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Blooming thing won't go anywhere!

62K views 132 replies 33 participants last post by  matthab 
#1 ·
Hi all, looking at the faults and technical board it certainly seems the Ateca isn't without it's teething problems and this may be something that someone has experience of so any pointers will be gratefully received. If SEAT resolve our issue then I'll post up the findings.

We picked up the wife's Ateca 1.5 Xcellence Lux DSG (with a few added toys, pan roof, towbar) on 26th November, initial thoughts as a Cupra 290 driver were "it's a bit nicer than mine inside" :)
A week or so goes by then...and these are Mrs BCC's words to the dealer as I've only actually driven it twice.....

Further to my visit on Wednesday and your conversations with Gary this morning I just wanted to send you a detailed description of the issues I've been experiencing with my Ateca (picked up on the 26th October).
I'm suffering from a total lack of any throttle approx once / twice a week seemingly at random times. I have tried changing various settings like turning off start/stop, turning off the auto-hold and driving the car in sports mode (done for the last 2 weeks). Although the autohold not being on does make a noticeable difference in pulling away in general it's not fixing the 'lack of throttle' issue I'm having.
This morning really affirmed my belief that there is a serious technical fault with the car not related to my personal driving style/any of the settings I have been adjusting.
I have been documenting issues in the last week as I became more sure there was an actual problem. Please see the log below of various incidents.

Few weeks ago
Stopped at traffic lights on the way home from Hersham (so the car had had a long run to Hersham already parked for an hour and a half, this was the journey home)
Autohold on, start stop off pulling away from the car being in park with the handbrake on.
Problem long enough for me to check I was in drive, try the accelerator maybe 3 times before it moved.
The same has happened on a journey the following day but I can't remember as much detail as above but was very similar, stopped at traffics lights, warm car.

Last week
First thing in the morning, stopped to turn right into our road after driving a mile down the road and back in a traffic jam (10 mins driving, prob with a couple of min stop off) Cold outside maybe 3 degrees.
Autohold on, start stop probably on. Stopped just with the brake pedal, no power for long enough for me to check I was in drive, try the accelerator maybe 3 times before it moved. And when I did the pull off was very very slow and then jerked into full acceleration after I had made the turn.

Earlier this week - before I came in on Wednesday
First thing in the morning, pulling off the driveway 10 degrees outside.
Autohold on, start stop off reversing off the driveway, stop to change from R into D nothing.. Stopped long enough for me to check I was in drive, try the accelerator maybe 3 times before it moved AND a few seconds later then turning out our road onto the main road, just stopped at the junction with the brake pedal, went to pull out, nothing.
Stopped long enough for me to check I was in drive, try the accelerator maybe 3 times before it moved.

Today
Mid Reversing off the drive this morning 7 degrees outside
Autohold off, start stop on, reversing slowly off the drive probably took my foot off the accelerator for a couple of secs as I have to go slow between the pillar and the other car. Foot back on accelerator, nothing. Put car into Park left for a couple of secs, then back into R still nothing, tried D, nothing. Back into P and then R again nothing. Engine was running but no revs showing on display (I've changed the display so the revs are easy to read on the dial now).
This all lasted about a minute, long enough for me to phone Gary in the house to say the car wasn't moving!! When he came out it still wasn't going anywhere, then while we were looking at the rev counter it suddenly crept up a little to 1 and I was able to drive the car again. Car was fine all the way to my folks (4 miles) stopped, dropped off then drove 1 mile to the office also fine.

It started happening a few times before the first instance above - I put it down to driver error but as it kept happening I've started to take more notice. There have probably been a couple between the first above and last week too, but again I've not taken as much notice of the detail until this week.
As you know we have a young child who is usually in the car with me daily, safety has been extremely high on our agenda when we were choosing a new car. To be honest after this morning I am worried about the safety of this vehicle. It's not stopped whilst I've been moving before and now that's happened I've lost total confidence. The thought of losing power whilst driving is dangerous enough, let alone it happening on a motorway. The outcome could be fatal.
I would like Seat to take urgent action to investigate the issues above, and would suggest the problem is not an isolated case just on my car. From my visit on Wednesday your colleague Martin who we discussed the problems with seemed to be experiencing the same issues with his new Ateca. I'm sure safety is a priority for a family car manufacturer like Seat, so I am sure you will be treating this matter with the seriousness required.

We look forward to hearing your plans for investigating this matter.

