Andrew Hamilton, Motoring Editor of The Irish Times, answers motoringquestions from readers.
PICASSO PROBLEM
A Dun Laoghaire woman who drives a Citroën Xsara Picasso was upset by a few paragraphs she read in a British newspaper. The report said that 70,000 Picassos in the UK were being recalled to check for a potentially life-threatening fault. The brake pedal on the highly-successful family MPV car fail suddenly and the report added that the problem affects all cars sold since the launch in mid-2000.
Did we know anything? Was there a recall on the Irish market?
Indeed there is. Pat Byrne, assistant service manager at Gallic Distributors, the Irish importers, says all Picasso owners in the Republic are being notified by registered letter.
"We, of course, have notified our dealers and they will also be contacting customers. We want to make doubly sure that everyone has been informed. The corrective work at the dealership will only take a short time and it will be carried out free of charge." The problem on the Picasso is down to a small clip. If incorrectly fitted, it can allow the pedal to detach from the rest of the braking system. Should the detachment take place on the move, the driver would be reduced to using the handbrake and gears to bring the vehicle to a halt.
Citroën in the UK admits that a small number of owners have experienced the problem but adds that no injuries have been reported. Meanwhile, the British magazine, Autocar, was alarmed that only 85 per cent of owners at best respond to recall notices. "That could leave 10,000 potentially dangerous Picassos still on UK roads."
FOCUS FOCUS
Frank Kyne asks us about his Ford Focus. He likes the car very much but the only problem is that he finds too much reflective glare in the windscreen coming from an air vent in the dashboard. It is distracting, while driving, he says.
Denis McSweeney, Ford's marketing director here, replies "Windscreens are made of reflecting material and that is why we make our dashboards of matt non-reflective, just as our competitors do, to avoid reflections. We do not have a history of customer concerns with windscreen reflections on Focus notwithstanding having sold more than 25,000 cars in Ireland to date. The feedback we receive from Focus customers is outstanding and the issue raised by Mr Kyne is by no means peculiar to this model.
"A clean dashboard surface will help maintain the non-reflective nature of the surface but the use of cleaning agents which tend to add a sheen to surfaces, should be avoided."
HELP THE BRAKES
David Johnson wonders about electronic brake assist which is standard on more and more cars these days. Is it really necessary when ABS does a good job?
We think it is a highly useful aid to safety. Research has shown that in many emergency situations, drivers just don't brake hard enough. This means that the brakes-and ABS if fitted-are not working to their full potential.
Electronic brake assist uses the ABS sensors to monitor when emergency braking is required and applies the brakes fully until the pedal is fully released, thereby minimising stopping distances and maintaining ABS operation (ie the ability to steer under heavy braking).