so long story short, I have the car for 400 miles now, bought it 3 weeks ago, but out of the 3 weeks, i've been on holiday for the last two weeks. Today when I returned from holiday, I picked it up from the airport and 2-3 miles into the drive, the whole dash lighted like a xmas tree showing a bunch of errors (which you can see ath be link here). This is the second time this is happening. First time it happened a few days after I bought it - gave me a few errors, turned the car off and then back on, and started working normally, no errors, no issues . Today, the faults started and it made the car go into limp mode. I managed to pull by the side of the road, in a safe area, and tried starting it multiple times, but the errors kept appearing, car wouldn't move and the check engine light stayed on. Turned it toff and asked for RAC to come to my rescue. Initially they said they will be there in 1 hour, then they changed to 3-4 hours. I could not just stay there, after a long day on flights, so i tried the car once more, and to my surprise, it started and it worked fine (yellow check engine light was still on). Have already contacted the dealership to see what they gonna do about it, but has anyone experienced something similar?

2021 Skoda Octavia iV, 1.4 PHEV with 28k miles

Videos Here

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k72kjhSGXbYq9nmN3mSiAD_MdZQofogi?usp=drive_link

Voltage drop in 12V circuit is the most common reason for such behavior. You'll need to check battery, and since it is a 2021 car, make sure all updates to 12V system were applied. Early cars are known for parasitic drain of 12V battery and various issues with keeping it charged.

Is not a problem, its happend when the voltage is droping, just delete.

1 hour ago, Edela said:

Voltage drop in 12V circuit is the most common reason for such behavior. You'll need to check battery, and since it is a 2021 car, make sure all updates to 12V system were applied. Early cars are known for parasitic drain of 12V battery and various issues with keeping it charged.

Thanks Edela,

Car was serviced with Skoda for the first 2 services only (2022 and 2023), not sure if these updates were ever applied. Do you reckon if the updates are applied, this will fix the parasitic drain of the 12V and the other issues? Car was bought les than 30 days ago, and to be honest, this issue is making me thinking to use the "reject right" under the CRA 2015 30 days period - but if it would be an easy fix, I would hate to give it back as I really like it but would have to be stuck in a never-ending back and fort to fix it with the dealer I bought it from... Also, are Skoda main dealers the only ones that can update these or is it possible to do it through Skoda Approved dealers as well (as I have a Skoda approved garage nearby)?

I have an ODB 2 and managed to scan it with Car Scanner, these are the Errors I got after today...

Thanks for all your input regarding this, new to this world , and a bit on the shaky side...

OBD 2.docx

20 hours ago, alekssir said:

Do you reckon if the updates are applied, this will fix the parasitic drain of the 12V and the other issues?

Spend some time browsing forums here, you will see that experience varies a lot between cars, dealers and countries. I'm from Spain, bought my 2020 car as second hand with low mileage from dealer, thought car would be nice since it was still covered with warranty. Couldn't be further from truth, car was a total disaster first 2 years of me owning it. But there are lot of folks who never heard of any problems or, who were able to fix them effortlessly. So YMMV.

Regarding updates. Outstanding service campaigns are applied during routine maintenance, such as 90V7, for example, which specifically addressed parasitic drain. But anything outside of service campaigns is being dealt with on case by case basis and only after specific complaints. In my case I still experienced problems with 12V discharge after that service campaign measures applied. Dealer was willing to help, but only strictly following their procedures, meaning one small step at a time. In the end they replaced the battery (apparently pretty much all early cars had them faulty) and applied multiple FW updates for various modules in the car which solved all issues I had, but it took me many many trips to workshops and quite some headache. Also I think I was just happy to finally stumble on a technician who really dived into the case and was willing to resolve it. You will see that too many people tell stories how they are only being charged for diagnostics and told there are no problems, only for the problems to reappear right away.

Also at least here in Spain as long as car is serviced in official workshops, the roadside assistance from Skoda is free. I found out that if car is towed by said assistance, problems are dealt with way faster and more efficiently. I guess because it is then observed by the importer who is managing roadside assistance service.

