Emira Issues - from final production cars

[Mh59]

Correct. The other issues are insignificant now. I could have returned it for the speaker replacement (and knock sensor which is another part that needs replacing I’m told) but the brakes issue means it’s effectively in jail at the dealer and is sat outside in the customer car park (according to my tracker) until x / y or z date.

No brake disks or pads available and it’s pending central’s response as to when.

Update on this for the benefit of those noting the brake issue.

I received my car back yesterday, 24th January (it was taken in on January 9th).

Parts replaced;

Oxygen sensor (I’m not sure if this is also known as the knock sensor) which was to help fix the juddering. Not 100% certain it’s fixed yet but I’ve only done a few short journeys so hard to be sure either way.

Rear KEF speaker behind driver seat. No heavy vibrations now. Audio remains underwhelming but I’ve noted others saying radio / Bluetooth streaming is poor compared to physically plugging in so will hold out hope this is the case, albeit not ideal as I would typically stream audio via BT.

Engine management / emissions light. Was reset but remains illuminated after driving away from the dealership. Due to be corrected once software update available. Interested how this isn’t affecting all others from the first batches but nothing overly concerning.

Tracker replaced on day 2. Not worth the money. Anyone who has one can see for themselves it will be out in less than 10 seconds. It’s not hidden or behind the dash / console as anticipated (I’ll not disclose its location for obvious reasons). Still unable to find anyone who has push notifications working. Email to lotus cc pending reply as scorpion said they couldn’t help beyond confirming all my settings were correct.

Front Brake disks were corroded (a shock to me and the lotus engineers at the dealership) and the pads had fractured in places. Very alarming as I hadn’t noticed and wouldn’t have if it wasn’t in for the above issues. This is what took over 2 weeks to resolve. After week 1, central said they’d take some from the production line and send them to the dealer. The dealer got a call the day after to say they’d changed their mind and now had no idea when they’d send them. Another week later, they had arrived and promptly fitted. 15 days without the car though due to a lack of consumable parts that central were not prepared to take from stock.

Needless to say I’m not overly happy but I’ll leave the emotion out of it with the above simply to let interested folk know how it panned out in case similar technical issues occur for others.

 

[Porter]

Front Brake disks were corroded (a shock to me and the lotus engineers at the dealership) and the pads had fractured in places. Very alarming as I hadn’t noticed and wouldn’t have if it wasn’t in for the above issues. This is what took over 2 weeks to resolve. After week 1, central said they’d take some from the production line and send them to the dealer. The dealer got a call the day after to say they’d changed their mind and now had no idea when they’d send them. Another week later, they had arrived and promptly fitted. 15 days without the car though due to a lack of consumable parts that central were not prepared to take from stock.

FYI cars sent over ocean (by any manufacturer) have cosmoline or a similar rust inhibitor sprayed on their exposed steel and iron parts for exactly this reason. On unprotected brand new metal without significant heat cycling, exposure to weather while sitting is a recipe for potentially significant corrosion.

It may be that they haven't been doing this on cars bound for UK customers since it's a domestic delivery without an ocean voyage... if so, I think it's a mistake. Cars end up stored in weird places for long periods for all sorts of odd reasons. Without appropriate protection, most steel parts will quickly rust.

 

[Concept24]

Just washing some vehicles or leaving them outside during heavy fog can cause rust to appear. It is no reason to replace the rotors. Why would the Emira rotors be any different?

 

[Evotion]

Yeah, after washing, drive your car for X number of yards and break. it will remove that light rust-like film and you will be okay. The danger is that rust build up sticks harder and may damage the brakes the first time you use them.

 

[Porter]

Just washing some vehicles or leaving them outside during heavy fog can cause rust to appear. It is no reason to replace the rotors. Why would the Emira rotors be any different?

When rotors are new and not yet heat cycled by use or deliberate bedding-in, corrosion is a far greater concern. It can cause pitting or damage to the surface, particularly if it's a "clean" uncoated/unprotected mild steel surface and is exposed to the elements for long periods. This is also true for brake pads, if they have any sintered metallic content.

Once a braking system has been repeatedly heat cycled, the steel becomes far more resistant to moisture corrosion and typically results in surface rust only. This also applies to brake pad materials.


You'll notice if you buy new rotors for almost any vehicle, they come coated in a sticky substance that should be washed off prior to first use. This is a protective coating that's been applied and should be washed off with soap or degreaser just prior to installation. In the case of a major manufacturer like Lotus, it's possible that they are receiving brake parts directly from the production process and bypassing any destined-for-retail coating and packaging process. Parts manufacturers generally assume that vehicle manufacturers will spray-coat with a corrosion inhibitor on the suspension and brake parts after assembly, prior to any vehicle storage or transport.

 

[Concept24]

Thanks for the info. For about a year and a half, I designed stainless steel auto and motorcycle rotors that were coated with chromium. They had no problem with rust.
Now I think if I were to buy replacement cast iron rotors, I'd look further into coated versions. This video describes the main benefits of such rotors. I am also partial to slotted rotors such as the AP Racing J-hook style.

 

[TomE]

Post #1 updated with latest info and known fixes are now highlighted. Thanks to the owners who have been reporting issues and fixes.

Lotus continue to act on issues being raised but there can be a time delay between issues being discovered and an official diagnosis and fix.

