Fatal trip

Hi all,
After two months and about 3.000 kms of good services, my PHEV and I did a fatal trip last week-end.
I left my hometown last friday with about 30 kms EV and a full gas tank.
After 5 kms downtown, I took the highway and pressed "Save" to keep the battery load for my destination.
Then, the battery load decreased until 0 and the gas motor remained the only one working, without other warnings.
After about 80 kms, a message saying "Mode propulsion réduit" appeared. I stopped the car, restarted and it disappeared.
I called my dealer to ask what to do and they said that this warning was not critical.
The last 300 kms were a yoyo between message and no message, always with only the gas motor running.
Arriving at my destination, I plugged the car and charged normally the battery.
During the week-end, we drove normally downtown on the electric motors.
Sunday night we took the road back to home. Once again 5 kms downtown, then the highway, the battery decrease and the gas motor alone. 5 or 6 times the message "Mode propulsion réduit".
After about 300 kms, running at 130 km/h, the motor suddendly stopped, red battery lamp on and yellow motor lamp on.
The story was over. A truck took the car. It arrived at my dealer today and I'm now waiting for news.
Did someone see a such trouble ?

Hi PHEV64,

I have seen many messages on my PHEV, but not the one you mention. I have not seen that message in the manual either. Is your language set to one other than English ? This may be like the EV system failure message I have seen.

My PHEV is still with the dealer. Japan is now threatened by a super storm, and the progress with my car is stalled, awaiting the passing of the storm.

Is it possible that we are all the owners of a ticking time bomb and will be stuck somewhere with an electrical fault sometime in the future? Seems like the machine is complex and not all possible faults have been simulated and we the customers are experimental fodder. My PHEV is close to spending more time at the dealer [ 5 weeks now and still counting ], OFF the road than being driven. Maybe I should just ask for a refund.

PS I drive the PHEV a lot in SAVE mode as well as this suits the driving conditions where I live.

Himmmm, news like this send electric shocks down my spine (well probably that's what happens if you drive an electric vehicle :lol: I mean the electric shocks )
I am so sorry to hear your problems guys , These sort of possible issues were my greatest concern when I was making the decision to purchase. But touch wood still no issues at all after 3000 kms. Please do let us know how your troubles with PHEV progress which might helps if we end up with same/similar problem.

Cheers

Also no issues, passed 3000km.

Touch wood.

Mechanically, they are quite simple vehicles - no gearbox, clutch, minimal transmission. The combination of drive-by-wire and the hybrid systems make it difficult for the driver to abuse the vehicle - you ask it to do things for you, but it is free to decline if you would be overstressing systems. Hence, I would hope that long-term reliability would be good - Toyota seem to believe that the Prius is one of their most reliable models.

There is an enormous amount of computing in there and it is notoriously difficult to make real-time control systems bomb proof. There are also a lot of sensors in there and some of the reports of breakdowns that have floated around seem to indicate that the system may not degrade as gracefully as it could in the face of sensor failure. The battery technology is also fairly new - these lithium batteries seem to have a good life expectancy, but may be vulnerable to manufacturing faults that show up early on in the life of the car.

Mitsubishi seem to be committed to the concept and intend to roll it out on several other models, so I think we can safely assume that they will put in the effort to overcome these early issues. I expect that we will see a series of recalls to update firmware and possibly upgrade sensors and this will result in a car that runs reliably for ten years or more. I also think that we have to accept that there will be pretty much immoveable upper limits to the life expectancy of these cars. In my youth, I was a mechanical engineer and I still could build almost any replacement part for an Austin 7 given access to a well equipped workshop. Modern cars are dependent on electronic components that have a production lifetime of a few years and are impossible to manufacture on a small scale.

A hundred years from now there will still be Austin 7s and Model T Fords in driveable condition, but no Outlanders or Priuses. I doubt that any of the cars we have bought here will still be in use twenty years from now - actually I'm not very optimistic that they will be moving fifteen years from now.

Scary reading......I'm counting down the days (since ordering in May!) to when I return my faultless BMW company car and my PHEV is delivered......27 days to go. This thread will stop me wishing my life away!! :shock:

DrSlackBladder said:

Scary reading......I'm counting down the days (since ordering in May!) to when I return my faultless BMW company car and my PHEV is delivered......27 days to go. This thread will stop me wishing my life away!! :shock:

Click to expand...

Hey, welcome to the bleeding edge, sir! I have to say that, although I was very fond of my Prius, I was always nervous when the battery level indicator dipped down into the red - no equivalent of a jerry can of petrol and a quick jump start if it carried on and fell off the bottom of the scale! Fortunately it never did!

maby said:

DrSlackBladder said:

Scary reading......I'm counting down the days (since ordering in May!) to when I return my faultless BMW company car and my PHEV is delivered......27 days to go. This thread will stop me wishing my life away!! :shock:

Click to expand...

