Near crash as Maserati Ghibli accelerates by its self…twice!
Discussion
rogersj said:
Outrageous
If the reliability and aftersales service were as good as the showroom, the welcome and the coffee, then Maserati would sell more cars.
After just 48 days taking ownership of a Ghibli my joy and excitement was shattered when approaching a roundabout, the car failed to accelerate then proceeded to accelerate at full throttle without foot on pedal, the car came to a halt in the middle of the roundabout and when trying to exit the roundabout the same sequence happened again narrowingly avoiding a crash, lots of flashing warning lights were noted on face of speed dial.
Car transported back to Maranello, whose 4 page report highlighted nothing, other than both brake and throttle being pressed at the same time (reaction when trying to regain control of the car) nothing of the original fault or the multitude of flashing warning lights.
Transported back to the dealership where car was bought, car was test driven to replicate the pressing of both brake and accelerator. This exercise this did show up on the extended 16-page report, but did not show the original fault. (I am still waiting for the 12 pages of detail missing from the original report)
Maserati response: driver error
Sales manager handled the aftersales situation with more than a hint of incredulous mistrust and confirmation bias. Maserati Response: no fault with the car, the car will only accelerate when the throttle is pressed, car is safe to be returned.
Higher up the ladder offered to work with me to resolve the situation Maserati Response: buy back the 48 day old car back, which will leave me £18.5k out of pocket and without my part exchange 5 series BMW, or to trade in for a similar spec car then would cost additional £20.5k really!
No evidence no leg to stand on.
Driver error??.. after 35 years of driving??
Do I put my kids back into the car?
Does that change my confidence in the car?
At time of uploading this review the car is booked in for a 2/3-day service for repair of faulty leather on the driver’s seat an issue that sales originally stated was normal due to the soft nature of the leather.
(Edit to comply with posting rules)
Thanks.If the reliability and aftersales service were as good as the showroom, the welcome and the coffee, then Maserati would sell more cars.
After just 48 days taking ownership of a Ghibli my joy and excitement was shattered when approaching a roundabout, the car failed to accelerate then proceeded to accelerate at full throttle without foot on pedal, the car came to a halt in the middle of the roundabout and when trying to exit the roundabout the same sequence happened again narrowingly avoiding a crash, lots of flashing warning lights were noted on face of speed dial.
Car transported back to Maranello, whose 4 page report highlighted nothing, other than both brake and throttle being pressed at the same time (reaction when trying to regain control of the car) nothing of the original fault or the multitude of flashing warning lights.
Transported back to the dealership where car was bought, car was test driven to replicate the pressing of both brake and accelerator. This exercise this did show up on the extended 16-page report, but did not show the original fault. (I am still waiting for the 12 pages of detail missing from the original report)
Maserati response: driver error
Sales manager handled the aftersales situation with more than a hint of incredulous mistrust and confirmation bias. Maserati Response: no fault with the car, the car will only accelerate when the throttle is pressed, car is safe to be returned.
Higher up the ladder offered to work with me to resolve the situation Maserati Response: buy back the 48 day old car back, which will leave me £18.5k out of pocket and without my part exchange 5 series BMW, or to trade in for a similar spec car then would cost additional £20.5k really!
No evidence no leg to stand on.
Driver error??.. after 35 years of driving??
Do I put my kids back into the car?
Does that change my confidence in the car?
At time of uploading this review the car is booked in for a 2/3-day service for repair of faulty leather on the driver’s seat an issue that sales originally stated was normal due to the soft nature of the leather.
(Edit to comply with posting rules)
Edited by Scrump on Sunday 13th January 17:55
But why did you want to accelerate approaching a roundabout?
Unfortunately, as I found with the FCA group earlier this year, the customer is NEVER right.
They even falsified technical reports to state there wasn't an issue with the car, and submitted them to the finance company to stop me from rejecting the car.
Thankfully I had all the technicians reports (which I shouldn't have been allowed apparently) otherwise like yourself it would've been my word against theirs.
They even falsified technical reports to state there wasn't an issue with the car, and submitted them to the finance company to stop me from rejecting the car.
Thankfully I had all the technicians reports (which I shouldn't have been allowed apparently) otherwise like yourself it would've been my word against theirs.
rogersj said:
... the car came to a halt in the middle of the roundabout and when trying to exit the roundabout the same sequence happened again ...
Not getting involved in the 'how did that happen' debate but surely if you ended up in the middle of a roundabout there must have been significant damage to the bodywork? How on Earth were you able to drive it out? 
In all fairness, what else can the manufacturer do?
They have shipped the car back to the factory and by the sounds of it, given it a thorough checking over. If the problem didn't exist during any of those checks what should the next course of actions be... write the car off or give it back to you saying it works just fine?
They have shipped the car back to the factory and by the sounds of it, given it a thorough checking over. If the problem didn't exist during any of those checks what should the next course of actions be... write the car off or give it back to you saying it works just fine?
rogersj said:
Driver error??.. after 35 years of driving??
Edit: Actually I sound pompous and arrogant too, with my IAM mention. Apologies.
Edited by Hereward on Sunday 13th January 18:54
Hereward said:
rogersj said:
Driver error??.. after 35 years of driving??
rogersj said:
Car transported back to Maranello, whose 4 page report highlighted nothing, other than both brake and throttle being pressed at the same time (reaction when trying to regain control of the car) nothing of the original fault or the multitude of flashing warning lights.
