Safety issues and more with Cupra Born

  • Dear all, good morning!


    I'm sorry but I don't speak German

    Currently I am driving a Cupra Born since Feb.2022

    These are the detailed specs:


    Born//E/Aut/62kWh/NAV/FSE//5s/4d/white

    Production: Dec/2021

    Acquired with 450Km

    Currently Km: about 7.000Km


    Overall this is my experience so far:


    General opinion:


    - The app is slow and freezes constantly (using WIFI, 5g, etc.). They update often the VW version but the Cupra version is "abandoned" by VW. Also is not rare that you can't establish a connection between the phone and the car. It is required to restart the app often (even with the car a few meters away from you)

    - The blinkers are annoying loud. Sometime during the red light you really get annoyed. Even with the music. I don't know why because in ID3 is normal.

    - I have the 62kw battery and the first generation model. The car is very economic and my average per month is 75 Euros driving about 1300 km per month (also counting that sometimes I charge for free in Kaufland)

    - The car has serious blind spots. In Stuttgart we have a lot of "zig zags" and I have to move my head a lot to see the road. There is a column between the 2 glasses (the main one and a little one on both sides) that blocks your vision depending on the road (ID3 has the same issue but with Born is worst because the glass is somehow different)

    - The car is huge inside. Plenty of comfort and space.

    - The seats are very comfortable and you have a lot of room

    - All the lights are amazing (internal and external) and the car is beautiful

    - There is a significant difference in consume in winter and summer but the car is very economic in both situations


    Major issues:


    - When in reverse the camera is not activated in 10% of the times (you need to go to D and back to R to activate it)

    - The sensors are a joke and very dangerous. They are very sensible and annoying during the parking

    - The software that comes with the car is not good. Freezes a lot and you don't have physical buttons. If the screen is freezed you need to park the car, turn off and on to have the control back

    - My car with 2000 km had to go to the dealer shop for 1 week because of the issues with the software. Cupra tried to update remotely but not worked and I lost the entire software in the car. Only the main dashboard was working (the dashboard is independent from the entertainment system. I was able to drive the car, see the speed but not able to use maps, air conditioner or to see anything in the right side screen)

    - When connected to android the car lost all sounds. You cannot hear anything: Blinkers, buttons, Cupra native GPS voice, nothing. And in a fraction of second all sounds of the car comes back very loud.


    Safety issues


    - At this moment my car is in Cupra dealership because of very bad safety issues:

    - The car is breaking alone (with no human interaction) because the sensors believes that an accident will happen and nothing is in the road. We almost crashed the car twice in autobahn because the car stopped in the middle of the road (also beeping a lot). This is happening with and without cruise control

    - When in reverse is not rare that the sensors are too sensitive or not sensitive at all. The camera and the mirrors points that you have no room and the sensors are in silence or you have a lot of room and the car is screaming. If you trust too much in the sensors you can hit a car or someone (if is raining and there is water in the camera I never trust the car)


    Screenshot 2022-07-17 at 13.25.49.png

    - In the picture you can see that there is car in front of me and the system believes that is a motorcycle (when you have a motorcycle in front of you the car often does not see it)

    - In the picture you can see that is there a symbol in white. Everytime that this symbol is displaying something wrong can happen with the car

    - In all dangerous situations this symbol was displayed in red. If the symbol is red we stop the car (we don't want to create an accident or get injured)


    At this moment I am driving a ID3 provided by the VW leasing meanwhile the car is at service

    There is no prediction about when the car will be ready

    Also the mechanic called me and confirmed that the car has serious safety issues



    My wife does not want to drive this car anymore. We lost the trust on it

    We are currently with Cupra ABO plan (signature car with insurance, services, tires, etc. included). The plan is fantastic and we have all support from VW/Cupra with issues, maintenance, etc.

    I highly recommend the ABO program. You don't need to worry about anything and for us as foreigners is the best option


    In the end we will return the car and try to look for other options within ABO (maybe volvo)


    I believe that the first generation is in this ABO program as a test and so far we are not happy with the safety issues. The other things can be annoying but is ok in the and because the car is beautiful, huge inside and very economic.


    Again sorry for the english and for this long chain


    Vielen Dank


    Miscigno

  • Wau, this sounds really bad. Some of this issues are really no joke and can cause serious problems on the road.


    I hope that they get the car in order for you, however, if the trust is lost I cannot see you being happy again with it.


    Please follow up on this once you get the car back. Thank you.

    Bestellt 18.03.2022 / Produktionswoche: KW48/22, Auslieferung KW3/23: Cupra Born eBoost 58 kW/h, Vapor Grey, 19" Typhoon Black/Bronze, Dinamica Pack Grey, WP, Pilot XL (PZC), Tech M Safe, Privacy Glass

  • Hello!

    Damn those issues sound really bad. Especially the wrong automatic full brake situations :O
    I am at 1200 km now and you really scared me to drive from Austria to Croatia.


    I feel with you about the blind spot at the big bar between the side windows. I also have to move my head often because of the "feeling" that i dont see anything.


    Its just sad to see that more and more brands (not only Cupra) get more and more problems by putting more and more software into the cars. I miss the good old cars with simple technologies. They were safe enough though!

    EDIT: I had an similar situation with ACC on: when the car in front of me switched to the right side to leave the highway and braked, my Cupra suddenly braked down too exactly to the same speed as the car on the right side. It seems that my Cupra "thought" its still in front of me and i would crash into it...

    Cupra Born, 204 PS, 58 kWh

    dunkelgrau metallic, 20" e-Racer (Hurricane)

    Beats Audio, Panorama Dach

    Österreich Paket L

    Hardware H30 | Software: 0561 (3.2.1)
    FIN: 0093xx

  • Hi, I am totally with you on this.

    The car drives great but the software and its features feel like a beta test. Lots of bugs and freezes.

    I had the issue, where the parking sensors failed and got stuck in the phase "there is still enough space" They kept beebing in the same rhyth. If I would have relied on them, I would have bumped into another car. This state did not stop, eaven after parking and driving around. It kept beeping in the same rhythm.

    The camera is also unreliable, it failed to start and once the picture froze. It is also annoying that there is no button to quickly acitvate it like in other cupra models. The fastest way for me to see how close an object in front of my car is to switch in reverse just to activate the cam and then back to drive. I have to do that everytime I park against a wall, since i dont't trust the distance control anymore.


    The braking issue: It is dangerous. I almost had an accident with an pedestrian. He was waiting at the side of the road and wanted to cross the road right behind me. When I passed him, he started walking while my car has almost passed him. The car decided to do an emergeny stop. He did not expect that and almost walked into my car because of that.

    Yesterday i discovered something new. I drove around 100km/h and braked down quite hard to take a corner and my pedal started pulsing super fast. Almost like as if the ABS kicked in, but in a way faster rhythm and it was on a dry road, no way the ABS would have triggered.


    I am super glad, I have the 360 camera in my car, the blindspots really make it hard to park it, especially in tight and crowded cities like stuttgart.


    The detection of cars, motorcycles and trucks works pretty flawless for me. The only thing that annoys me there is if you want to pass a bycicle driver. You drive towards him with 100km/h and just when you are about to go to the left lane to pass, the car gets scared and brakes hard.


    I am glad I did not buy the car. It is just leasing for me. I would expect it to drop in value very hard, when the next generation gets to the market or when other companies release their new models which will be way superior to what VW/Seat has to offer. Don't get me wrong, I like the car. But I prefer a finished product and not some very expensive test bench on wheels. And the promised monthly ota updates seem to be a bad joke.

  • I just received a feedback from CUPRA:


    They replaced the camera and the control unit (it was a really hardware issue)

    But since there is not trust anymore I cancelled the contract and they will pick up the car directly in the dealership


    Now I need to find another car

    For the same price range can be: ID3/ID4 (maybe with the same issues), Renault Megane E-tech (EV60) or Tesla Model 3 (they are quite cheap now)


    lets see


    And it is sad that I am not the only one with issues


    I hope that everyone stay safe


    Thank you

  • Also check out the Ioniq 5. It is slightl more expensive, but when you upgrade it with some features it ends up at the same price as an upgraded born.

    I kind of regret that I choose the born instead. I talked to some ioniq drivers at the charging station and they are all super happy. The main reason I did not get it is the turn radius. It is 2m more than the born. But now, looking back, I`d rather have 2m more radius than crappy born software.

  • Also check out the Ioniq 5. It is slightl more expensive, but when you upgrade it with some features it ends up at the same price as an upgraded born.

    I kind of regret that I choose the born instead. I talked to some ioniq drivers at the charging station and they are all super happy. The main reason I did not get it is the turn radius. It is 2m more than the born. But now, looking back, I`d rather have 2m more radius than crappy born software.

    A car without a rear windshield wiper is ridiculous :D

  • When you google „software bugs“ and Tesla 3, Ioniq 5 and Renault Megane e, …, you will get quite a few findings as well. And this seems to affect the entire industry, not only the electric branch.


    So let’s hope for over-the-air updates.


    Softwarefehler: Kaninchen Kunde
    In neuen Autos häufen sich Probleme mit der Software. Welcher Weg ist der richtige: Updates in Kundenhand oder fehlerfreie Autos von Anfang an?
    www.faz.net