New Electronics Problem?

[Josdad]

After unloading the shopping I restarted the car to put it in the garage. I got messages on the instrument panel screen saying lane assist not available and then front assist not available. The power steering had also failed. I switched off and restarted with the same results. I switched off again, locked the car and left it for a few minutes and when I restarted the car it was ok again. I have had messages before to say lane assist not available but it cleared on the next start up. 
Booked the car into the dealer and they told me that they had found fault codes which they have sorted and have reset everything correctly. I also need to have the SOS module replaced but the part is on back order at the moment.

I had noticed the suspension was getting noisy. It sounded as though it could be the drop links. I had problems with those at about the same mileage, 13,000, on my previous Fabia estate. However the garage found that it was the cuff on, I think, the strut mount,  which was turning freely. The receptionist said that there was a factory TPO about this and the technician had followed the repair procedure which included greasing it and, I presume, tightening it up.

I follow the Scala, Kamiq, and Octavia 4 forums and can’t recall these faults being mentioned before. Loads of electrical problems but not the power steering failure. 
 

 

[Warrior193]

Hi Jo, welcome to the forum. First thing to do anytime you get multiple fault indications like this is to give the battery a thorough condition check and recharge.

How old is the battery?  

[Josdad]

Thank you for your reply Warrior193. 
The battery is 2 3/4 years old. It seems to be ok. Stop/start works fine, when I  forget to switch it off, so I think it is fairly well charged. Since the fault occurred there hasn’t been another problem.

If you are right and maybe the battery was low on power and caused the fault then we seem to have cars that won’t function correctly with a less than perfect battery, even to the point of causing a loss of power steering. 
This really is unacceptable design as it would be impossible to be sure of the safe operation of safety critical functions of our vehicles.

I do wonder if, in a few years time, cars with perfectly functional mechanical parts will be scrapped because the cost of repairing flakey electronics will be so high.

 

[Warrior193]

The electric power steering does put a very high load on the battery when it's operating.

What is the length of your typical trip? It's possible that your runs aren't long enough to charge battery - although stop-start is often 1st thing to stop working on low battery state (<>50%).    

[Josdad]

Don’t know why that previous post has reappeared. Must have clicked on something by mistake. Now deleted.

I do have one day of 4 x 3 mile trips but my other journeys are 10 to 15 miles, plus the occasional 100 mile round trip. Average of about 100 miles a week.

Edited 9 August, 2022 by john999boy
Post deletion

[Warrior193]

Hi Jo, the 3 milers won't be doing the battery much good, nor will regular10 mile trips - but this would probably be offset if the 100 milers were reasonably frequent.

My Octavia battery struggles with the 8 to 9 mile each way commute to work. These micro-hybrids, or at least the VW-based ones, seem to rely heavily on energy recuperation and limit how much charge the alternator outputs to the battery.  

[varooom]

On 07/08/2022 at 10:06, Warrior193 said:

Hi Jo, welcome to the forum. First thing to do anytime you get multiple fault indications like this is to give the battery a thorough condition check and recharge.

How old is the battery?  

@Josdad for peace of mind before Winter, you should follow this up and get it checked over.

Odds are as mentioned the short trips you sometimes do many have dragged the battery down, and the power was not put back in before journey ended.

 

There maybe a TPI document for the battery charge sensor that measures battery and decides when to ask Alternator for juice, that's a dealer job where some technician actually checks for your complaint.  Usually they are on time limits so they might not always check for any relevant TPI's when they reset your fault codes.

[Josdad]

Thank you Warrior 193 and Varooom for your replies and advice.

The car will be going into the dealer for a service in November or maybe before for the SOS module replacement, I’ll ask them to check the battery condition.

 I do have a battery charger so I could give it a top up if I haven’t had any longer runs.

 

[Warrior193]

21 hours ago, Josdad said:

Thank you Warrior 193 and Varooom for your replies and advice.

The car will be going into the dealer for a service in November or maybe before for the SOS module replacement, I’ll ask them to check the battery condition.

 I do have a battery charger so I could give it a top up if I haven’t had any longer runs.

 

What type of charger is it? Do you know if your battery is EFB or AGM? You can find this info marked on the top of battery. 

[Josdad]

I can only see the end of the number, 105B. I think that it’s an EFB. 
The charger is a Halfords smart charger. It says on the box that it’s suitable for cars with stop-start.

 

[Warrior193]

If you can, give it an overnight charge, then see if this fixes the problem. NB. remember to attach the charger Negative clamp to the metal tag on the firewall behind the battery - not the battery post.

Let us know how it goes.

Edited 11 August, 2022 by Warrior193
added note.

[Josdad]

Ok, will give it a go. Got a 70 mile round trip tomorrow so that should give the battery a top up.

Thank you for your advice Warrior193, it is much appreciated.