Thursday 21 July 2016

Too Dangerous to Drive

On Tuesday 19th July 2016 I was driving our VW Polo. The car -- for an as-yet-unknown reason -- diconnected the engine from the wheels. The car rolled, with no available power, onto a busy road.

I could have been killed. My wife, in the passenger seat, could have been killed.

Why did the car disconnect engine from wheels? I have no way of knowing. Will it happen again? I have no way of knowing.

Our VW Polo is too dangerous to drive.

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It was mid-morning on 19th July. My wife and I were driving west along Cromarty Road, towards Empire Avenue. The engine was running smoothly. There were no warning indicators.

At the end of Cromarty I stopped at the stop sign. Waited for a gap in the traffic. Prepared to turn left onto Empire.

Foot off the brake, onto the accellerator. We started moving forward...

There were two flashing areas on the driver display panel: A spanner icon flashing near the outside temperature display; the D1 -- drive gear one -- was flashing.

I suddenly realised that we were moving forward -- but rolling. It's a slight downhill from Cromarty onto Empire. We were rolling forward. The engine was not turning the wheels.

We were lucky not to be killed. Lucky that no car on Empire ran into us. We were rolling out onto a busy road. We were very lucky:

Lucky one: I'm a cautious driver. I had waited for a large gap in the traffic on Empire.

Lucky two: I had the good sense to turn left harder than planned, to move as close as possible to the left edge of the road. The car following us out from Cromarty had room to pull around us, on our right.

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I had seen those flashing lights before -- but had not realised what the car was doing...

Once, on Lakeside Road, the spanner had flashed and the gear indicator (D4, I think it was) had flashed. I had thought, it's stuck in D4, not changing gear. In fact -- as I now understand it -- the engine and wheels had disconnected, the car was simply rolling forward. On that level road, at 30 to 40 kph, I had not realised that the car was simply rolling. With no drive power to the wheels.

Other experience with the flashing symbols had taught me, shift from Drive to Sports mode and the car will drive on, the lights will stop flashing. Or, switch from Sports to Drive... The flashing could happen in either mode, in any gear.

I was not thinking clearly. I simply thought that the car was stuck in one gear, failing to change into a more suitable gear. That has happened in the past.

The car is less than half way from one service to the next. I planned to take it in to be checked. I did not understand how dangerous it is.

On Empire I rolled and stopped. Changed from Drive to Sports, the flashing stopped. We drove -- with no further problem -- out and back home again.

I was nervous but we were alive.

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Once the car was in the garage -- I refused to drive it any further. What if it failed on the Freeway? What if it rolled to a stop while trying to merge on an even busier road?

Our VW Polo is too dangerous to drive.

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I called the RAC. RAC Roadside Assistance checked what they could: no indications of a fault. I had the RAC tow the car to the VW service centre where we had bought it.

My wife has looked in the car user manual. She found no description of a fault which causes the flashing spanner with the flashing gear indicator.

It is now Thursday 21st July. After a full day in the service centre, we have had no call, no information from the VW dealers. I did try to phone their service department, the phone went to, on hold.

I will try again tomorrow. And update this post with any further information.

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Are you a nervous driver of a VW Polo? This may help your nerves... or not:

Our car is a 2011 VW Polo Comfortline petrol automatic.

If you drive the same make and model -- watch out for a flashing spanner icon along with a flashing gear indicator. If you see those flashing icons... I hope you're very lucky.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
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"Don't take life so seriously. It isn't permanent." … Tibetan philosophy