Hello everyone,
I’m asking for help because I’m completely stuck and running out of options.
A little over two months ago, without any warning, my car suddenly displayed the message:
“Electric traction system fault: speed is limited. Repair the vehicle.”
Immediately after that, the car completely stopped, and the automatic gearbox was locked in P. We had to manually release it, then transport the car by trailer to an official dealer.
Since then, the car has been at the dealer for more than 2 months, and they still haven’t been able to fix it, even with factory involvement.
According to them:
All three batteries are OK:
the combustion engine battery,
the high-voltage hybrid battery,
and the 12V battery in the trunk.
The main issue is that the system cannot communicate with the rear electric motor.
They have tried multiple software updates / re-flashes, with no success.
Now they are saying:
First, the entire electric system wiring must be replaced (around €1,500),
And if that doesn’t solve it, the rear electric motor must be replaced, which would cost around €16,000.
Has anyone experienced a similar problem?
Do you have any ideas or opinions on what could actually be causing this?
One important detail:
This happened shortly after a GK8 update, where the battery was NOT replaced, only software was updated.
Car details:
DS7 Crossback 4x4 (PHEV)
Model year: 2020
Mileage: 170,000 km
Any help, experience, or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.
I think you need to pursue a case with DS customer care, all well and good their techies looking at the car for over 2 months but the customer care services need to be involved, especially if DS carried out an update and this fault arose after the update but no issues at all prior .
I just wrote about this in one of the threads. Updating the software alone results in a glitch like yours. It’s not allowed under any circumstances, but no one wanted to hear it.
I wrote these words there: If they’re changing the TBMU software, I’d skip this recall. This is a potential problem for the future because it reduces the traction battery voltage tolerance. This results in an electric drive failure, and only replacing the traction battery with a new one solves the problem.
A cheap solution is to restore the old software. But you can’t do that in the DS Store.
There is nothing wrong with your car, it is the new TBMU software that is causing this apparent fault.
Which country do you live in?
This has got me worried now.
Is the GK8 update something that is done automatically when the car does its own update or something the dealerships carry out , say during a service or if the car was in for something else and they decided to run a software update check whilst the car was with them ?
This is a factory recall campaign. For certain models produced in a specific period, there is a risk that the car could catch fire. If you’re lucky, they replace the battery; if not, they only perform a software update. In my case, it was just an update.
You can check in the app whether your car is affected. There is an “Updates” (or “Updates / Campaigns”) menu where this information is shown.
Yes, you’re right — unfortunately, it’s already been done in my case.
However, according to the dealer, the traction battery itself is not the problem. This was officially checked and confirmed by the service. All battery values are within specification.
The real issue is with the rear electric motor. The system cannot communicate with it, and they have not been able to restore communication despite multiple software updates and diagnostics.
If the rear electric motor has to be replaced, it is almost twice as expensive as replacing the traction battery itself, which makes the situation even more absurd.
So in my case, the update seems to have triggered a much deeper failure — not in the battery, but in the communication with the rear electric drive.
I the UK we have the consumer rights “Sales Of Goods Act, I expect you have similar in Romania, contact you consumer rights department see what they can do.
A product has to be sold as " fit for purpose”, DS have released an official update that renders their product not fit purpose.
Therefore DS would by law (UK) have to address the problem.
In the UK there are a number of ways the seller/manufacture can address the issue.
Carry out a further repair to the original faulty part
Replace the faulty part with new
Offer refund if the fault is unrepairable
Offer compensation if the fault was repaired but the fault put the buyer out of pocket whilst the repair was being carried out, ie: inconvenience, car hire, taxis, buses, ect
This Sales Of Goods Act applies to any consumer bought product, from a pair of shoes to car.
My DS is just over 12 months old, it has had countless visits to the dealership for repairs all done under warranty.
DS have so far compensated me £ 1200 for inconvenience and fuel costs.
The car is back at the dealership as we speak, so I’ll be contacting DS to update my previous complaint case.
So, first, I’d look for a good electrician who knows about CAN line communication, to get a proper diagnosis. The DS Store isn’t the place for this type of repair. They just replace it, and you just pay. The cost keeps getting higher, and the end result in your DS is unpredictable.