That went off on 30th (I'd previously spoken to them verbally in person) and we dropped the car back to the dealer on 1st December, they lent us a car from the forecourt and they got set to investigate. They're a pretty decent bunch to be fair to them, I can't grumble about the sales team, they're always extremely professional to deal with and they get a solid 9/10 from me (SMC Alderhot)
To clarify a bit of the above, the chap Martin who's mentioned, is actually the SMC brand manager so to have him experience exactly the same issue on the same model/spec vehicle, registered within days of ours has actually been a blessing really as it confirms the Mrs isn't being daft or over reacting. I've been a passenger when the issue has occurred and it's quite nerve wracking, especially when it happens at a busy junction/roundabout.

The dealer has investigated both cars, Martins was found to have some loose wiring and has subsequently been fixed (hhmmmmm.....) but they can't find anything on ours although they have experienced the fault themselves a number of times in the week they've had our car, so it's now been escalated to the bods at SEAT HQ to look at.

Whilst googling this particular issue I looked at most of the obvious things and can't really find anything 100% similar. I also can't see that any 1.5 Kodiaq owners seem to be experiencing the same issue so maybe it's the first batch of 1.5 DSG Ateca's that are affected? I'd be interested to hear about anyone else's experience of this specification car?

I think we'll give them the opportunity of sorting it out, another week or so would seem reasonable before we do anything drastic like reject it. If it gets sorted then great, if it gets sorted and then goes wrong again then it's definitely history.

I will add though, the petrol consumption is blooming woeful. I had to try VERY hard to get over 30mpg in Eco mode. Generally it seems to hover around 28-29 which is the same as our previous D4. Maybe it will improve once it's done a few miles.

Apologies for the long winded post :)
 
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#2 ·
Hi,

Picked my Ateca up today a 1.5 tsi manual and seem to have the same kind of problem,

Sometimes when I pull away it's fine then a few times it's as if the accelerator doesn't react for a few second when you press it in which has caused it to stall,

Had a different ateca before this one which never had a problem with,

Will have to drive it a few days see if it's me or it is actually something up with the car

Do you know if they've had any regular problem like this ?

Thanks
 
#3 ·
Hi Hayden

I was just going to post an update on this so good timing.

Firstly, don't hesitate but get this issue in writing to your dealer ASAP and maybe even get it into them. Refer them to SMC Aldershot if they've not been kept in the loop.
If you have your car on any kind of finance, then copy them in on it also.

I had an update from SEAT this morning and it appears that our car isn't the only one affected, I now know that at least 4 (Including yours) are affected by this issue and SEAT can replicate the "no throttle response" issue on demand in a manual 1.5. They get the car to nearly stall and then the error occurs apparently.
This issue is being put down to a software error and I understand that a patch is being worked on by the boffins now. In the meantime they're keeping our car and won't let us have it back (for safety reasons) until it's been applied and tested to everyone's satisfaction.

I've a feeling we haven't heard the last of this as it seems a deffo new 1.5 engine variation issue and if it's software related then I'd have thought pretty much every car running that version will be affected.
 
#5 ·
You start to question if it's your own driving at first but having drove it for a couple of days it's done it a couple of times, always seems to be when your pulling out of a junction of busy traffic!

Had an ateca before this new one but find this one drives totally different to the old one I had! not too impressed atm!

I think it might have something to do with the autohold brake as that seems to be when it happens once that has come on at a total standstill,

Will keep you updated of how I get on 👍
 
#7 ·
I've got to go take a technition out for a test drive Friday hopefully,

The service departments words were "probably the evo engines as they drive different to the Tsi"

Having drove it more since I had it just something doesn't feel right with it 🤔 hardly any power in second gear if your going slow in traffic and if you leave it in 1st it's like a kangaroo!!

If you put your foot to the floor in second gear sometimes it just dribbles up the speed so something has to be up with it

Feel like you have to over compensate with he revs to get the bite of the clutch to be confident it isn't going to stall, but other day pulled out a junction hadn't stalled as revs were still at 1000 and just dribbled out in 1st gear with foot to the floor just went up to 5 mph in about 4 seconds!

Hate driving it atm .... wish I had kept the old one!
 
#8 ·
Hayden mills said:
... pulled out a junction hadn't stalled as revs were still at 1000 and just dribbled out in 1st gear with foot to the floor just went up to 5 mph in about 4 seconds!
Peak torque in these engines is available from 1400RPM which is remarkably low. But expecting it to pick up smartly at 1000RPM is pushing it a bit.
 
