Brake Failure

[Ozukus]

But the drive train is completely different and it is that the OP referred to - the car apparently shot forward despite have a foot on the brake. No mention of the brakes themselves failing - which is obvious, as anyone who has had it will testify.

Yes the drive train may be different however I'm sure that they are not going to rewrite the fly by wire code from scratch and I expect that there are many parts etc in both drive trains that are exactly the same, as it would be costly for Mitsubishi not to reuse as many components as possible.

Back to the original point of the message, which was to notify people on here of the issue i had had, and to see if anyone else had had a similar experience.

So as the OP, I can state that the brakes weren't doing anything either.

I've been driving for 36 years, over 20K miles per year, and have never had an accident that was my fault.

So no I didn't also have my foot on the accelerator as I always brake by lifting my foot off the accelerator and moving it in a vertically upright position to the brake peddle. The CAR failed to stop when my foot was on the brake pedal and I felt as if the car accelerated.

I reported this to Mitsubishi and once the car has been repaired they have asked to have the vehicle for 1-2 weeks to run a series of tests.

If I feel that this post is being treated for what it was meant for I'll update it with the results. However if it continues to get critical/inane comments, I won't bother as I won't be using the site again.

 

[NightPHEVer]

Ozukus, I hope you didn't consider my comments critical or inane. Certainly wasn't my intention. I for one would be very interested to hear the outcome of this situation. This is a serious matter that requires thorough investigation as obviously it could be extremely dangerous.

One would hope if Mitsubishi do find any evidence of malfunction that we'd all be hearing about via the medium of a recall. I have a 2014 GX4h. I'd have thought with all the sophisticated electronics in a PHEV that it could have some sort of 'flight-recorder' that could be evaluated. Unless the batteries are switched off when it's repaired and the memory is wiped.

 

[anko]

So doing a bit of research I have found various instances related to brake failure on the Outlander PHEV, here in the UK and in the US.

...

Ozukus

I am pretty sure you did say PHEV

 

[Ozukus]

Just as an update, the car was picked up today by Mitsubishi assistance after a lot of discussions whether to get it repaired first or not before going to Mitsubishi.

I had to move the car so it could be loaded onto the lorry.

If I held my foot on the brake pedal it went to the floor in about 3 secs, pump it a few times, provided a feeling of braking, then again after 3 secs or so, back to the floor. In drive this time, eventually the car started to move forward with my foot firmly on the brake and for about 1 second I got a red flashing information message that "Brake System Service Needed" or something along those lines.

I couldn't get it to redisplay the message, however the brakes are faulty and that message in my opinion, once it has appeared, it shouldn't then disappear.

So PHEV owners you can have faulty brakes, with no warning message, great design by Mitsubishi.

 

[elm70]

Thanks for the info Ozukus

Good to know that in case the information message that "Brake System Service Needed" pop up ... this error can be persistent even if not shown again on the car at next restart.

Anyhow .. it sounds a defect that the car is able to detect (but it just does not like to store it or keep active ... something that is more a generic issue on the PHEV I would say) ... so .. knowing the information above, it should reassure us that we should not find ourself suddenly in trouble with no brake

 

[greendwarf]

If I held my foot on the brake pedal it went to the floor in about 3 secs, pump it a few times, provided a feeling of braking, then again after 3 secs or so, back to the floor. In drive this time, eventually the car started to move forward with my foot firmly on the brake and for about 1 second I got a red flashing information message that "Brake System Service Needed" or something along those lines.

This is nothing at all to do with the PHEV - what you describe is a straight forward hydraulic brake problem. I've have it many times in 50 years of driving. Usual cure would be to bleed the brakes because of air in the system. Why - could be down to a number of different issues, leaking cylinder of brake line, low brake fluid, contamination etc. but just normal mechanical issues nothing to do with software or electronics. So unlikely to be the subject of a recall.

 

[elm70]

This is nothing at all to do with the PHEV - what you describe is a straight forward hydraulic brake problem. I've have it many times in 50 years of driving. Usual cure would be to bleed the brakes because of air in the system. Why - could be down to a number of different issues, leaking cylinder of brake line, low brake fluid, contamination etc. but just normal mechanical issues nothing to do with software or electronics. So unlikely to be the subject of a recall.

The issue is not that a brake problem did happen in the PHEV

The issue is that the PHEV dash did detect the problem once, and on the next restart the error light was no more visible on the PHEV console

 

[greendwarf]

This is nothing at all to do with the PHEV - what you describe is a straight forward hydraulic brake problem. I've have it many times in 50 years of driving. Usual cure would be to bleed the brakes because of air in the system. Why - could be down to a number of different issues, leaking cylinder of brake line, low brake fluid, contamination etc. but just normal mechanical issues nothing to do with software or electronics. So unlikely to be the subject of a recall.

The issue is not that a brake problem did happen in the PHEV

The issue is that the PHEV dash did detect the problem once, and on the next restart the error light was no more visible on the PHEV console

As usual, you have misunderstood the OP - which was NOT about dash display but about the car lurching forward despite having the brakes pedal depressed - suggesting that somehow the electronics were able to tell the car to move even though the brakes were fully on. We now know it is simply a hydraulic failure.

It is perhaps not surprising that the car did not record it as it did not involve the system and is intermittent, as it only occurs when the brake pedal is held down for an extended period. Would another modern car have retained the error message?

 

[elm70]

...
I couldn't get it to redisplay the message, however the brakes are faulty and that message in my opinion, once it has appeared, it shouldn't then disappear.

So PHEV owners you can have faulty brakes, with no warning message, great design by Mitsubishi.

Guess this is quite clear about what is the problem

Missing failure light on the dash about the non working brakes

 

[bobbin]

Hi Ozukus

Yes this happened to me last month. Car written off but luckily no one was injured.

Cheers
Bobbin

 

[greendwarf]

So, you agree it was a straightforward hydraulic brake failure (as above), which can happen in any car at any time?