Erm... Any ideas on help? Corsa-e
Discussion
I've posted in here before, some of you may have seen but it has been a while.
We inherited a Vauxhall Corsa-e - 2020 plate
Not a car I would have ever chosen, but it was given to us.
Despite being a 2020 plate it was on only 4,500 miles when we got it in December 2023 (elderly grand parent owned it)
It's now on 16,500 miles(!), it's been great to have for commuting as it is so cheap to run compared to diesel/petrol
Anyway, it developed a fault in November 2024.
The "lane assist" function failed and at the same time the "collision detection risk" failed. As displayed with warning messages & symbols on the dash.
I replaced the forward facing camera in the windscreen and it cleared the lane assist fault and that now works fine
I then replaced the radar unit in the front bumper for the collision risk, however this did not make any difference and the fault remained.
So I took the replacement radar unit back off and put the old faulty one back onto the car.
These cars have an inherant design fault where the rear ABS loom wears through and cuts the wires. This all appears OK and usually with that fault you'd get all the warning lights for ABS, ESP, Traction control etc... too, not just the collision warning.
Being my last resort, I booked it into Vauxhall main dealer for diagnosis, explained everything above to them
They diagnosed the radar unit was faulty... no sh*t sherlock!
A replacement unit would be £657 and that included a 30% contribution from Vauxhall as good will as the car was only 4 years old and low mileage.
(The car only comes with a 3 year warranty from new)
Anyway, a replacement radar unit was ordered from Vauxhall and the car booked back in 2 weeks later to be fitted.
The first unit they ordered was the incorrect one, so we had to wait again for the correct unit to arrive
Once this arrived, they then could not get the car to communicate with the replacement part.
The car went in on the 16th December....
It is still there!
I am having to chase them every few days as I get no updates from them.
Whenever I call they say, "We tried XYZ but it didn't work, so we're waiting on Vauxhall head technicians to reply and tell us what to do"
And so the circle goes on
When we dropped the car off it was nearing Christmas and we didn't really need it all that much (we have another ICE car), but it's been nearly 7 weeks now and could really do with having it back and fixed!
We're down to 1 car and it is getting annoying and causing issues.
I'm not sure what I am asking here, more like just venting on a forum!
But anyone got any ideas on where we go from here?!
The dealership staff are all perfectly polite and apologetic when I ring them but we're just getting very frustrated now
It seems evident the Vauxhall main dealer garage doesn't have enough knowledge on these EV's having to wait for each update from Vauxhall HQ as to what to try next.
Do I escalate to Vauxhall HQ myself?
If so how? I can't seem to find an email for complaints.
We inherited a Vauxhall Corsa-e - 2020 plate
Not a car I would have ever chosen, but it was given to us.
Despite being a 2020 plate it was on only 4,500 miles when we got it in December 2023 (elderly grand parent owned it)
It's now on 16,500 miles(!), it's been great to have for commuting as it is so cheap to run compared to diesel/petrol
Anyway, it developed a fault in November 2024.
The "lane assist" function failed and at the same time the "collision detection risk" failed. As displayed with warning messages & symbols on the dash.
I replaced the forward facing camera in the windscreen and it cleared the lane assist fault and that now works fine
I then replaced the radar unit in the front bumper for the collision risk, however this did not make any difference and the fault remained.
So I took the replacement radar unit back off and put the old faulty one back onto the car.
These cars have an inherant design fault where the rear ABS loom wears through and cuts the wires. This all appears OK and usually with that fault you'd get all the warning lights for ABS, ESP, Traction control etc... too, not just the collision warning.
Being my last resort, I booked it into Vauxhall main dealer for diagnosis, explained everything above to them
They diagnosed the radar unit was faulty... no sh*t sherlock!
A replacement unit would be £657 and that included a 30% contribution from Vauxhall as good will as the car was only 4 years old and low mileage.
(The car only comes with a 3 year warranty from new)
Anyway, a replacement radar unit was ordered from Vauxhall and the car booked back in 2 weeks later to be fitted.
The first unit they ordered was the incorrect one, so we had to wait again for the correct unit to arrive
Once this arrived, they then could not get the car to communicate with the replacement part.