Edited 2 November, 20252 Nov by Edela

1 hour ago, Edela said:

Spend some time browsing forums here, you will see that experience varies a lot between cars, dealers and countries. I'm from Spain, bought my 2020 car as second hand with low mileage from dealer, thought car would be nice since it was still covered with warranty. Couldn't be further from truth, car was a total disaster first 2 years of me owning it. But there are lot of folks who never heard of any problems or, who were able to fix them effortlessly. So YMMV.

Regarding updates. Outstanding service campaigns are applied during routine maintenance, such as 90V7, for example, which specifically addressed parasitic drain. But anything outside of service campaigns is being dealt with on case by case basis and only after specific complaints. In my case I still experienced problems with 12V discharge after that service campaign measures applied. Dealer was willing to help, but only strictly following their procedures, meaning one small step at a time. In the end they replaced the battery (apparently pretty much all early cars had them faulty) and applied multiple FW updates for various modules in the car which solved all issues I had, but it took me many many trips to workshops and quite some headache. Also I think I was just happy to finally stumble on a technician who really dived into the case and was willing to resolve it. You will see that too many people tell stories how they are only being charged for diagnostics and told there are no problems, only for the problems to reappear right away.

Also at least here in Spain as long as car is serviced in official workshops, the roadside assistance from Skoda is free. I found out that if car is towed by said assistance, problems are dealt with way faster and more efficiently. I guess because it is then observed by the importer who is managing roadside assistance service.

Thank you so much for such a detailed response.

In regards to my particular issue, today I attempted to drive it again, and after 100m , all the errors reappeared. I parked the car by the side of a road and called RAC. The guy came and tested everything under the sun, and in the end said there is nothing wrong with the 12V, as it was holding charge and was charging normally (no faults on his tester) but there were alot of errors from the ECM and ECU - like the information fed to the different part was not good. He could also not clear the fault codes, as these were continuously reappearing. He could not do anything to make the car run and advised me to call the dealer that sold it to me to take it back - which I did by invoking the CRA 2105 act (its a thing here is UK) and will just ask for a full refund and let them deal with it.

Now my dilemma is if I bite the bullet with another Octavia iV or not... and if I do, what do I look after in the next one...

51 minutes ago, alekssir said:

Now my dilemma is if I bite the bullet with another Octavia iV or not... and if I do, what do I look after in the next one...

Why not give the Dealer you bought it from the opportunity to sort it out.

Otherwise what you are looking for before you buy your next used car is a Dealer with a Crystal ball

1 hour ago, alekssir said:

The guy came and tested everything under the sun, and in the end said there is nothing wrong with the 12V, as it was holding charge and was charging normally (no faults on his tester) but there were alot of errors from the ECM and ECU - like the information fed to the different part was not good.

There was someone from UK with similar issue. @TheWanderer was it you?

7 hours ago, Stonekeeper said:

Why not give the Dealer you bought it from the opportunity to sort it out.

Otherwise what you are looking for before you buy your next used car is a Dealer with a Crystal ball

Because if they fail to fix it to a satisfactory standard, I will be caught in a never ending back and forth with them regarding this car. If it would have been a simple issue, I would have taken a punt but even the RAC guy told me to give it back and ask for a redund as the issues he saw are serious.

12 hours ago, Edela said:

There was someone from UK with similar issue. @TheWanderer was it you?

I had problems after the dealer did multiple software updates and the car needed a new ECU, which they programmed for a diesel rather than petrol, once that was resolved the car was put on test for a day and has been pretty much faultless ever since, the only glitches are in the infotainment system.

My previous car was a software nightmare flagging up oil sensor failures and all sorts of stuff. In the end they rigged up a new wiring harness to eliminate the issues.

I had this problem on my 2021 VRS after being parked in at Heathrow for 2 weeks - all kinds of errors, no radio or Apple Car Play - quiet a stressful drive home wondering if it was going to make it.
3hr drive home, and it was totally fine the next day.

(well as fine as it ever was on that car, it was an early MK4, so the infotainment was obviously constantly going wrong)

If it was an official Skoda used car they are supposed to ensure that all software updates have been applied. It is part of the overall brand marketing message.

I have a 2020 Octavia mk4. Had the infotainment screen replaced in May and have had no more problems on that score but I now get pretty much all the yellow warning lights coming on on the dash if the car has been left for 24hrs or so. Plenty of ‘bonging’ noises too. Worst of all is ‘Auto Hold’ inoperative during this time.