Hey, welcome to the bleeding edge, sir! I have to say that, although I was very fond of my Prius, I was always nervous when the battery level indicator dipped down into the red - no equivalent of a jerry can of petrol and a quick jump start if it carried on and fell off the bottom of the scale! Fortunately it never did!

Click to expand...

I'm sure it'll be fine. And I'm sure BMW have their fair share of teething troubles when introducing new technology to the market. I work in "new technology", albeit for aerosapce, so I'm only too aware of the unpredicted issues that hit new technology introductions. Regarding the PHEV, it's a risk I'm prepared to take since this technology is effectively affording me a very nice pay rise with the low BIK. But I won't be one of those forever trying to get an extra mile out of EV driving!

3.000 kms owners : just hold on a few days and your life could change, back to a rental diesel like me

We are very happy with this amazing car and I hope there was only a small bug.

I went to the garage this morning. No messages recorded in the computer. Mitsubishi hot line asked my dealer to upload a complete software. Don't ask me more. They will test the car today and should give it back to me in a few hours. I will let you know.

Hi Phev64,

My dealer had to upload all new software as well. Coincidentally after my PHEV was connected and then reprocessed and I got the car back that a wheel speed sensor failed, with much drama. REGEN problems with my PHEV still persist. It is only after suffering through problems in one part of the car, do you look more critically at other ways the car is working, and when you are able to directly compare to a second, or even third PHEV, that an individual is able to objectively conclude that all PHEV are not created equal.

Hope you get yours back soon. I still live in hope.

Hi gwatpe,

Ok for the bad upload. I wish you to succeed. Before buying, I drove the 4.700 kms dealer's car during several days without any trouble. Our one was really ok before last friday. I suspect the "SAVE" mode that I really used for the first time to be responsible of the crash.

Wait and see. I'm naturally opimistic too.

Back from the dealer, I continue driving my rental diesel. No change at all.

Mitsubishi guys say they will investigate deeper on Monday.

@ gwatpe : the message was "Limited driving mode" with a turtle displayed

Charging on the grid works well. If we can't use the car on the highway anymore, we will keep a very nice urban hybrid 4x4...

looks like this is an ICE problem. This would include the generator attached to it. May be as simple as a blown fuse.. Did the ICE start in CHARGE mode??

Did you get a photo. I tried to get the turtle by running out of petrol and the car stopping, but alas nothing. Just added petrol and the ICE started and we got underway. This was the loaner PHEV. There is finally talk of my PHEV being replaced. Mitsubishi manager drove my car and confirmed the video evidence already submitted. No error codes. Battery in the original car from new would not accept REGEN charging as described in the user manual.

Hi,

Yes, it looks like a charge trouble but when I push the "CHARGE" button, it charges the battery. The problem is in NORMAL mode where it doesn't work in hybrid serial nor parallel.

A Mitsubishi tech support told me today that they are investigating the problem but I'm still driving the rental smoking diesel.

Three pictures about the problem :

1°) the turtle message :


2°) the gas consumption :


3°) gas motor only, even at low speed (it looks like charging but it doesn't) :


I keep my fingers crossed

Hi Phev64,

the battery is charged in CHARGE mode, but not while driving. looks like there is a problem with the lockout of systems when driving ,[ like use of the setup menu ], affecting pertinent computer system operation controlling battery recharging.. Might be corrupted computer coding after all.

We don't get to drive the PHEV at over 110kph in many places in Australia legally. I suspect that there will be a few cars that have serious problems and how Mitsubishi make use of the opportunity to fix and improve the systems will influence prospective buyers, and the peace of mind of present owners.

25000 trouble free Kms... Touch wood I suppose.

What I do not understand is why they don't simply replace all the controller electronics in cases like this? There have been another couple of cases round here of failures that have taken many weeks to fix and they do the car's image no good at all - take it in, replace every circuit board in it, then take them back to the factory and run detailed diagnostics. Electronics is cheap these days - I cannot believe that it would cost more than a couple of hundred pounds to replace the lot - and most of what you pull out will be suitable for recycling back into new cars following time on a test bed.

The Following Link is for the Fault Guide for this Fault Indication.

http://mmc-autoelectric.org.ua/manuals/eur/outlander/2014/54/html/M154020190126400ENG.HTM

Hi Ian,

Unfortunately, there is no code.

Next contact on monday

phev64

If no code, the book seems to refer to Group 54D and this is the CAN (Control Area Network), and that seems to say a complete check of cables and connections. Not a DIY job (or for a newly trained mechanic).

http://www.evoscan.com/manuals/ColtRalliart/065_WM_PDF/GR00005801-54D.pdf

I would expect that Mitsubishi will have some sort of specialist support mechanics that they can send out as it such early days for this new technology.

Best Wishes (and Good Luck)
Ian