The car went in on the 16th December....
It is still there!
I am having to chase them every few days as I get no updates from them.
Whenever I call they say, "We tried XYZ but it didn't work, so we're waiting on Vauxhall head technicians to reply and tell us what to do"
And so the circle goes on
When we dropped the car off it was nearing Christmas and we didn't really need it all that much (we have another ICE car), but it's been nearly 7 weeks now and could really do with having it back and fixed!
We're down to 1 car and it is getting annoying and causing issues.
I'm not sure what I am asking here, more like just venting on a forum!
But anyone got any ideas on where we go from here?!
The dealership staff are all perfectly polite and apologetic when I ring them but we're just getting very frustrated now
It seems evident the Vauxhall main dealer garage doesn't have enough knowledge on these EV's having to wait for each update from Vauxhall HQ as to what to try next.
Do I escalate to Vauxhall HQ myself?
If so how? I can't seem to find an email for complaints.
Yeh not a bad shout
But I'm not sure it'd work as they can't get any software to communicate with the radar unit at all
I just called them again for an update
Problem has been escalated to "level 2" with Vauxhall, whatever that means?
Also, they have ordered yet another radar unit, but it won't arrive for 10 days.... grr....
But I'm not sure it'd work as they can't get any software to communicate with the radar unit at all
I just called them again for an update
Problem has been escalated to "level 2" with Vauxhall, whatever that means?
Also, they have ordered yet another radar unit, but it won't arrive for 10 days.... grr....
my experience of these situations.
This is pretty standard for dealerships dealing with weird faults that aren't rectified by the standard procedures.
The Master Tech from manufacturer HQ will eventually be sent out to the dealership but he wants to make sure he's really required in person so will get the local dealer to try different fixes over the phone in between fixing other hard to resolve problems at other dealerships around the country.
You could ask for a courtesy car as time is dragging on, or put pressure on them to get an in person visit, depends how far their goodwill will go. I wouldnt take it anywhere else tbh as they are going to fix it eventuly and the Tech really is an expert on the electronics of these cars so has the best chance of resolution, another garage will try the things that have already been tried and then you'll be back asking vauxhall to help again.
This is pretty standard for dealerships dealing with weird faults that aren't rectified by the standard procedures.
The Master Tech from manufacturer HQ will eventually be sent out to the dealership but he wants to make sure he's really required in person so will get the local dealer to try different fixes over the phone in between fixing other hard to resolve problems at other dealerships around the country.
You could ask for a courtesy car as time is dragging on, or put pressure on them to get an in person visit, depends how far their goodwill will go. I wouldnt take it anywhere else tbh as they are going to fix it eventuly and the Tech really is an expert on the electronics of these cars so has the best chance of resolution, another garage will try the things that have already been tried and then you'll be back asking vauxhall to help again.
Haddock82 said:
Yeh not a bad shout
But I'm not sure it'd work as they can't get any software to communicate with the radar unit at all
I just called them again for an update
Problem has been escalated to "level 2" with Vauxhall, whatever that means?
Also, they have ordered yet another radar unit, but it won't arrive for 10 days.... grr....
Can you take the car back for 10 days while they wait for the new radar to be delivered? But I'm not sure it'd work as they can't get any software to communicate with the radar unit at all
I just called them again for an update
Problem has been escalated to "level 2" with Vauxhall, whatever that means?
Also, they have ordered yet another radar unit, but it won't arrive for 10 days.... grr....
I did say we might need the car back
It still drives, it just bongs at you and has warning light on the dash!
They said it is fine to have it back, just let them know as they may have to re-assemble any bits they have taken off etc...
They always say there are no courtesy cars available
I've no problem with the people at the dealership, the guys/girls on the telephone are lovely, the mechanic I have spoken too has been courteous too.
Just fed up with the piece of cr@pPeugeot...Vauxhall!
Had a French car once before and said never again....
I want to just chop it in and get something different, but can't do that with a fault! No one would PX it.
Don't get a PSA built EV, not that their ICE cars are much better, but they clearly don't know what they are doing
It still drives, it just bongs at you and has warning light on the dash!
