When I was looking to replace my 7 year old Mazda 6 Sport a few months ago I started to read great Skoda reviews, especially about the Superb. After an enjoyable test drive I had no doubt the Superb had the right specification and price so traded in the Mazda for a Skoda Superb 1.8 SE (Elegance) TSi Automatic (I actually test drove a manual estate but had read great reports of the twin clutch DSG automatic and it is a wonderful smooth drive).

As the Skoda build quality is excellent and the VW components are fairly well proven and reliable, I didn't expect to have any problems for a while - the first service is not due for approx 15000 miles.

I called in to my Skoda dealer yesterday to have the driver's door sill light refitted - I had accidently knocked it with my foot causing the lens to fall out and I couldn't see how to refit it (trivial problem but annoying that it fell off so easily). Anyway this was quickly fixed and the technician explained that you need to assemble the unit first then fit it - I might have worked that out if it hadn't been raining when it happened

However, when I was parking my car in the town centre shortly afterwards I lost all the functions on the wiper stalk and the computer information display was also frozen in the default compass/car diagram position, although this did not obviously indicate anything unusual. Switching the ignition off and on again made no difference. I was unable to call the Skoda dealer so decided to pop in on my way home.

Anyway, when getting out of the car, I noticed that the bonnet was on the catch instead of being locked (I assume it had been opened by the technician and not properly closed but cannot prove this). After closing the bonnet I switched the ignition on and found that everything now worked as normal. Although it seemed illogical at the time, I could only conclude that the problems were caused by the bonnet not being properly closed. I have not tried to replicate the problem in case there is an underlying fault but I have now reported this fault to the dealer suggesting I should bring the vehicle in to be checked.

My reason for joining this BRISKODA forum is a Google search showed Ian Carville's thread which pointed at a problem with the the wipers failing (and other major electrics) caused by the bonnet catch microswitch so I naturally assume that the same problem would occur if the bonnet is not properly locked, but I never noticed any warning light about the unlocked bonnet - can check that out myself.

Edited 23 November, 201015 yr by Neil Forde

Welcome along,

Hope it was just a one off problem for you.

Hi and welcome aboard.