 

[Mr D]

To my understanding we have one more to add to the list:
I am lacking the appropriate wording to explain it in English, surely anybody here will help.
On the Demo car that arrived this week in Bilbao I spotted on both sills what I consider a bad fitting of the rubber strip on top of the carpet. I forgot to take pictures, you can barely spot it on the video I took of the inside, I also saw on the video of the Japanese car, and on one of the yellow demos in UK, and I thought may these cars where not final custom version, but I just saw it also on the customer car just delivered in Hethel.
Confirmation from members in here with customer cars delivered would be appreciated, and if Lotus is aware and solutions to this issue for both existing and new deliveries

Picture of !st Hethel collection: @shaank could confirm if he sees this as an issue

View attachment 10766

Absolutely right its a problem. Its a double "dog ear" flap that should not be there on a quality car. Original problem was on Rover cars which even they managed to sort by slitting & glueing. Every car has this issue. Factory aware but nothing done about it.

 

[Mr D]

These electrical gremlins sound a lot like what happened with the Alfa Romeo Giulia when it was first out in 2017. We had all kinds of sudden limp modes, windows not wanting to work properly, random warning lights on the dash, etc. Turned out in almost every case it was the battery. The batteries coming from the factory weren't all up to snuff. Some had apparently sat too long in the factory, or in the car on the long journey from Italy to America, and had developed charge/charging issues. The solution was to replace the battery, and that fixed the problems. The car just wasn't getting either enough, or reliable enough power from the battery for various things.

I'm wondering in the long period of delays, if the batteries have sat on pallets at the factory too long. Have either the dealerships or Lotus check the batteries. On the Alfa, some batteries would test fine when tested, but under load while driving the car they weren't working properly.

Known factory wastage is the amount of failed batteries. We have pallet after pallet of failed batteries which have been brought on a no return basis so are just scrapped. Do not hold a charge & software level set high to flag a low battery power on driver display which then prevents car starting. So many problems reported within company due to poor batteries from exported cars. One problem being key fob is permantly active & searching signals within a certain distance from vehicle & therefore activates otherwise dormant systems unless fob is shielded from vehicle.

 

[Guest142]

Known factory wastage is the amount of failed batteries. We have pallet after pallet of failed batteries which have been brought on a no return basis so are just scrapped. Do not hold a charge & software level set high to flag a low battery power on driver display which then prevents car starting. So many problems reported within company due to poor batteries from exported cars. One problem being key fob is permantly active & searching signals within a certain distance from vehicle & therefore activates otherwise dormant systems unless fob is shielded from vehicle.

👀

 

[Porter]

Known factory wastage is the amount of failed batteries. We have pallet after pallet of failed batteries which have been brought on a no return basis so are just scrapped. Do not hold a charge & software level set high to flag a low battery power on driver display which then prevents car starting. So many problems reported within company due to poor batteries from exported cars. One problem being key fob is permantly active & searching signals within a certain distance from vehicle & therefore activates otherwise dormant systems unless fob is shielded from vehicle.

What doesn't make sense is why AGM batteries are failing so rapidly? One of the key benefits of that type of battery is to extend the shelf stability. And even in this scenario it's not like it's been multiple years, surely it's only been months that these things have been sitting.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

Dealers are definitely having challenges with the reflash of the ECU.

According to my dealer, the reflash is coded to the VIN of each vehicle which means they have to re-download the update software for every single vehicle. Apparently, this can take 3hrs+ per vehicle. If there is any issue during the download or update, it fails and the process starts again. They had one Emira that took multiple attempts and three days to successfully update.

 

[Concept24]

What doesn't make sense is why AGM batteries are failing so rapidly? One of the key benefits of that type of battery is to extend the shelf stability. And even in this scenario it's not like it's been multiple years, surely it's only been months that these things have been sitting.

What manufacturer is making the batteries?

 

[Mh59]

Absolutely right its a problem. Its a double "dog ear" flap that should not be there on a quality car. Original problem was on Rover cars which even they managed to sort by slitting & glueing. Every car has this issue. Factory aware but nothing done about it.

This is on my car too. Only minor on the drivers side (with a rough bit of carpet finish in the corner which also isn’t ideal) but a bit more pronounced on the passenger side.

I suspect it’s a DIY fix but to be honest, I’ll likely just leave it as is.

 

[Wonza]

This is on my car too. Only minor on the drivers side (with a rough bit of carpet finish in the corner which also isn’t ideal) but a bit more pronounced on the passenger side.

I suspect it’s a DIY fix but to be honest, I’ll likely just leave it as is.

You’re not alone. Mine too

 

[SlowSTi]

Mine too

 

[Sid]

I'm waiting for the Black/Silver nose badge, already got the wheel hubs. Looks nice on the Nimbus. (still waiting for Black Wheel Bolts)

 

[JasonR]

Just seen a post on the Facebook page about yet another owner who has had the car a day and already has gearbox failure. Think this is the closest I’ve been to pulling out. Whole reason I sold the supra is due to it being away being fixed more than I could drive it. I won’t accept the same issue from a brand new car….

 

[KJD]

I'm waiting for the Black/Silver nose badge, already got the wheel hubs. Looks nice on the Nimbus. (still waiting for Black Wheel Bolts)

View attachment 22163

There’s something wrong with your brake pads.
They’re only sweeping about half the disk.

 

[Wonza]

There’s something wrong with your brake pads.
They’re only sweeping about half the disk.

I was wondering why this brake disc are so corroded for a new car.