A warning !!

Electric vehicles / cars and all things related to EVs.
polypody
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:58 pm

A warning !!

Post by polypody »

This morning I picked up a courtesy electric vehicle, a Vauxhall Corsa, from my local garage whilst my own car was being serviced & MOT'd. After having had explained the various controls, that were quite straightforward, off I drive home. Car very smooth & good acceleration & no problems so was very impressed. How wrong I was though! At lunchtime we drove out to our local garden centre for lunch. No problems until we got half way & various warning lights flashed indicating, amongst other things a fault with the electric hand brake. Whilst driving to find a safe place to park the car suddenly, with no warning, it lurched to a dead stop, as if I done an emergency stop. Having got over the shock I restarted the car & off we went again, very slowly I might add. I reported this to the garage on picking up my car but they could not explain it. I dread to think what would have happened if we were on a motorway or in heavy traffic but luckily at the time no one was behind us. There was no prior warning apart from the warning lights but it hardly gave me any time to stop, the hand brake was definitely disengaged & we touched no other controls/buttons. Anyone experienced this before? I'm afraid it's put me off EV's, I was really very frightened.
toon1army
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:03 am

Re: A warning !!

Post by toon1army »

Wow. Sounds scary.

It reminds me when I did that but it was not electric car it was a petrol. It was a Corsa as well, what was scary was I almost went through a fence !
polypody
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:58 pm

Re: A warning !!

Post by polypody »

Yes, very scary! I forgot to add that on my return journey, on one occasion, the car pulled to the right, with perfect road conditions. It wasn't just felt through the steering wheel as my passenger noticed it as well. The whole experience was if the car was not under my control.
toon1army
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:03 am

Re: A warning !!

Post by toon1army »

Hopefully it was a one off fault on a courtesy car, dont be put off by that one dodgy experience.
polypody
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:58 pm

Re: A warning !!

Post by polypody »

Unfortunately it has. If it was just a stalled engine, as in a petrol or diesel engined car may be but this was as if the wheels suddenly locked & the car stopped dead. It was lucky we were not travelling at speed in traffic. If I had not taken off the handbrake when I started the car surely there would have been an immediate warning but everything went OK for a while & suddenly the fault lights came on when car was in motion & before I could stop safely, it just stopped dead. I must admit the garage didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about!