Engine & electrical power loss while driving. Had to put into park & restart.

[Anth76]

my wife was driving our 2012 TS 118 Superb Elegane wagon the other day and it completely lost power while driving. She got to the end of our street, and turned left up a steep hill. When she accellerated (in standard drive gear, not sports or manual shift), it pulled away then cut out.

Engine stopped, all electricals shut off & only the battery icon displayed on the dash. She lost power steering & brakes of course. Bloody worrying, as she's heavily pregnant plus had our toddler in the back, and I worry what would have happened if she was doing 100km on the freeway.

We've had the car about 3 months. 56,000 on the clock. Had a decent inspection by VW before we bought it.
Only issue we had was a new key was cut & programmed by an auto locksmith as the dealer only provided one. But the wife thinks she was using the original key.

I know the factory warranty peroid expired just as we bought it. Might give Skoda Australia a call but thought I'd ask everyone's opinion on the potential cause.

[AALocksmiths]

The key that you are using will make no difference at all to your car driving.

You might have a loose plug or wire somewhere? I had a similar thing happen years ago with my car, as I would go around the corner the wire loom would stretch and pull out of the plug.

[Umai Naa!!]

Brakes would still work. Just have to push the pedal harder than normal.

I had a Passat that would randomly stop, of the same vintage, and the same 118TSI engine. We traced it to a faulty ECU. Took a while to figure out though.

[Anth76]

Having talked to my wife again last night, it kind of sounds like the Skoda might have just stalled. If it was a manual, it would have behaved the same....loss of power, no dash lights except battery icon, etc, but that seems unusual, although not impossible, for an auto.


The whole dual clutch DSG is still new to me, so I don't fully understand their ins and outs, but you do notice that sort of clunky surge in 1st. Perhaps it just stalled because she booted it up hill frow low speed.

[Albervin]

A similar thing happened to my wife's Citroen earlier this year. Total loss of drive. Stop and re-start then all OK. Initially it was put down to a faulty brake switch but that was replaced and the problem recurred. It was then said it was the mechatronix and the bill would be $3,000. We ditched the car as it was only worth $5,000. It may be an ecu fault but a full diagnostic will hopefully locate the cause.