The first question is: Were the brake and accelerator actually pressed at the same time by the driver (or by anything, eg loose floor mats or objects in the car)If there are diagnostic logs of the application of both inputs simultaneous then it is incredibly unlikely that these inputs were not real. Generally, in the vast majority of cases, it's found to be the driver making a mis-input (catching the wrong pedal with their foot etc) or things like floor mats, or loose objects jamming the pedals. The chances of an invalid accelerator pedal input are very low through any kind of system fault (because the accelerator pedal is dual redundant. The system also priorities the brake pedal (when the stability control is not disabled or in "track mode" etc) so pressing the brake cuts engine torque irrespective of the accelerator pedal input. Releasing the brake allows the accelerator to once again (after typically a 3 sec delay) to reapply engine torque. In this case, this system worked as intended and you didn't crash.
That leaves us with 3 possibilities (in order of there probability of occurrence)
1) you did accidentally press both pedals. This is far easier and much more common than you might expect, and has nothing to do with how long you've been driving, how good a driver you are, or much else. Your feet are simply in the wrong place.
2) The accelerator pedal became "jammed down" by something external to it but physical. A floor mat, a can of coke, a dog (don't laugh, its happened!). That obstruction was later removed.
3)The accelerator pedal became "jammed down" by something internal, ie a sticky joint, partially seized linkage etc. This is actually incredibly unlikely because modern pedal units do not use conventional mechanical hinges and are non-contact, ie the position is sensed indirectly across an air gap.
4) Some fluke fault in the accelerator pedal lead to it outputting a non zero signal (on both channels) when it was not pressed which then magically fixed itself never to happen again since. Worth noting that the dual channels in the pedal work in opposite directions, one senses how far down the pedal is pressed, the other senses who far up it is. Hence, a power fault or noise issue does not, and practically, cannot, result in a genuine "accelerate" command. In all cases, there is far, far more
Here and now, the only one that is any future concern is 3) or 4). if it were my car, i'd politely ask the dealer to fit a new accelerator pedal unit to my car as a precaution, and get on with my life........
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 13th January 18:57
Is it a drive by wire? I suspect it is - many cars are these days. I always wondered what might happen when you get the equivalent of your PC going slow for a sec and then catching up. You say you tried to accelerate but nothing happened, then it did so without your input. Sounds like it was just registering the input from those seconds earlier. Maybe.
Either way - scary stuff and I can understand the loss of confidence but without them being able to replicate the issue, I can sort of understand Maserati's stance too. Maybe the tech is too clever for the solution required but if Maserati can't replicate it and haven't seen this themselves, you can understand why they're sceptical. I work in IT and the number of times people tell me their IT equipment has a mind of its own... Well, it's usually operator error by a significant margin. However IT equipment can be "just-enough suspect" to take their claims seriously.
Tricky one.
Swap it for a 2011 Merc GL?
Either way - scary stuff and I can understand the loss of confidence but without them being able to replicate the issue, I can sort of understand Maserati's stance too. Maybe the tech is too clever for the solution required but if Maserati can't replicate it and haven't seen this themselves, you can understand why they're sceptical. I work in IT and the number of times people tell me their IT equipment has a mind of its own... Well, it's usually operator error by a significant margin. However IT equipment can be "just-enough suspect" to take their claims seriously.
Tricky one.
Swap it for a 2011 Merc GL?
For the uninitiated like myself - are accelerator and brake pedals really completely electronic systems nowadays? It seems like the sort of thing that would be required to have failsafes etc?
I know cars have been able to accelerate and in some cases brake themselves for some time (cruise control), but I presume that is only activated when the car decides it's safe to do so?
Any mechanics care to chip in and say whether a car can WOT itself?
I know cars have been able to accelerate and in some cases brake themselves for some time (cruise control), but I presume that is only activated when the car decides it's safe to do so?
Any mechanics care to chip in and say whether a car can WOT itself?
That’s why I’d never touch any Maserati or a marque similar like Jaguar/Alfa Romeo, you hear lots of stories of shocking customer service etc.
My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
Chestrockwell said:
That’s why I’d never touch any Maserati or a marque similar like Jaguar/Alfa Romeo, you hear lots of stories of shocking customer service etc.
My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
Like they dealt with the theft issues a couple of year ago My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
Monkeylegend said:
Like they dealt with the theft issues a couple of year ago
I don’t remember this very well, was it because of the Comfort Access? Even still, surely that’s the insurances problem.I’m not saying BMW are perfect, but regardless how good the Gulia is or how fun a Maserati is, I wouldn’t sink my hard earned money on a low -ish volume car company that don’t have the money/resources to deal with customers properly.
Chestrockwell said:
That’s why I’d never touch any Maserati or a marque similar like Jaguar/Alfa Romeo, you hear lots of stories of shocking customer service etc.
My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
From the OP's account its sound like Maserati's customer service was fine. My BMW isn’t perfect but whenever something is wrong, could be the smallest thing, they sort it immediately and if they don’t or if they’re rude, you have a very responsive customer service/complaints department who won’t rest until the problem is resolved, could be an attitude problem with staff or corrosion on the alloywheels 1 month away from the end of the warranty, it was a back and forth for 2 weeks, had a 630d GT for that time and got the car back with 4 brand new alloy wheels.
You should have the right to reject the car seeing as you just picked it up!
Customer reports serious malfunction.
Dealer ships car back to manufacture in Italy
Manufacturer carried out full report
Dealer retests
Customer with report and summary.
What else could of been done?
OP - What are you expectations from the dealer?
Chestrockwell said:
Monkeylegend said:
Like they dealt with the theft issues a couple of year ago
I don’t remember this very well, was it because of the Comfort Access? Even still, surely that’s the insurances problem.I’m not saying BMW are perfect, but regardless how good the Gulia is or how fun a Maserati is, I wouldn’t sink my hard earned money on a low -ish volume car company that don’t have the money/resources to deal with customers properly.
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