I bought this car new in Spain in September 2024 and use it to drive between our properties in Spain and the UK. I'm in the UK at the moment and on a couple of occasions the car has refused to start on cold-ish mornings (3-4 degrees).

 

Normally, I'd just depress the brake, press the starter and the car would start almost immediately. But on these two mornings, following this routine resulted in nothing. The engine isn't trying to churn, it simply sits there mutely and does nothing. 

 

After a few cycles of this behaviour, I leave the car and lock up. When I go back a few minutes later it typically starts. I'm going to drop it into the dealer in Spain when I get back there but wondered if anyone had any advice in the meantime.

Welcome.

Is the gear indicator showing ok that it is in P?

Try pressing harder on the BRAKE Pedal. 

 

There might be an issue with the Brake Switch / Inhibitor.   Just guessing. 

9 hours ago, Bob_A said:

I bought this car new in Spain in September 2024

I'm assuming it's the facelift version - therefore I have an idea about your problem, but no solution...
As most of you know, Octavia 4 has a few other siblings - the Golf 8, the Formentor and the latest Leon; as such, they share lots of stuff... mechanically, electronics and as a consequence - problems!

 

A few months ago I was discussing with my Cupra dealership as they were just receiving the first transport of facelift Formentors. He was telling me that when they washed the cars after the trip from Spain to Bucharest, about half of the 10 cars they received didn't start... They immediately scanned for errors - nothing stored!!! However, after closing the cars and waiting for a couple of minutes they start without any issue... 😇 
On the other hand, over the past several months, on the Formentor online group we use here in RO to share useful information/solutions/tips, quite a few of those with the facelift model mentioned that their cars didn't start on few occasions, either after washing the car, or after rain overnight, even after heavy-fog... high-humidity being the common denominator. In ALL cases the car started without problem after some waiting time with the car locked.

Since the problem you described in your first post reminded me of all the situations that I mentioned above, am I wrong to assume that on those mornings when you encountered the problem the outside humidity was high?
Apparently there's no formal solution from VAG, no TPI... but it's already quite well known unfortunately. I even found online the same problem (and "solution") mentioned for the new Tiguan; they were mentioning some communication issues caused by the Gateway, but until there's an official answer from VAG - it's all just assumptions.

Edited 3 January, 20251 yr by SkOmk4

'High humidity' unlikely to be the anything to do with the issue while cold starting in the UK. 

I have a new September Octavia 1.5 mhev. It has failed to start on four occasions. Eventually it does start after leaving for a while. I’m booked in for a diagnostic check on Monday. I doubt they’ll find anything wrong unfortunately. Extremely irritating though and could be real pain in some situations!

Edited 3 January, 20251 yr by andypollard

29 minutes ago, SkOmk4 said:

I'm assuming it's the facelift version - therefore I have an idea about your problem, but no solution...
As most of you know, Octavia 4 has a few other siblings - the Golf 8, the Formentor and the latest Leon; as such, they share lots of stuff... mechanically, electronics and as consequence - problems!

 

A few months ago I was discussing with my Cupra dealership as they were just receiving the first transport of facelift Formentors. He was telling me that when they washed the cars after the trip Spain to Bucharest, about half of the 10 cars they received didn't start... They immediately scanned for errors - nothing stored!!! However, after closing the cars and waiting for a couple of minutes they start without any issue... 😇 
On the other hand, over the past several months, on the Formentor online group we use to share useful information/solutions, quite a few of those with the facelift model mentioned that their cars didn't start either after washing the car, or after rain overnight, even after heavy-fog... high-humidity being the common denominator. In ALL cases the car started without problem after some waiting time.

Since the problem you described in the first post reminded me of all the situations that I mentioned above, am I wrong to assume that on those mornings when you encountered the problem the outside humidity was high?
Apparently there's no formal solution from VAG, no TPI... but it's already quite well known unfortunately.

Thanks, SkOmk4 - that seems a very possible explanation. I have the facelifted "2025" version. I imagine that there may have been relatively high humidity both times.

 

I will share this with my Skoda dealer in Spain, and see how they respond. I have my trusty denial-o-meter fully charged!

1 hour ago, Bob_A said:

my trusty denial-o-meter fully charged!

🤣
If "my guy" at the dealership was honest, and indeed there are no errors stored after those start failures, then don't hold your breath waiting for them to solve the problem.

More than that, with no errors and with a problem so difficult to reproduce, they'll have a hard time understanding (or even believing) there's an issue with the car. I suggest you make a video of the behavior if/when it happens again. 

