- Joined
- Dec 17, 2005
- Messages
- 13,219
- Reaction score
- 1,071
had to replace bonnet and screen on one of these two weeks ago , because my garage was the last ones to work on it . sod it , if only this was on the tele then
on watchdog tonight
23 January 2007
In April 2006, Watchdog investigated a potentially fatal problem with the bonnet safety catch on the Renault Clio. Without warning, bonnets were opening while the car was moving, obscuring the driver's vision and cracking the windscreen. At the time, Renault told us it didn't believe there was a common problem with the cars. It said the drivers hadn't closed their bonnets securely. The company admitted having heard of some incidents, but couldn't find a pattern.
Since our original report, more than 250 people have contacted us saying the same thing happened to them. So if Renault couldn't see a pattern before, perhaps it would see one now. Alan Hecht, for example, was travelling at 113kph (70mph) when his bonnet flew open. He tried to pull into the hard shoulder but a bus smacked into the back of his car. The car was written off. Amazingly no one was hurt. Tracey Davis was driving on a busy motorway when the bonnet on her car flew open. She felt Renault was to blame, but the company said there was no defect with any of the car bonnet catches.
When our expert Martin Woodhouse examined the Clio Mark II he found the safety catch to be particularly dangerous, because if the owner pulls the catch too hard they can actually force it out and into the unsafe open position. Our expert believes Renault should recall these cars.
Rebecca Wheeler was driving her Clio Mark II home when the bonnet flew up. She had to do an emergency stop in the fast lane of the M4. Wheeler's garage reported the fault was with her safety catch, which it said wasn't designed to withstand high speeds. Renault didn't accept the report, so Wheeler got a second one from the company that does inspections for the AA. The report states the damage occurred during normal day-to-day use, so their design meant it was going to happen at some point.
There's now a new version of the Clio on the road - the Clio Mark III. It has a completely different bonnet catch made entirely of metal, fully integrated and, most importantly, fail safe. Of all the complaints that Watchdog's received about Clio bonnet catches, not one concerned the new Clio Mark III. But there are still thousands of Clios on the road with the older bonnet catches. Experts say this is a design fault, and we know it's already caused serious accidents. Just how serious does it have to get before Renault will issue a recall?
Renault responds to Watchdog's investigation.
on watchdog tonight
23 January 2007
In April 2006, Watchdog investigated a potentially fatal problem with the bonnet safety catch on the Renault Clio. Without warning, bonnets were opening while the car was moving, obscuring the driver's vision and cracking the windscreen. At the time, Renault told us it didn't believe there was a common problem with the cars. It said the drivers hadn't closed their bonnets securely. The company admitted having heard of some incidents, but couldn't find a pattern.
Since our original report, more than 250 people have contacted us saying the same thing happened to them. So if Renault couldn't see a pattern before, perhaps it would see one now. Alan Hecht, for example, was travelling at 113kph (70mph) when his bonnet flew open. He tried to pull into the hard shoulder but a bus smacked into the back of his car. The car was written off. Amazingly no one was hurt. Tracey Davis was driving on a busy motorway when the bonnet on her car flew open. She felt Renault was to blame, but the company said there was no defect with any of the car bonnet catches.
When our expert Martin Woodhouse examined the Clio Mark II he found the safety catch to be particularly dangerous, because if the owner pulls the catch too hard they can actually force it out and into the unsafe open position. Our expert believes Renault should recall these cars.
Rebecca Wheeler was driving her Clio Mark II home when the bonnet flew up. She had to do an emergency stop in the fast lane of the M4. Wheeler's garage reported the fault was with her safety catch, which it said wasn't designed to withstand high speeds. Renault didn't accept the report, so Wheeler got a second one from the company that does inspections for the AA. The report states the damage occurred during normal day-to-day use, so their design meant it was going to happen at some point.
There's now a new version of the Clio on the road - the Clio Mark III. It has a completely different bonnet catch made entirely of metal, fully integrated and, most importantly, fail safe. Of all the complaints that Watchdog's received about Clio bonnet catches, not one concerned the new Clio Mark III. But there are still thousands of Clios on the road with the older bonnet catches. Experts say this is a design fault, and we know it's already caused serious accidents. Just how serious does it have to get before Renault will issue a recall?
Renault responds to Watchdog's investigation.