Sometimes all the lights go out fairly quickly but sometimes some of them stay on for several minutes. It’s pot luck if they come on again or not if I restart the car. ‘Front Assist’ always seems to be the last to go, but sometimes I can drive 10 miles or more before the last of the warning lights finally go out.

Skoda Assist did a diagnostic in my driveway and said the near-side front wheel speed sensor was faulty and was responsible for causing all the error lights to illuminate. Took the car to my dealer but they said Skoda Assist had cleared all the faults so they couldn’t change the wheel speed sensor under warranty as no faults were showing. Asked me to bring it back if the fault happened again so they could do their own diagnostic. Each time I try, the faults go away by the time I get to the garage, so the dealer won’t do anything if there’s no active fault showing.

Has anyone else managed to cure the warning lights coming on by replacing a wheel speed sensor?

Skoda seemed to have created a monster with the mk4 Octavia!

5 minutes ago, ChubbsH said:

Skoda seemed to have created a monster with the mk4 Octavia!

Many five year old cars have electrical and sensor problems because the battery needs replacing. The components in the sensors and systems are sensitive to unstable 12v supply.

I would get the battery and charging system tested in your case

Hi Stonekeeper,

I don’t think this is the problem in my case, but thanks for offering it as an idea.

I had the battery changed a year ago. The old original battery was rendered useless by the faulty infotainment system constantly stopping and starting even with the car locked and the ignition off. Ever since the infotainment screen was replaced, the battery has been fine.

When the Skoda Assist technician attended he was pretty certain that the duff info supplied to the car’s ’brain’ by the faulty wheel speed sensor was the real culprit behind the plethora of dash warning lights. A pal who’s an RAC technician, and the garage that services my wife’s car, both confirm that a faulty wheel speed sensor can cause this type of problem.

They’re not desperately expensive and for the sake of my sanity, I might just consider having it replaced at my own expense instead of waiting an eternity for Skoda to replace it under warranty. The car is great to drive but so utterly unreliable.

Have you tried capturing a video of the warning light behaviours? Give that to the dealer and they have evidence of an issue.

I find it incredible that a Škoda dealer will not take the word of a Škoda Assist operative. Certainly doesn't help the perception of the brand.

17 minutes ago, ChubbsH said:

I might just consider having it replaced at my own expense

Make sure they use OEM parts

There is also anecdotal evidence of five year old cars suffering gremlins being linked to Earth points and Wiring contacts to the sensors themselves. I have seen videos of ABS sensors being fixed by simply removing the plug and putting it back on again.

Edited 11 November, 202511 Nov by Stonekeeper

3 hours ago, Stonekeeper said:

There is also anecdotal evidence of five year old cars suffering gremlins being linked to Earth points and Wiring contacts to the sensors themselves.

Mine hit 5 years back in September so I'm not sure I want to know that 😂

Fore-warned is fore-armed though...

17 minutes ago, SteveTheElder said:

Mine hit 5 years back in September so I'm not sure I want to know that 😂

Fore-warned is fore-armed though...

My son had a 7 year old peugeot with an eml on and an occasional mis fire. We used an obd got all manor of codes, I changed components i could do with no joy. I gave it my usual garage and he spent a week with it with access to Peugeots scan tools, he eventually rang me and said he could do no more and said he wouldn't charge me if i towed it away. Suggesting to take it to the main dealer and let them sort it because there was no point in him spending anymore time to put it back together because he had found nothing wrong with it but the lamp would not go off when he had put it back together a few times .

So i took it and the now separate ignition pack and plugs to the dealer. They said they couldn't obviously diagnose the fault without putting it back together first. When they put it back together there was no fault and the car gave no further trouble. Tony at my garage was not impressed when i told him he was right that there was nothing wrong with it.

Peugeot got £95 and Tony lost about £500 in time spent looking for nothing.

Quick update on my one, the dealer , despite accepting my rejection, still hasn't collected the car from me (actually from the side of the road where it broke down), so that seems like an ongoing battle... but in other news I decided to buy the bullet on a Skoda Superb iV, 2022 Se Technology - hopefully this one is not as difficult as the octavia...