- An almost new VinFast VF 8 left a reviewer stranded when it bricked itself.
- VinFast’s out-of-state service choices look like extraordinarily restricted.
- Whereas they thought of towing the automotive 500 miles to the closest service middle, the difficulty finally resolved itself.
VinFast has been providing some nice lease offers on its VF 8 electrical SUV, which can have some consumers tempted. However in case you dwell greater than 100 miles from a VinFast retailer, our buddies at Out Of Spec have a cautionary story of their latest video.
Their VinFast VF 8—which they obtained utilizing a kind of loopy lease offers—left Jordan stranded, 500 miles from the closest service middle. The automotive was experiencing bizarre battery drain and warning lights, with Jordan suggesting it could not absolutely flip off. He plugged it right into a Stage 2 charger to replenish the drained battery. When he pulled it off the charger, the VF 8 would not go into gear. The A/C would not work. It would not flip all the best way off. The automotive was caught.
Fortunately, it nonetheless allowed Jordan to shift it into impartial, so he was in a position to roll it out of the charging spot. However that also left him with out a trip house. A good friend took care of him, and he drove again the subsequent day to assault the difficulty. He began by unplugging the 12-volt battery, hoping that may set off a tough restart of the automotive. But it surely did not appear to do something. Regardless of the automotive was doing, it might maintain it on the excessive voltage battery alone.
He reached out to VinFast for assist, and located he was largely out of luck. The particular person he spoke to could not assist, and VinFast did not have a “Physician”—its time period for technician—accessible to talk to him that day. The automotive has roadside help included, however with the closest service middle 500 miles away, they would not pay for that form of distance. No Third-party mechanics can work on the automotive or diagnose it, both. The one choices had been both to tow it to VinFast themselves or have VinFast fly out a technician, however Out Of Spec wasn’t positive if that was a proposal accessible to common clients, or harm management from company as a result of Out Of Spec is an EV assessment channel with a big viewers.
Jordan was lastly in a position to discuss to a technician on day 3—the day after his first contact with VinFast company—who instructed yanking a major fuse to drive the automotive to reset, as disconnecting the 12-volt battery does not really do this. Whereas ready Jordan had plugged the automotive again into the charger. When he went to unplug it and take a look at the technician’s suggestion, he discovered that the automotive had fastened itself. The litany of error codes was gone from the sprint.
Its cooling system nonetheless displayed a fault and the A/C would not go on, however after an influence cycle that error cleared, too. The VinFast was drivable. The technician stated it’d nonetheless want to go to a service middle to “recalibrate” the 12-volt battery, no matter meaning, which is a tall ask when it requires a 500-mile journey. Particularly for a random fault in an almost-new automobile.
It is a cautionary story for anybody who needs to personal a VinFast. I assume most consumers dwell inside an affordable distance of a VinFast service middle—I do not assume regular People are driving 500 miles to purchase a VinFast—but when they ever street journey it to a state the place VinFast does not do enterprise, it appears like VinFast does not have many choices for them. It is also a reminder that, as we transfer into the EV and software-defined autos period, we want unbiased retailers to have entry to instruments that may restore these autos. In VinFast’s case, not solely are you able to not service the automotive independently, however you additionally should go to a service middle for software program updates. Over-the-air updates, although promised, nonetheless aren’t accessible.
That is a troublesome proposition for a automotive with a foul historical past of software program bugs and technical issues. Even in case you can rating an inexpensive lease deal, it might not be value it.
