Runaway EV MG: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > Runaway EV MG	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bobby	Replies: 16

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Tue 3 Oct 23 23:40

Runaway EV MG - Bobby

Ok, what’s the theory about what happened here?

www.thescottishsun.co.uk/motors/11320530/electric-vehicle-car-brakes-malfunction-glasgow-police/

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Tue 3 Oct 23 23:59

Runaway EV MG - smokie

He was too busy taking his socks off so he could count how many warning lights there were on his dashboard to think about driving..

Why is it relevant that it's an electric car? I suppose because you hear of more brake failures in ICE vehicles so it's fairly unusual maybe :-)

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Wed 4 Oct 23 00:01

Runaway EV MG - zippy

User error or connector between battery and motor not getting a shut off signal, hacking, dodgy software upgrade.

Good action by the cops in keeping all safe.

I thought electric vehicles would automatically use regenerative braking if the foot was off the accelerator, slowing the car to an eventual stop?

Last edited by: zippy on Wed 4 Oct 23 at 00:03

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Wed 4 Oct 23 07:24

Runaway EV MG - Lygonos

It doesn't have brake-by-wire and all car brakes are more powerful than their motors (especially at '15mph') - combination of colossal electronic brainfart and panicked driver?

Would be interesting to find out what was going on but that won't be as interesting to the Fossil Fuel funders of the Sun as "Electric car unable to stop at walking pace"

Facebook page for MG EVs has 12000 members - never heard anything similar.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 07:46

Runaway EV MG - sooty123

In shorter versions of this its been drivers pressing the wrong pedal. This time might be interesting to know what it was.

Btw what's the Fossil Fuel funders, are they on Facebook too?

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Wed 4 Oct 23 08:58

Runaway EV MG - bathtub tom

He's got his 'fifteen minutes of fame'.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 09:14

Runaway EV MG - martin aston

There was a spate of runaway ICE cars a year or two back, all at high speed. My recollection is that most (all?) were driver error or intentional?
In this case it will be interesting to see if there is an outcome. Could be as simple as floor mats interfering with pedals?
Anyway a heavy car at 15 mph has potential for a sizeable impact. Odd that it was slowed and stopped without apparent damage
Very impressive that his missus was able to find him and drive her car as escort, even at 15 mph. More questions than answers.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 09:22

Runaway EV MG - legacylad

Aye Martin. Summat fishier than Billingsgate

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Wed 4 Oct 23 09:28

Runaway EV MG - Bobby

I know the area. If it wasn’t for the police confirming things I would have been very doubtful.
But I still think the story has been “enhanced” in some way.

The car is in the hands of the insurance company but News International got a picture of him in it outside the MG dealer.

To be fair, if everything in the car is controlled by electrics, and there is an electrical problem….

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Wed 4 Oct 23 10:59

Runaway EV MG - VxFan

Great suggestion by one of the coppers. Not!

"The police inspector came up beside me and asked 'can you throw the car key out the window to my window and let me drive away fast?"

So, to add to the problem of no brakes, the MG's steering lock would have engaged too.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 13:26

Runaway EV MG - smokie

Is that so? Years ago I parked the Omega outside a shop, keys in pocket, went and did a bit of shopping, came out and it was still running. Not sure if that's just cos it hadn't gone anywhere.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 22:20

Runaway EV MG - bathtub tom

>> Is that so? Years ago I parked the Omega outside a shop, keys in pocket,
>> went and did a bit of shopping, came out and it was still running. Not
>> sure if that's just cos it hadn't gone anywhere.

There's an old joke there about the lone ranger going into a bar where indians weren't allowed. Tonto complained about being left out in the cold, so he was told to run on the spot to keep warm. A stranger told the lone ranger "you've left your injun running".

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Wed 4 Oct 23 23:22

Runaway EV MG - Bobby

Years ago when I had my keyless Scenic my wife drove home from Glasgow to Motherwell whilst I had the key in my pocket in the pub she had dropped me at.

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Wed 4 Oct 23 23:26

Runaway EV MG - Bobby

But a similar experience this summer in my X1. It’s not keyless entry but is keyless start.

Car was in driveway unlocked as I had been cleaning it out. Me the wife and the infirm aunty got in the car and drove to see Springsteen in Edinburgh. Stopped at a side street to let the two of them off and I had switched off the engine whilst we got her walking frame out the boot.

They headed off and I got back in car to drive it away and park it but got hit by a message no key detected. After a couple mins of panic thinking key must have dropped out my pocket I then realised the missus had the spare key in her bag and that is why the car was able to start back on my driveway!

Duly phoned her and she came back to set me free!

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Wed 4 Oct 23 23:45

Runaway EV MG - smokie

That reminds me of my mate who booked his Kia something into the fairly distant main dealer recently for service etc. His surname isn't that uncommon.

When he went to pick it up they'd given the keys to another person of the same name, who'd got into his own car and driven the 20+ miles home home, as he had the spare keys in his pocket.

So at close of business hours on a Friday my buddy was having to get his wife to drive over (I believe, may have been done electronically) his driving licence so he could take a courtesy car for the weekend, and they recovered his key on Monday and delivered his car back to him.

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Thu 5 Oct 23 10:44

Runaway EV MG - VxFan

>> So at close of business hours on a Friday my buddy was having to get
>> his wife to drive over (I believe, may have been done electronically) his driving licence

Yep, the info can be obtained online, providing you know your driving licence number, Nat Insurance No, and postcode.

www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence

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Sun 8 Oct 23 20:59

Runaway EV MG - Dave_

As I work at an MG dealer, this incident has been the subject of some conversation over the last few days. MG have never heard of it happening either, our best guess is that the driver engaged cruise control and wasn't sure how to disengage it (press the brake pedal, duh).

Whist moving a 2023 MG ZS EV on Friday I tried to shift from Drive to Neutral on the move; no problem doing that, it disengaged drive as you'd expect and the car gently slowed down. I tried engaging Park on the move; again as expected a message popped up reading "Reduce vehicle speed to engage Park" and Park did not engage. These cars have an EPB; in common with all other manufacturers a continuous lift of the switch will apply the brakes hard enough to bring the car to a swift halt. Pressing the Start/Stop button briefly whilst driving will not do anything; holding it down for 5 seconds will, unsurprisingly, switch the "ignition" off, but it won't lock the steering whilst the car is in motion. Finally, as others have found, removing the key from a running car won't immediately do anything, but if the car is stopped and in Park it won't allow the driver to engage Drive again until the key is detected in the car.

Far too many inconsistencies in this story to add up. It sounds like a combination of attention-seeking and attempted reinforcement of the media's "all EVs are bad and confusing" narrative.

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