MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MG Y Type - Massive worldwide MG Y Type recall.

It seems that any MG Y Type that has lasted over 60 years, or has done over 250,000 miles needs to be taken back to the dealer ASAP. The dealer will carry out checks that the ash trays fitted to the beack of the front seats are not full. He will empty them if required, free of charge.

(Apologies to Toyota...)

NC.
Neil Cairns

Cars have been recalled on many occasions to have various modificatioons but all this hype on Toyota etc is so OTT - I think the 24 hour news media have to fill their time with something I suppose.....if the average Toyota owner could see some of the cars I have driven over the years! World has gone soft! The way it's going the next thing will be to ban classic cars altogether or make them stay off public roads.
D MULLEN

I agree that the recall is probably OTT. However, it is worrying that braking and throttle control problems in modern cars can be caused by faulty SOFTWARE. It is of some comfort that on Y Types at least, the pedals are connected directly to the bit that they control.

My everyday car is a BMW Mini Cooper Clubman. It told me through a dashboard 'request' that it needed some 'tlc' - in this case a brake fluid change, which took about 30 minutes.

While waiting for this to be done at my local dealer yesterday, I read the story of the development of the new BMW 5 Series in a reprint from Autocar. It is truly frightening how much the control of the car relies on electronics. The development engineers can alter the settings of virtually everything, including suspension settings during live testing through a laptop computer connected into the car's on-board computer. They can alter things until the car becomes undriveable. If this can be done deliberately, it must be possible ifv there is a glitch in the software controlling the computer.

Mike

M Long

I dont think so, the problems are safety related (brakes & accelerater pedals). people are getting injured or dying from these faults! and families are feeling the affects.

It was not many years ago when Ford & Firestone was front page of all the news now its Toyota and Hondas turn.
If lives are saved then any hype is worth it.
stephen randle

Are you aware that the Y Type can also have brake/clutch problems that can cause it to fail the Mot? As the two pedals are on the same shaft, if not lubricated they can sieze and 'operate' each other. A good mechanic will push each pedal to see if it moves the other one. Also, they can wear and 'overide' each other. That is the pedal plates can collide by side-movement. The Morris Minor/1000 suffers an identical problem. At least it is mechanical and you would soon notice if the brakes came on as you depressed the clutch, or visa-versa.

NC.
Neil Cairns

The only recall I'm getting is from the cold garage to have a wee dram.
B Mellem

Stephen,

In my daily live I'm a Fleetmanager at a car leasing company, so I'm right in the centre of these callbacks. I understand that the problems with Toyota are these:
Brake pedal: the sensitivity of the ABS is a bit to much. F.i. on a badly paved road the braking wheel MAY bounce a bit and the ABS sensor will react too quickly and activate the ABS momentarily causing a "strange" pedal feel. NOBODY will be injured or die because of that.
Accelerator pedal: the circular returnspring MAY bind a bit causing a slightly irregular throttle. Again no injuries and deaths are to be expected.

Ford & Firestones problems were that the tires blew unexpectedly at speed, causing the car to flip over wildly on it's soft and high suspension. THAT causes death and if you're lucky injuries.

So Stephen, PLEASE don't follow every media hype blindly. I wish the media would do the same as the next hype may be really serious and I will disregard it as another false hype.....
Willem vd Veer

Speaking as a driver who was taught many years ago to drive skilfully under all conditions I think the modern car is a death trap. It gives any fool the impression that they are in control, The feed back from the steering and brakes is non existant, and ABS will not always sort it out. I once was a passenger where the driver entered a corner too fast and hit the brakes, we ended up on our side in a ditch [ABS doesn't work when the car is sliding sideways]. The Y type is by far one of the safest cars on the road because it tells you what is going on under the wheels and how close you are to the limit. Now a glitch in the software can be a disaster, no wonder the modern car is so crash tested - it needs to be.
B Mellem

I agree with the comments of the last two correspondents. I too learnt to drive many years ago when the driver actually controlled the car.

I can verify the comment by Willem about premature operation of ABS in certain road conditions. There is an awkward junction near where I live. The approach is quite steep downwards, into a sharpish left hand bend to square up the junction. There is a large, slightly raised manhole cover under the nearside wheel track, just after the start of the bend. The gradient means that you have to be braking and turning as you approach the junction. As the front wheel hits the manhole cover, the ABS on my car activates, causing a momentary judder. It is self correcting and I have never been concerned.

It should be remembered that on modern cars, there is generally no mechanical links between the controls and the controlled part. The throttle pedal on most modern cars is similar to a computer mouse, simply sending commands electronically to the engine control unit.

Rolling my Mini down the driveway without the engine running is quite frightening. The steering and braking are almost non-existent, requiring super-human effort to turn the steering wheel and press the brake pedal to any effect. The mind boggles at what would happen if the engine cut out in a hazardous situation at high speed on a motorway for example.

When I was a young man tinkering with my original YB, I was told by a friendly garage owner to be very particular about work on the brakes. His theory was that if your engine failed you stopped, if your brakes failed you did not! This theory seems to have been turned on its head by modern car design concepts.

As someone wrote in the Daily Mail the other day:
Is the car in front a Toyota because its throttle is stuck or its brakes have failed?

Mike
M Long

Brian, I could have written that as well. I do not like not having a bit of metal or fluid between me and the thing I'm controlling, such as a throttle cable. Relying on software is worrying as the cheapest will always be used. When these cars get old they will become dangerous; or will they be 'lifed' and scrapped after say, ten years?

NC.
Neil Cairns

Neil,

Scrapyards are full of very decent Land Rover Freelanders because some computer or other important electronic device/wiring loom failed. The problem is that the part is very expensive AND you have to remove the whole dashboard to reach it. At the current labour rates the car is a economically and electronically total-loss.

I'm afraid that modern cars are going to be engineered to be recycled after about 15 years. That's why I enjoy the Y so much; with a good selection of tools you can repair virtually everything and keep it running for decades.
On the other hand I have been caught enjoying a modern Diesel car for it's comfort, speed and flexibility.
Willem vd Veer

A ‘Massive MG type Worldwide Recall’ is necessary alright --

A recall of the MG Committee Types for their apparent ‘acceleration to no where’, ‘repeated software glitches’ and ‘loss of brakes’ - as those boys are way out of control.

When will a formal decision be made about the future of this website ?

C H Fields

Interesting thread... I tend to agree with those advocating that we take the Toyota hype less seriously. We shouldn't forget that Toyota, and to a lesser extent its Japanese competitors, more or less redefined our expectations of quality in car building. They're the reason GM and Chrysler (like BL and Rootes in the last century) have been in such trouble - the Japanese build vehicles which though rather dull are astonishingly reliable, efficient and long-lived by comparison with the cars of 30 or 40 years ago.

As for old cars being dangerous - that's always been the case: anyone remember seeing Morris Minors suffer front suspension breakage at speed because the bottom trunnion had failed due to lack of maintenance? Or Macpherson-strutted Fords with the suspension poking through the bonnet because corrosion caused inner wing failure? Happy days, or death traps? :-)

Tim Griggs

This thread was discussed between 10/02/2010 and 14/02/2010

MG MG Y Type index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MG Y Type BBS now