be a BMS ( battery management system ) problem, the fact you locked /unlocked the doors can rule out the 12V battery ( but not entirely ) . A quick look through the internet gives lots of potential culprits from corrupted software to overheating battery or isolation faults , plus others in no particular order. We have all had flashing unreadable unstored messages and it is annoying and unnerving when it happens . Hope the diagnostics shed some definitive light on what it is , and you are willing to share the outcome. Assuming the AA retrieved you from the predicament , what did they say?

Hi, thanks for your message. I think bowfer may have come off this forum. I've searched & the only trace I've seen of him (her?) is him getting some flack off another member. I just can't find posts by bowfer

 

[OriginalBigAl]

In the search box put: restricted speed MG4 -weird , and for the members box Bowfer. there are lots of pages but as Rolfe as pointed out , most likely not as relevant as I first thought.

 

[Ezza]

In the search box put: restricted speed MG4 -weird , and for the members box Bowfer. there are lots of pages but as Rolfe as pointed out , most likely not as relevant as I first thought.

Ta for the pointer. Working my through that thread now

 

[kla456]

Similar happened to me last August (MG5 Trophy) on motorway with family on board. The car was serviced by Virtu MG Edinburgh West who recovered the car and drove us home without charge (good!), but it took 8 months to get fixed (2 failed battery cells). Virtu didn't have a technician to MG's required grade to assess the issue - a technician had to take a course, then scope of repair was not agreed between MG and Virtu, then Virtu did not have the tools and needed to hire from MG who had rented them out elsewhere - all in all, took 8 months. Hire car was eventually approved but was never provided and compensation was refused by MG. I went to court. MG have agreed to pay my claim in full.

 

[Farnham]

My MG4 Trophy lost all power whilst I was accelerating to get on to a busy dual carriage way on Thursday. It was a hugely scary experience for me & my child as we tried our best to carry out all the correct actions & report the obstruction to emergency services whilst barely being able to hear the operator on the other end of the phone due to the traffic noise. Most drivers seemed to take no notice of my arm waving to slow them, or my red triangle. I sit here now simply relieved that no one was hurt or killed during this incident. Up until now I've loved my MG4 (despite the odd niggle) but now I'm just scared it will lose power again. I've searched through this forum & I still don't know why it happened. I'm hoping that diagnostics will be carried out on Monday & I'm so hoping that I won't be fobbed off with some insincere "explanation" - I don't mean to be overly dramatic but the line between life and death on that carriageway on Thursday was very fine. Does anyone have any information, or experience relating to a similar loss of power? I have seen some posts, mainly by drivers of other MG vehicles that have experienced loss of power. There's also one post by another MG4 driver who experienced similar error messages and power failure to their MG4. I'm also beating myself up because I've occasionally had fault messages pop up which have cleared instantly (before I've been able to read it) or when the car has been restarted. In fact, prior to my breakdown I got an "no ACC" warning & a red power warning (can't remember the wording) and I pulled into a layby to check it out. The problem is that on no occasion have I been able to fund any further information about the warning messages, either on the car or on the app. I've had messages about incorrect tyre pressures during the last 2 years and I've been able to navigate to the tyre pressure screen but it seems that the more important messages just disappear without a trace! On Thursday the warning messages cleared (without any trace) when I locked and unlocked the car. So I decided to continue on the rest of my short journey and all went well for about a minute, until I was on the carriage way, travelling through about 50 mph. And then the warning lights came on with a "stop safely" message - I didn't even manage to get it fully out of the lane. So, I'd be grateful of any information to shed light on this failure. In particular I don't understand why I've been unable to trace warning messages once they've disappeared off my dash.

I'm getting the warning message for the seatbelt even though it is fastened and reduces the speed momentarily. It's really scary on the motorway. I have a similar filling and reported to the MG. The car is at the MG dealer, but they couldn't replicate the fault and are asking me to take the vehicle back. I think MG is not taking it seriously, and it might cause a recall of millions of cars. In my view, this is life life-threatening fault.

 

[salty]

Similar happened to me last August (MG5 Trophy) on motorway with family on board. The car was serviced by Virtu MG Edinburgh West who recovered the car and drove us home without charge (good!), but it took 8 months to get fixed (2 failed battery cells). Virtu didn't have a technician to MG's required grade to assess the issue - a technician had to take a course, then scope of repair was not agreed between MG and Virtu, then Virtu did not have the tools and needed to hire from MG who had rented them out elsewhere - all in all, took 8 months. Hire car was eventually approved but was never provided and compensation was refused by MG. I went to court. MG have agreed to pay my claim in full.

The whole thing seems very amateurish, to me. Sounds like a Fred in his Shed situation. If you are an MG official dealer, you should have All the tools readily available. Not waiting for another dealer to finish with them. And fully trained technicians. That's actually a laughable situation. Glad you finally got it sorted, but shouldn't have come to that.

 

[RCK49]

My MG4 Trophy lost all power whilst I was accelerating to get on to a busy dual carriage way on Thursday. It was a hugely scary experience for me & my child as we tried our best to carry out all the correct actions & report the obstruction to emergency services whilst barely being able to hear the operator on the other end of the phone due to the traffic noise. Most drivers seemed to take no notice of my arm waving to slow them, or my red triangle. I sit here now simply relieved that no one was hurt or killed during this incident. Up until now I've loved my MG4 (despite the odd niggle) but now I'm just scared it will lose power again. I've searched through this forum & I still don't know why it happened. I'm hoping that diagnostics will be carried out on Monday & I'm so hoping that I won't be fobbed off with some insincere "explanation" - I don't mean to be overly dramatic but the line between life and death on that carriageway on Thursday was very fine. Does anyone have any information, or experience relating to a similar loss of power? I have seen some posts, mainly by drivers of other MG vehicles that have experienced loss of power. There's also one post by another MG4 driver who experienced similar error messages and power failure to their MG4. I'm also beating myself up because I've occasionally had fault messages pop up which have cleared instantly (before I've been able to read it) or when the car has been restarted. In fact, prior to my breakdown I got an "no ACC" warning & a red power warning (can't remember the wording) and I pulled into a layby to check it out. The problem is that on no occasion have I been able to fund any further information about the warning messages, either on the car or on the app. I've had messages about incorrect tyre pressures during the last 2 years and I've been able to navigate to the tyre pressure screen but it seems that the more important messages just disappear without a trace! On Thursday the warning messages cleared (without any trace) when I locked and unlocked the car. So I decided to continue on the rest of my short journey and all went well for about a minute, until I was on the carriage way, travelling through about 50 mph. And then the warning lights came on with a "stop safely" message - I didn't even manage to get it fully out of the lane. So, I'd be grateful of any information to shed light on this failure. In particular I don't understand why I've been unable to trace warning messages once they've disappeared off my dash.

I can understand your fear, but it happens to the best of cars. My wife had a VW TSi golf with under 20K miles on the clock when it lost all power and ground to a halt (gerabox issues); it had to go as garage couldn't find a problem. Hope garage can tell you what the issue is and fix it.

 

[Ezza]

I can understand your fear, but it happens to the best of cars. My wife had a VW TSi golf with under 20K miles on the clock when it lost all power and ground to a halt (gerabox issues); it had to go as garage couldn't find a problem. Hope garage can tell you what the issue is and fix it.

Oh gosh - I suppose my question is "did it happen again" or has she got 50k miles out of it since without a repeat