Christmas lights on the dashboard

[Sparqx]

I had an ‘interesting’ issue this morning after having to brake sharply in inclement weather. A load of warning lights came up including :

• traction control
• ABS
• Emergency Braking
• Pedestrian Braking
• Hill Hold
• etc
• etc

I pulled to the side of the road and turned the car off and then back on again and still the errors persisted. Tried this a few more times and no joy.

I then called MG Portsmouth and got through to the service centre. They asked me to call MG Assist a.k.a The AA. They booked an AA breakdown Engineer to come to my aide. AA Engineer calls me to ask for more details so I talk him through the issue. He says we can’t assist you at the road side as this is not an emergency problem...these are ‘added safety features’ and because the car still drives I need to book it in with the main dealer.

I then call MG back and tell them what the AA says and they are shocked...they then tell me the earliest I can get into the service centre is late October/early November...I ask for a courtesy car...none available until middle of November. I ask to escalate to a senior manager...no senior manager in today.

The challenge I have is I am going on holiday on Monday and was due to drive there with this car.

They apologise profusely and suggest I call MG UK to see if they can help...call ends.

I then use a bit of logic and turn the car off, open the bonnet, then with a 10mm spanner I disconnect the positive terminal from the 12V battery and wait a couple of minutes...reconnect it and tighten it back down.

Turn the car on and no errors anymore!! Have driven around to test and all looks good.

Thought this may be useful if you come across the same issue yourselves.

Needless to say that MG and the AA were of no help at all.

Good luck out there everyone!! You are on your own...

 

[Deleted member 823]

It really boils my p!$$ when companies act like this, not a great advert for buying into the brand. Are you a social media user? Might be worth making your experience of p!$$ poor customer service well known through the various channels..... Hope the car behaves and you have a good holiday.

 

[Septian]

Thanks @Sparqx that's very handy to know, at least now I can throw a 10mm spanner to keep in the boot if any problems arise then I can try this.

 

[GordieG]

Good luck out there everyone!! You are on your own...

Thanks to you and this forum we are NOT on our own. Whilst it’s been well documented that some dealerships are about as much use as a chocolate teapot - and the AA are still learning - it strikes me that between us all we can usually come up with the necessary answers. Keep contributing!

 

[Mgkev]

The AA are just a breakdown service I wouldn’t have expected any more than you were told. Main Dealerships don’t usually have any service guys around on a Saturday. I believe your experience is probably in line with most other makes of car. Luckily you have engineering knowledge and thanks for this info.
My wife once had a puncture on the M4 and called the AA. Four hours later an AA guy turns up and tells her he’s here to drag her of the motorway but he’s not qualified to change the wheel even though there was a full sized spare in the boot. What rubbish service!

 

[EricGao]

You are on your own