 

1 hour ago, andypollard said:

It has failed to start on four occasions

Was the weather (and the car) dry or wet? I'm simply curios if it also happens in dry conditions; so far I've only heard of it occurring in wet, and only for the facelift versions of those cars I mentioned above.

Certainly happened when in damp conditions but there have been many occasions when it started also in damp conditions. It is a July build facelift Octavia SEL mhev estate.

1 hour ago, andypollard said:

but there have been many occasions when it started also in damp conditions

Sure, it's a strange statistical behavior... it might start without issues in pouring rain or out of the car wash, but fail to start in damp air (or vice-versa).
As I mentioned, it's really difficult to reproduce the behavior - at least according to those encountering the problem.

I must video the issue when it happens again. At least there would be some evidence of something not being right. Shouldn’t be happening to a brand new car.

Had my car in for diagnostic testing of start failure. Told that it’s a known software issue with the alternator and Skoda expect to provide a fix in the first quarter 2025. Not happy with this. If they knew there was an existing issue they should have notified me. Basically left with a new car that might or might not start! 

I've got some news from the Formentor group: one of the guys that experienced this problem during his vacation went to see his dealership yesterday.
Surprise: they also told him it's a known problem, but apparently did more than that and installed some software update that's supposed to address this issue. Unfortunately, the guy who posted this piece of info was not curios enough to ask what module was updated, or get more details on the SW update - some version or TPI number (if applicable).

 

On the other hand, my experience so far with the VAG group showed that Seat/Cupra branch is the last to get SW updates; of course, my statement is based on the delay they launch the infotainment updates. They were the last to release 1940/41, 1969 after VW and Skoda, and now there's no news concerning the 1985 version - while some Octavias receive it OTA.
The point I'm trying to make is that if the Cupra guys installed an update to solve this known problem, I'm almost convinced the update is already available for the affected VW and Skoda models.

Thanks for the update. I have raised a case with Skoda Customer support, as suggested by my dealer. Hopefully the matter can resolved quickly.

Really not happy with buying a brand new car, with a known starting issue. What’s worse is that Skoda know about the problem but have not told owners about it. 

I have the same issue with my Octavia 4 facelift MY2024.

This problem first happened at the Skoda dealership here in Bulgaria, while they were changing summer tires to winter tires.

 

They explained to me that it is a known issue. Skoda explained to them that some car-module doesn't fall asleep properly when locking the car. No permanent solution is currently known, but there is a workaround. namely, to lock the car, stay away from it and wait 20 minutes. Then unlock it and try to start it again.

 

Two weeks later this problem happened to me for the second time. Then I decided to shorten the time and waited only 15 minutes. Then I was able to start the engine.

 

When it happened for the third time, I decided to try the procedure without any waiting, I just lock, unlock and start the engine. The attempt was successful.

 

So far (It's been half a year since I've owned an Octavia) this problem has happened 4 times, and in the first 3 months not once. I can't make a connection to increased humidity or rain, as in 3 out of 4 cases it didn't rain and it wasn't excessively humid.

It’s good to know that I am not alone with this problem. What is more surprising is that there are no other reports. You would imagine that this must be a problem for all facelift MY2024 Octavia 4 cars. I have contacted Skoda Customer Services for a solution to the problem. This has up to now proved to be a complete waste of time. 

14 hours ago, andypollard said:

What is more surprising is that there are no other reports. You would imagine that this must be a problem for all facelift MY2024 Octavia 4 cars.

It's actually a problem for ALL the VAG models (facelift or not) sharing the same platform and electronics - quite a long list. The issue is that this problem has some sort of probabilistic occurrence - some might encounter it a few times in a couple of days, others once or twice over several months. On top of that, only a few percent of the users are using the forums, so it's no big surprise you've seen too few reports.
By now this problem is quite well-known by VAG and afaik there's a SW update to address this issue as I wrote a few posts earlier. A dealership saying they know nothing about this, is either playing stupid, or is just incompetent... Oh, wait - there's a third possibility: they only see 2-3 new cars over the entire year, so they never encountered that specific problem.

