Ray dadd
Member Since: 18 Feb 2006
Location: stourbridge
Posts: 20
  
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| almost lost car over cliff edge |
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Hi all
On Friday I had to drive a green lane called the gap road in Brecon in the BBNP. This road has a seasonal TRO (currently closed opens the 1 march) and I was on the lane to carrying out emergency repairs .As a volunteer for CRAG working with highways and NP.
Anyway it was well covered in snow and I started to climb the hill from the north end .the long run up the hill is about 500m long and reasonably steep and was very slippy with all this snow. I raised the suspension and put it into low box and altered the terrain response to snowy conditions .the car was doing great following some other well equipped motors with lockers in so I felt very proud of the car .as I was keeping up with them due to the traction control. as I got near to the top of the main climb the air suspension failed and I lost terrain response traction control and basically all the drive went to just one wheel as centre dif disengaged as well .well you should have seen the look on my face as the car stopped moving and I started to slip down hill slipping towards the edged of the drop off into the valley. I can tell you it was one of the scariest moments of my life (well except when I met the mother in law for the first time) .I was just about to jump out the car as it was going over the edge when it stopped on a little rock against the rear wheel (thank god!).
I restarted the car and all the programs reset .I managed to move forwards in to some fresh snow to get some better grip when it failed again but this time I did not slip as I was not in the original path of the other cars I was following ,nice fresh snow kept me still .so after changing my under pants I managed to reverse down the hill and leave it there and carried on up the hill with my mate who had seen all this from behind me at the base of the hill .when I got in the car with him he said he thought I was a goner, and so did I .but hey ho I survived
If you want to see more about the lane repairs that went on look at www.crag-uk.org on the front page and click on the info button in that section.
I took it to the dealership today and told them about what went on and all they did was shrug there shoulder and say we have never had that before .then they took it and had it for an hour or so and did a software down load and said that its all ok now just a little glitch .when they told me that I lost my temper as I nearly was /could have been killed .they could not even guaranty it would never happen again either.
So what do you think i can do as I have lost all confidence in the cars off road capability? When I am doing a little extreme stuff .looks like I will use my defender for the harder work from now on
Yours
Ray dadd
 CRAG-uk.org
countryside recreational access group
D3 7seater lugano teal
D3 s comercial 06 Rimni red
toyota land crusier vx 4.2 94M
defender 90 hard top (best of all ) 99
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 28th Feb 2006 11:53 pm |
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Gareth
Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26701
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I know the gap road well, and I know exactly where you mean, and it is very scary. My old 2a broke a drive shaft on the rocks at turn the top of that climb, and I too was very glad the 2a had a working handbrake!
Your dealers response is not good, if they have done a software upgrade to repair a so called glitch, then they should give you exact details to restore your confidence. I think you should write to Land Rover customer services to vent your anger.
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| 1st Mar 2006 8:30 am |
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