#9 ·
Not expecting it to pick up at 1000 rpm but what happens is go to pull off and there's a time delay with the accelerator occasionally (seems to be when using auto hold brake) so you think it has stalled as car doesn't move but it's still sat idle on 1000 rpm but press accelerator down and car doesn't move,

Drives totally different to the 1.4 Tsi Ateca that I swapped for this one, always had manual petrol so used to driving them but this seems like something playing up when using the auto hold brake as sometimes will not pull away without whacking alot of revs on 🤔
 
#10 ·
Had a call from SEAT yesterday whereby they've informed me that is is definitely (cough) a software issue.
The software update is currently being written and we should have our car back in a couple of weeks, which will mean they'd have had it in the garage longer than we had it on our drive!
We have a loaner (Audi A6 estate) for the time being which is actually rather nice so our plan is to give them the 2 weeks they've asked for but we've reserved the right to reject the vehicle if it's not fixed by then. This isn't really an option we want to proceed with as we're then back to square one finding another car which ticks all the relevant boxes but I think under the circumstances we're not really left with much choice.
 
#12 ·
I'm so glad I've just seen this. Ive just had the 1.5 tsi technology. Thought it was me doing something wrong and not driving properly, or being in the wrong gear.

Only had the car just over a week now.
In gear, at a junction, spot a gap to pull out into yet there's no power. Also when accelerating in 2nd gear sometimes it feels very sluggish too. Nearly caused an accident yesterday. Is there a fix to this yet?
 
#15 ·
Ikpo1979 said:
GlennS said:
My 1.5 TSI FR does it too.
You had anyone look at it or done to it yet?
Not yet, it seems that a fix is being worked on, so I'll wait for the recall.. there has been one already to address the headlight beam being too high.
 
#17 ·
Ikpo1979 said:
I'm new to all this, never owned a brand new car before. Pointless taking it to the dealer at the moment then till a fix is available? Will there be a recall and they be in touch with me or do I just have to keep my eye out?
I'd report it to your dealer
Add's weight to the scale of the problem, and if they fix in order of reported you won't be last to be done
 
#18 ·
Bigcarpchaser said:
Had a call from SEAT yesterday whereby they've informed me that is is definitely (cough) a software issue.
The software update is currently being written and we should have our car back in a couple of weeks, which will mean they'd have had it in the garage longer than we had it on our drive!
We have a loaner (Audi A6 estate) for the time being which is actually rather nice so our plan is to give them the 2 weeks they've asked for but we've reserved the right to reject the vehicle if it's not fixed by then. This isn't really an option we want to proceed with as we're then back to square one finding another car which ticks all the relevant boxes but I think under the circumstances we're not really left with much choice.
Has anyone heard back if the software update is ready? I'm having the same problems on my 2019 Seat Ateca Excellence Lux.
 
#20 ·
Took mine in for this, it's a known issue across the VW group with the 1.5 evo DSG box. They are apparently working on a software fix and the dealer said it would be issued as a recall. That's as long as they are aware you are having the problem, fingers crossed it won't be to long.
 
#22 ·
My car that I collect in January also seems to have this dead spot in the revs. Been in the dealers twice now, though and they cannot find the fault and the car is showing no faults. Told them about the threads I've seen on here and they said they are not aware of any issue! Rang Seat head office yesterday to lodge a case as I said it dangerous that the car is doing this. Should hear back from a manger in the next 2 days to take it further. I don't get why all the dealerships haven't been contacted about this yet?!
 
#24 ·
Ikpo1979 said:
Mine literally just did this about 20 minutes ago. Pulling out of a junction, spotted a gap, went to accelerate......nothing. The car just rolled out of the junction and into the lane with oncoming traffic in. It is dangerous as sooner or later it'll cause an accident.
I'll add that mine also did this out of a junction this evening. Just rolled out of the junction no response what so ever, had to tap the brakes to get it to go.

Emailed Seat this evening expressing my concern. Will keep an eye if it decides to repeat its self.
 
#25 ·
matthab said:
Ikpo1979 said:
Mine literally just did this about 20 minutes ago. Pulling out of a junction, spotted a gap, went to accelerate......nothing. The car just rolled out of the junction and into the lane with oncoming traffic in. It is dangerous as sooner or later it'll cause an accident.
I'll add that mine also did this out of a junction this evening. Just rolled out of the junction no response what so ever, had to tap the brakes to get it to go.

Emailed Seat this evening expressing my concern. Will keep an eye if it decides to repeat its self.
Let us know if you get any reply. 👍👍
 
#26 ·
Ikpo1979 said:
matthab said:
Ikpo1979 said:
Mine literally just did this about 20 minutes ago. Pulling out of a junction, spotted a gap, went to accelerate......nothing. The car just rolled out of the junction and into the lane with oncoming traffic in. It is dangerous as sooner or later it'll cause an accident.
I'll add that mine also did this out of a junction this evening. Just rolled out of the junction no response what so ever, had to tap the brakes to get it to go.

Emailed Seat this evening expressing my concern. Will keep an eye if it decides to repeat its self.
Let us know if you get any reply. 👍👍
Best thing is the dashcam caught the moment perfectly.
 
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