9 month old car with recurring issue
Discussion
My mother in law bought a new MG hybrid (not PHEV) SUV thingy from a local dealer in March.
Around July it died on her. Dealer took it in then returned after a few days saying no fault.
Around August it throws up a battery warning. She goes back to the dealer and they say "you're not driving it enough".
October the thing dies again. Totally dead, can't even get in to the thing. I tell her to call MG. They send the AA (this is who they use for their assist service). They take it to the local dealer who say "needs a new 12v battery" and proceed to take 3 weeks to fit it.
By this time my mother in law has pretty much lost faith in the car and told the dealer she wasn't happy with it.
FFWD to this week, the car has died again. She is now, understandably sick of this car.
The car was bought outright so no finance involved.
Being the family car guy I now have to go speak to the dealer. My suspicion is that there is something not right with the charging system. I know in a lot hybrids there is no traditional alternator and the 12v is charged from the HV battery.
Has anyone had a similar situation with a car? Where you are beyond the window to reject, have given the dealer the opportunity to fix and are stuck with a lemon? What was your outcome?
Thanks
Around July it died on her. Dealer took it in then returned after a few days saying no fault.
Around August it throws up a battery warning. She goes back to the dealer and they say "you're not driving it enough".
October the thing dies again. Totally dead, can't even get in to the thing. I tell her to call MG. They send the AA (this is who they use for their assist service). They take it to the local dealer who say "needs a new 12v battery" and proceed to take 3 weeks to fit it.
By this time my mother in law has pretty much lost faith in the car and told the dealer she wasn't happy with it.
FFWD to this week, the car has died again. She is now, understandably sick of this car.
The car was bought outright so no finance involved.
Being the family car guy I now have to go speak to the dealer. My suspicion is that there is something not right with the charging system. I know in a lot hybrids there is no traditional alternator and the 12v is charged from the HV battery.
Has anyone had a similar situation with a car? Where you are beyond the window to reject, have given the dealer the opportunity to fix and are stuck with a lemon? What was your outcome?
Thanks
nunpuncher said:
She goes back to the dealer and they say "you're not driving it enough".
The car isn't fit for purpose, unless they warned her that it would need a certain type of use and she accepted that.I think it's common on hybrids - there's a recent thread on Lexus LBX (Toyota Yaris Cross) having the same issue and that was being used quite a bit. I was in a Hyundai dealer the other day and the service manager said they were having a bit of a nightmare with older customers who only did a few miles per week.
If you've given them multiple chances to fix the same fault and it's still failing, you should look into the Consumer Rights Act. Even past the initial six months, you can still argue for a partial refund or a replacement if the car isn't fit for purpose. Don't let the dealer just keep swapping batteries while ignoring the actual charging issue
Sheepshanks said:
nunpuncher said:
She goes back to the dealer and they say "you're not driving it enough".
The car isn't fit for purpose, unless they warned her that it would need a certain type of use and she accepted that.I think it's common on hybrids - there's a recent thread on Lexus LBX (Toyota Yaris Cross) having the same issue and that was being used quite a bit. I was in a Hyundai dealer the other day and the service manager said they were having a bit of a nightmare with older customers who only did a few miles per week.
When it failed in October she'd done 6000 miles so far. I'm not sure what miles they expect to keep the battery topped up but she'll easily do over the current UK average of 7k in less than a year. She lives in the middle of nowhere, nearest shop is 4 miles away so it's used near enough every day.
Call Citizens advice before you speak to the dealer, then you'll be fully informed.
She had the fault after four months of ownership, and reported it.
The car's still suffering the same fault, and the dealer's had two attempts to fix it?
I'd be rejecting it, and buy another car that works.
She had the fault after four months of ownership, and reported it.
The car's still suffering the same fault, and the dealer's had two attempts to fix it?
I'd be rejecting it, and buy another car that works.
Trevor555 said:
Call Citizens advice before you speak to the dealer, then you'll be fully informed.
She had the fault after four months of ownership, and reported it.
The car's still suffering the same fault, and the dealer's had two attempts to fix it?
I'd be rejecting it, and buy another car that works.
Yes there's probably a process to follow like writing to dealer first, so if you can, reject.She had the fault after four months of ownership, and reported it.
The car's still suffering the same fault, and the dealer's had two attempts to fix it?
I'd be rejecting it, and buy another car that works.
I'd be pretty angry about the not driving enough remark, that's plenty use by any measure for a new car.