Hello. I have the same issues starting my skoda but unfortunately not just that. It also fails when it comes to sound. Occasionally when you start the car the sound is just stereo comming from the infotainment speaker in front and not from right and left speakers in the doors. When this happens there's also no sound from the parking assistant.. It also happened to me to start the car and have no sound at all, no radio sound, no Bluetooth.. . Honestly it feels like I've bought a Windows 13 which was not tested enough and was deliberately left out in production to keep up with revenue.. I've been told already that the starting issue is a known one, but i don't feel okay with so many issues of a brand new car. I have videos of all issues and I'm leaving the car for a check tomorrow, but honestly I'm very irritated that they give you no replacement car while this is 100% prod defect.. 

Edited 3 February, 20251 yr by Sabina

Couldn’t agree with you more. I am struggling to extract any response from

the so called Skoda Customer Support. If I had bought a washing machine with a known fault I would have quickly received either my money back or a fully functioning replacement. Not so when you spend thousands on a new car!!

7 hours ago, Sabina said:

Occasionally when you start the car the sound is just stereo comming from the infotainment speaker in front and not from right and left speakers in the doors.

This is starting to get weird already, because I had the same problem few days ago (30th January). Early in the morning when I started the car the sound was coming from the tablet in the middle instead of the car speakers.

 

I turned the engine off and then back on, but the problem didn't go away. When I later turned the engine off, locked the car and unlocked it a half hour later, this defect was no longer there. From this I can assume that the procedure of registering the car modules to the system only happens when the car is unlocked, and not each time the engine is started. And maybe it's a one-time try or within a very short time.

 

Skoda's commitment to electronic unpredictability knows no limits! To add to the comprehensive list of "computer says no" above, mine is now telling me (when it feels like it) that the traffic sensors have malfunctioned when starting up, only for them to start working after a minute or two. The car is not fit for purpose.

Hi all, same issue here on an Octavia 2024fl se l mild hybrid, happened at least 4 times in various weather, and a colleague collected his exact same car on exact same day with exact same issues, got it in on the 19th March but not holding my breath. Also I get lots of warnings that the safety systems like front assist and so are unavailable. 
 

Thanks 

Hello.

I have a similar problem with my Skoda Octavia 1,5 mhev 2024. I bought it in July 2024. It didn't start for the first time in August. I took it to the service center and sent the videos. They told me it needed a reset. That I should lock the car and wait 10 seconds. And the factory would let us know what they were going to do about the error.

So far it has always started after a reset. But it's still a hassle to have that problem and a baby in the car....

The car has not started 5 times since I bought it and it has never rained. It has always been during the day, not at night, not in the morning or evening. Car is parked in the garage.

But there are 3 other problems. The first is with the assistance systems, which are not working for no reason. In good weather on a nice road. The second is with the radio. The screen is sometimes in blocks, foggy and the radio station changes after 20 seconds after pressing on the screen. The third problem appeared today. Everything is normal for 7 kilometers. I turn off the car and after 3 minutes I turn it back on. Immediately a message that 2 assistance systems are not working after 5 seconds the 4 more appears. Among the messages I see that it says a problem with the wipers. I try and they do not work at any speed. The windshield fluid also does not work. While trying and determining what else is not working I find that the turn signals do not work. And today's problem bothers me the most. The car is almost undriveable in the rain and in the city with heavy traffic.

It's been to the service center 3 times already. Once for a screen replacement and once for a whole week because of the ignition. They'll call me for updated and there'll probably be a service check considering what happened today.

I hope someone else is reading this form. Please write if anyone has already updated the car and if it anything is new.

 

I took my car into the supplying dealer today, and to my astonishment the diagnostic computer actually said "yes" - it recognised that the car had failed to start on 3 occasions. 

 

Apparently, a fix is being developed for release by the end of March, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Less surprisingly, the diagnostic computer could find no trace of any of the other faults.

 

I'll update the forum with any progress (and any new or continuing issues).

I am now receiving weekly phone calls from Skoda Customer Support telling me that the software update is not yet available. The lack of urgency is staggering unless, of course, they can’t actually find a solution. I’ll bet they are still selling these cars to unsuspecting customers! 

I, too, got caught by the car not starting on Saturday.  It had worked fine several times that morning but I then nipped into a shop and while the ignition lit up the starter didn't kick in. I tried checking the manual but it failed to come up online but I was able to phone Skoda. They responded by offering me an AA person in an hour or a VAG techie in 2 hours. As I needed the car urgently I went for the AA man but they called me and said the VAG man was on his way. I went for a coffee, then back to the car, unlocked it and - you've guessed- it started. I called Skoda to cancel the call and they were very surprised. 

I then checked the forum and it was stuffed too. I'm beginning to feel they're after me!

Do you think the fix will be over the air when it happens or should I book it into the dealer?