Motoring Views
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Electric shock over European cars
20:41, Jul 23 2011
Drive Talking
by Ian Johnson, drivingforce.uk.net
THERE are so many gadgets on cars these days that it is unsurprising there are many more electrical faults than there were.
But what does make you sit up and take notice is the fact that electrical faults account for 27 per cent of all car failures – a rise of 17 per cent on five years ago.
This figure has just been released by warranty specialist Warranty Direct which deals with a tremendous number of claims. But the question has to be asked – shouldn't cars be getting more reliable?
And you would be forgiven for thinking that the models most likely to spark out are cheap and cheerfuls from far away countries, but you would be wrong.
According to Warranty Direct the car most likely to suffer an electrical fault is the Renault Megane, with a surprising one in three sustaining a malfunction each year.
While the Megane is not necessarily known for its gadgetry, the French hatchback’s electrical gremlins contribute to an overall failure rate of 50 per cent, with the Peugeot 607 and BMW’s sporty Z4 close behind as the next most likely cars to ‘short circuit’. Other models in the list include the Audi A2 and the Range Rover.
The top 10 in electrical problems, compiled by Warranty Direct using data from 50,000 live policies indicate a potential Achilles’ Heel for European cars because it does not contain any Japanese, Malaysian or Korean models.