My old dears 2025 Yaris Hybrid is showing early signs of doing this. She barely does any long journeys and the cars app notified her that the 12v battery was low. I measured it at 11.8v and after a drive it had charged back up to 12.7v. I'm guessing the dealer will want to just charge it which wont fix the issue long term.
Yes, I'm almost certain the dealer just charged the battery the first time. Second time I'm sure it had dropped well below 11v and was dead. Even that time the car had only been standing a few days.
Given the miles she does and her usage of daily short journeys with at least 1x 30-60 mile journey each week I don't find the reason of not being used is justifiable.
My suspicion is that there is something seriously wrong with either the wiring or one of the controllers in the auxiliary charge system. A needle in a haystack fix that no dealer with a small workshop could tackle.
Given the miles she does and her usage of daily short journeys with at least 1x 30-60 mile journey each week I don't find the reason of not being used is justifiable.
My suspicion is that there is something seriously wrong with either the wiring or one of the controllers in the auxiliary charge system. A needle in a haystack fix that no dealer with a small workshop could tackle.
Shinysideup said:
My old dears 2025 Yaris Hybrid is showing early signs of doing this. She barely does any long journeys and the cars app notified her that the 12v battery was low. I measured it at 11.8v and after a drive it had charged back up to 12.7v. I'm guessing the dealer will want to just charge it which wont fix the issue long term.
My in laws had the same issue with their Yaris. They bought a solar powered trickle charger and left that on it whenever they weren't using it but it still kept dying on them. I believe they changed the battery in in twice before giving up on it and chopping it in for a new shape petrol powered mini. Saw this with another manufacturer (Subaru) with their hybrid Forester.
Battery drain is an issue if you don’t use the car regularly enough. Most dealers will simply default to the ‘use it more’ excuse or if you’re lucky, get a new battery which only pushes the problem back a whiles.
Parasitic drain was thought to be a culprit as alarms were added when it hit our shores and maybe fitted incorrectly. A larger capacity battery can also sometimes help but can also cause a few electrical gremlins if not coded to the car (Subaru manufacturer supplied ones are a bit s
t anyway).
Keeping the key fob well away from the car as if it’s within range will prevent the car from ‘falling asleep’ fully. Move key or put in faraday pouch.
An issue with hybrids is that the alternator will decouple itself when driving under low demand and not charge the battery. Always drive with headlights on (not in ‘Auto’) to prevent this and the alternator will work as normal.
I know this is Subaru hybrid specific but these were some solutions that were found to lessen the impact of low mileage hybrid drivers who drive brands that are pretty susceptible to very low mileage users.
Battery drain is an issue if you don’t use the car regularly enough. Most dealers will simply default to the ‘use it more’ excuse or if you’re lucky, get a new battery which only pushes the problem back a whiles.
Parasitic drain was thought to be a culprit as alarms were added when it hit our shores and maybe fitted incorrectly. A larger capacity battery can also sometimes help but can also cause a few electrical gremlins if not coded to the car (Subaru manufacturer supplied ones are a bit s
t anyway).Keeping the key fob well away from the car as if it’s within range will prevent the car from ‘falling asleep’ fully. Move key or put in faraday pouch.
An issue with hybrids is that the alternator will decouple itself when driving under low demand and not charge the battery. Always drive with headlights on (not in ‘Auto’) to prevent this and the alternator will work as normal.
I know this is Subaru hybrid specific but these were some solutions that were found to lessen the impact of low mileage hybrid drivers who drive brands that are pretty susceptible to very low mileage users.
nunpuncher said:
Knew I'd forget important info.
When it failed in October she'd done 6000 miles so far. I'm not sure what miles they expect to keep the battery topped up but she'll easily do over the current UK average of 7k in less than a year. She lives in the middle of nowhere, nearest shop is 4 miles away so it's used near enough every day.
In that case the dealer's comment of "you're not driving it enough" is a load of tosh! If she'd only done 600 miles by October they might have had a point but if she's averaging the best part of 1k miles per month it's a daft thing to have said IMO - sounds like they don't really know what the problem is and are just trying to fob the customer off.....When it failed in October she'd done 6000 miles so far. I'm not sure what miles they expect to keep the battery topped up but she'll easily do over the current UK average of 7k in less than a year. She lives in the middle of nowhere, nearest shop is 4 miles away so it's used near enough every day.
.recordman said:
I had a similar problem with a Lexus hybrid. 12v battery kept going flat if the car wasn't used for a week or more. Keeping the headlight switch on 'auto' when parked caused this and when switched to 'off' when parked the problem went away.
Shockingly poor for a Toyota product that, good catch though.Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff