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The car was diagnosed with a faulty ECM. We took the delivery and were on our way back home when suddenly it stopped and all electricals went off. I immediately called the service advisor, who sent this flat bed truck and called the car back to their workshop (Hyundai Motor Plaza, New Delhi).

The company kept the car for two days and assured us of their best attention. They lived up to the promise, being a company owned and operated workshop they pressed all resources for diagnosis and I even saw Korean engineers working closely with technicians on ground.

The ECM was replaced in warranty, Hyundai was quite apologetic, gave us some free accessories, and it is now more than a year the car is perfectly fine and has done 23000kms.

Last but not the least, I swear by their service provided to me.

That's good service even though not expected from a brand new car. But I can bet had it been anything from the German/Czech group, you would have been in a boat load of trouble.

Friend's less than a year old X1 battery died and not starting with jumper cables as well. He's on the flat bed going to the workshop now and sent me this pic.

What a pity!

Was the car standing idle for long time? BMWs are known for this battery issue in case of cars that are standing idle for two weeks or more.

Please update us on the workshop reply. I hope it gets replaced under warranty.

Hey Skyliner,
That is my car. My brother got back home from home Pune on Monday evening. About 40mins later when he was suppose to get to work, he tried starting the car but it just didn't start. I called road assistance that evening and told them to send the team in the morning. Surprisingly they were there right on time and diagnosed it as battery problems. I didn't wan to leave the car alone in their hands, so went along to Pune. I also called Pooja at the road assistance to make sure i don't need to wait long at the service station. Ive know of them to not touch cars without appointments. But again, as i reached Bavaria my car was taken in asap and battery was changed under warranty!!
Pretty courtesy staff at Bavaria Motors. Ive been there for the first time. Also the road assist was very prompt.. so happy with the experience!!

Two weeks only? That seems rather quick. Having said that, most modern cars, certainly in this segment tend to come equipped with factory fitted immobilizers and or alarm systems. Depends a bit on make and type but my experience is that typically they will drain even a good, new, battery in 6 to 9 weeks.

Jeroen

My elder brother has an E90 BMW 320d that stands idle for 4-5 months while he is sailing. The car starts up fine after he is back. Not sure if it is an X1 specific issue.

My guess is it has to do with regenerative braking used in newer BMW cars. The battery is charged only during regenerative braking so a sparingly used car is more likely to have a fully discharged battery.

I have read that this happens a lot. One trick is to ensure ventilation is in re-circulation mode to avoid sensors working big time. Another reason which should not be for such a new car is that the seals were perished leading to moisture causing minor shorting of alarm sensors

At the end of the day, its just a matter of these immobilisers/alarm system putting a (very) small but continous drain on your battery. So no matter what, if the battery doesn't get charged by driving or by hooking it up to a 9trickle) charger, eventually the battery will be dead.

Not entirely sure on modern state of the art system, but I know the after market immobilers I had put in my Alfa Romeo Spider pull around 20mA. Look at your battery capacity, do the math and you can calculate how many days/week it will last. At 20-40mA with your average car battery, not that long, couple of months at best. In cold temperatures it gets worse.

To make matters worse, the one thing with modern cars, with lots of electronics, they are often more susceptible to low voltage / poor battery. You might see all sorts of pecular little issues, very difficult to diagnose properly. If you visit the respective car specific forums, you will often see when members complain about illusive problem the first advise is, check the battery. Second check/clean all electrical connections/earthing.

On my Jaguar XJR, at some point in time I was experiencing a range of different issues, CEL coming on, no codes thrown, could not figure it out. Put a new battery in, and all was well again.

Jeroen

Jeroen

I had read sometime ago on the forum itself that a F10 (or a X1, not sure) suffered battery dead issue due to standing idle for couple of weeks. I am trying to search it but couldn't find it so far. This is a two years old story, I guess.

I am little worried myself because I don't let anyone touch my car and if I am out of country for over two weeks time or so then I will have no option but to ask someone to drive it a little.

or just disconnect the battery?

Not sure if this can be done because of immobilizer and other security systems working offline. Will check with the service guys and confirm.

I guess you're referring to Suman's X1.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3200731

If your battery is ok any car should "survive" two weeks of standing still without any problems. If it doesn't there is something wrong with your battery or you have some electrical problem that is putting an additional drain on the battery. Relatively easy to find.

Jeroen