They said it is fine to have it back, just let them know as they may have to re-assemble any bits they have taken off etc...
They always say there are no courtesy cars available
I've no problem with the people at the dealership, the guys/girls on the telephone are lovely, the mechanic I have spoken too has been courteous too.
Just fed up with the piece of cr@p
Had a French car once before and said never again....
I want to just chop it in and get something different, but can't do that with a fault! No one would PX it.
Don't get a PSA built EV, not that their ICE cars are much better, but they clearly don't know what they are doing
I have a '21 Citroen e-C4, so same platform and powertrain as your Corsa e.
I bought it privately in Nov '23, and took it in for the outstanding Electric Traction Fault recall (which involves a software update to the drivetrain controller I think). Picked it up and immediately had an error on the dash for the cruise control being unavailable. Was a Saturday lunchtime so had to book it in again for the following week.
Took it back, they reset/re-synced the various software modules so they would talk to one another again, and all was well.
So I guess what I'm saying is that these cars must have a number of separate ECUs, making any changes to software or hardware seems to lead to a breakdown in communication between them disabling various functions, but there does appear to be a process for re-syncing the modules to talk to each other again. Some dealers presumably know this, others (mine) were able to find out, and still others (yours) seem to be persistently clueless.
Ultimately your car needs fixing, which means getting someone who properly understands the CMP platform EVs to look at it. It's probably ten minutes work for someone who actually knows what to do.
Maybe try and get a call with the general manager of your dealership, explain your dissatisfaction and perhaps you can have your car back until they can really truly get the parts/people together to be confident of fixing it at a future appointment?
I bought it privately in Nov '23, and took it in for the outstanding Electric Traction Fault recall (which involves a software update to the drivetrain controller I think). Picked it up and immediately had an error on the dash for the cruise control being unavailable. Was a Saturday lunchtime so had to book it in again for the following week.
Took it back, they reset/re-synced the various software modules so they would talk to one another again, and all was well.
So I guess what I'm saying is that these cars must have a number of separate ECUs, making any changes to software or hardware seems to lead to a breakdown in communication between them disabling various functions, but there does appear to be a process for re-syncing the modules to talk to each other again. Some dealers presumably know this, others (mine) were able to find out, and still others (yours) seem to be persistently clueless.
Ultimately your car needs fixing, which means getting someone who properly understands the CMP platform EVs to look at it. It's probably ten minutes work for someone who actually knows what to do.
Maybe try and get a call with the general manager of your dealership, explain your dissatisfaction and perhaps you can have your car back until they can really truly get the parts/people together to be confident of fixing it at a future appointment?
Update
Still not fixed
Still no idea how to fix it and how long it will take
Garage have been lovely, polite, friendly etc... however I did have to send a slightly snotty email to the MD
This resulted in an apology, re-assurance it has been escalated to highest priority with Vauxhall master techs
She will also be having a face to face meeting with the head of Vauxhall warranties next week.
In the meantime, they have given me a courtesy vehicle.
I got a Peugeot 408 GT
Seems like a nice car apart from a couple of major things that would put me off owning one.
It's only a 1.2 petrol so not exactly powerful, especially in such a large car
The automatic gearbox is useless
I don't like the steering wheel
It makes an annoying beep beep noise when you lock it
Aside from that it is very comfortable, easy to drive and once up to speed is perfectly happy on the motorway.
Still not fixed
Still no idea how to fix it and how long it will take
Garage have been lovely, polite, friendly etc... however I did have to send a slightly snotty email to the MD
This resulted in an apology, re-assurance it has been escalated to highest priority with Vauxhall master techs
She will also be having a face to face meeting with the head of Vauxhall warranties next week.
In the meantime, they have given me a courtesy vehicle.
I got a Peugeot 408 GT
Seems like a nice car apart from a couple of major things that would put me off owning one.
It's only a 1.2 petrol so not exactly powerful, especially in such a large car
The automatic gearbox is useless
I don't like the steering wheel
It makes an annoying beep beep noise when you lock it
Aside from that it is very comfortable, easy to drive and once up to speed is perfectly happy on the motorway.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff