Warning Lights

[ShedHead]

Hi everyone and I hope that you are all well.

I have a new X-Trail Tekna that has shown some worrying warning lights/symbols. It started about a week after I got the car with a 'yellow' triangle with a car inside it.  This would flash 3 times and then go off.  This happened more frequently and so I rang the dealer who told me to bring it in but were too busy to see me until the New Year.  A few days later, this happened a couple of times in the morning and, in the evening as I was going round a corner at 30 mph, it was a 'red' triangle and it seemed to briefly 'lock' the rear o/side wheel. As with the 'yellow' warning, it flashed 3 times and went off and everything seemed to be ok. I rang the dealer who suggested that I call the RAC.  They attended the next day and said that it was "two computers not communicating properly" and they booked me into the dealer.  To cut a long story short, the dealer found nothing amiss.  It happened again and they had the car in for 2 whole days.  When I got it back on 11th Jan, everything seemed to be ok for a while but, in the last few days I have been getting more 'yellow' warnings and , on Friday afternoon, a 'red' warning and a 'lock up' of the rear o/side wheel.

I rang the dealer and it is booked in for 3 days but not for a couple of weeks!  Had anyone had anything similar?  My car is the 4 wheel drive model and it has had nothing at all to do with road conditions as never happened through the ice and snow etc.

[Trevor]

Hi ShedHead....welcome to the Forum

Can you elaborate on the symbols you get when it starts playing up...maybe a photo of the lights as they come up with the ignition switched on?

Cheers,  Trevor

[ShedHead]

Hi Trevor and many thanks for the reply. Very difficult to take photos as only happens when driving and literally flashes 3 times and then goes off but I can describe as follows:

As you look at dash in centre section, below clock where all info such as current speed comes up, this warning drops down as a yellow triangle with a diagram of a car inside it. The interior of the triangle is white with only the triangle and the car in Yellow. It flashes 3 times and goes off. As I have said, when it flashes RED, it seems to lock up rear offside wheel but only for an instant so you see the RED triangle hear a sort of scraping noise and then it returns to normal. 

As I have said, this is a new ‘67 plate X-Trail, 1.6dci, manual with 4 wheel drive and no one at the dealership seems to know what causes it as they have only seen the Yellow triangle which they tell me is the computer sensing and putting something right?

 

kind regards 

[Trevor]

It's a shame that you can't capture the lights upon switching the ignition on as most warning lights momentarily come on then to prove they are working.

However, it does sound like a traction control issue...which could be related to incorrect tyre size, pressures, different brand/compound...all of which are unlikely given the age of the vehicle.

I would definitely hound the dealer to get to the bottom of the cause as this sound potentially quite dangerous if it is locking up one of the wheels during cornering. ABS would release the brakes and give a cadence braking to regain control whereas, traction control will apply the brake to provide traction and this can occur on cornering but only if you completely take the vehicle past it's capabilities.

Let us know how this all goes