[Paul_Moxhay]

Thx for the heads-up David.

I have read the entire thread now and yes it is worrying but I take a small amount of comfort in the fact that so far only a small percentage of the 40-50,000 Volts/Amperas (is that fig correct btw?) have had the failure.

As hopbackguy says, these kinds of issues are not uncommon. What is paramount though is how they are handled and that is actually more worrying for me than the thought of the failure itself strangely enough. If I get it then I get it and there isn't much anyone can do about it (short of a model recall to pre-empt the failures) so providing it is handled correctly then personally I won't be troubled too much. However, it sounds like Vauxhall could do a lot more to make things easier for owners if it happens and that is what I would like Vauxhall to concentrate on.

I used to own and run a computer shop and when I had things beyond my control go wrong I saw it as an opportunity to show my customers exactly why they buy from me. I aimed to turn a bad situation for the customer into a good one for both the customer and us by making sure that our response was swift and recognised the customer was the aggrieved party and by alleviating their inconvenience as much as possible. Fortunately it didn't happen very often but on the few occasions it did it cost me but I am sure that by keeping their custom and by them saying to their friends and family that we do the right thing if things go wrong I got all I spent back and then some... and I felt good because I treated them the way I would have like to be treated had it happened to me. I have no idea why car manufacturers in general don't see things that way too and treat us more like customers instead of taking us for granted as is often the case.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

If I remember correctly... In the UK our EV drive train and battery are warrantied for 8 years or 100,000 miles but the rest of the car has a lifetime warranty to the first owner only providing the service schedule is carried out correctly and the warranty registered and renewed each year.

If I have that wrong someone please shout

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

If a failure turns into an epidemic, this must be a consideration for second hand prices.

Very true... however, 2nd hand prices right now are ridiculously low. I couldn't imagine them being much worse! The problem with 2nd hand is that there are no buyers at almost any price. People just aren't buying them in sufficient numbers for there to be a proper market. I am sure this will change with time and I suspect that right now is possibly the very worse they will ever be.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

I must admit to not having done too much research. I was just judging my comment on what I was offered by the dealer as a trade-in. £14K

It looks like I could get a sensible price then... I was hoping for £20k as a trade-in. Anyway, it is no longer relevent to us as we have decided now to keep the Ampera. We do still love it in spite of its niggles

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

That noise is certainly not normal.

If it would help move things on David I would gladly drive up and let them take a look/listen to mine if that would help. It isn't a short trip for me but I am getting as frustrated as you and I would hate to be in your situation. If this would help then email me.

 

[Paul_Moxhay]

That is very interesting because when we first got the Ampera we were getting 55-60 regularly. Now we are luck to get 50.

I wonder if this might be an early sign of failure or a software update. We have our service and software update on 8th May so it will be interesting to see how it performs after.