Break down on the Eurotunnel very disappointed.

So short version of this story. Our Phev is 10 months old, we live in the south of England. So far our car has been to Newcastle, on lots of ferries as we live on a small island, and to the Vendee in France last summer for 2 weeks.
So we went to Folkstone on the Friday of half term and got on the Eurotunnel my partner was driving and said he noticed a message coming up just as he went to turn the engine off, but he didn't think much about it. However when he went to start the car to drive off the tunnel the same message came up EV system service required. We now know from looking at the forum that this means being towed etc, which of course happened to us. We have also learnt about the European breakdown service and what that means ie if you break down on a Friday night you are not going anywhere as there is one dealer near Lillie and they are only open Monday to Friday. We ended up in Calais for the weekend, then having hire cars to get to our holiday in Austria and then having to fly home via Strasbourg and Amsterdam.

The net result of this was our car ended up taking nearly a month to be fixed in France and was returned to us this week. We are now really nervous about taking it on the Eurotunnel again or indeed taking it to Europe. We were wondering if anyone else had experienced problems with the Eurotunnel or whether it was just a coincidence that it broke down at this moment in time.
We are also very unclear about what was wrong, we were told a part had to be fixed and that it was going to take the garage 10 hours to fit it. Apparently once this was done it didn't work because the software had to be rebooted. It then took another 14 days for the car to be brought back home.
thanks
1. Owner /March 2016
2. GX 3hs
3. Facelift
4. What attracted you to the car initially-We bought the car for a number of reasons, we live on a small island so most journeys only use the electric battery but also to go skiing every February half term and for camping holidays.
5. Location - Isle of wight Uk
6. Occupation -Architect
7. Experience of EV/REV/PHEV you have had before -None

Only been abroad with mine once on Eurotunnel - similar half-term trip in February 2015 - car performed faultlessly all the way there and back. Your breakdown must just be coincidence happened at tunnel.

I would rate the risk of the car being disabled by the Eurotunnel a lot lower than a by lightning strike. I have been through it over a dozen times without mishap. Didn't the RAC repatriate the car? That would have been considerably quicker.

Have been on Eurotunnel several times over the past year and never had a problem.

Did you get a free charge at Folkestone?
If you go to the information desk and hand over your passport they give you an RFID card to use the fast charger free of charge. Obviously you need to take the card back in order to retrieve your passport.

It is slightly different at Calais. All you have to do is connect, no need for an RFID card.

I know of some Harley Davidson owners (similar prox key fob) who have problems restarting their bikes after parking up near ferry terminals.. They end up having to push their bikes as far away from the terminal as they can to get away from the source of interference. Coincidence, maybe? Might be worth putting the key fob in the dead battery holder, just to cut down the chances of intense rf interference scrambling anything?

trickyh said:

I know of some Harley Davidson owners (similar prox key fob) who have problems restarting their bikes after parking up near ferry terminals.. They end up having to push their bikes as far away from the terminal as they can to get away from the source of interference. Coincidence, maybe? Might be worth putting the key fob in the dead battery holder, just to cut down the chances of intense rf interference scrambling anything?

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I would think that as soon as you get the "EV service required" message, the FOB has done what it is supposed to do and can be ruled out as a cause ...

If there was definitely a warning before failure, then I 100% agree with you. Just a word of warning that the nasty powerful rf sources found at ferry terminals can swamp our (relatively) low powered keys.. Google Harley Ferry key failures if you want more anecdotal evidence.