Car Bricked While Driving. Any Thoughts on This

[Jon]

Driving to work this morning going around a corner doing about 55 mph and my car died. No power, no lights, nothing. Steering and braking was almost impossible but I managed to get it to the shoulder. There was zero warning, just died.

Now I’m sitting here waiting for a tow truck knowing I can’t put it in neutral.

I’ve had the car for 4 months and have 8000 miles but have never had a single issue.



Edit - Problem resolved.

On advice from another member, I'm editing this thread.

Please read through for all of the details but here's the short version of the fix.

Found a loose connection in the 12 volt distribution box. Had to tighten the red wire on the right,

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[Murse-In-Airy]

No sync screen or anything? No warnings before it died? Just turned off like a light switch?

 

[Jon]

Driving along doing fine and it just shut down. No sync no nothing. Flashers don’t even work.

first truck declined because it won’t go into neutral. Waiting on the 2nd now.
2 hours and counting.

 

[Av8tor]

No power whatsoever? Including cabin lights?

 

[Garbone]

Loose connection on 12v battery or ground bolt on same fell out. Just my guess.

 

[Jon]

Freaky as hell just going black like that. The area wasn’t well lit and I had a hard time going on the shoulder without hitting the guardrail.

Lucky me, it was in a bridge without a lot of room to pull over.

 

[jhalkias]

Loose connection on 12v battery or ground bolt on same fell out. Just my guess.

YIKES, but this sounds right. Do you have a "jumper" battery to jump the car from the front connectors?

Not even sure if that would help.

 

[SWO]

Hoping that it's something very simple (like a battery cable improperly installed or a defective battery) that's killing the 12V system. If you have a jumper in your car (I keep one in mine) I would access the 12V battery to see if it's something simple.

 

[Jon]

I don’t have anything with me. My wife showed up while I wait on the tow truck. I opened the passenger door so I could sit in her car and still have access to the inside. We’ll a gust of wind must of partially closed the door so I can’t get in now. Yay.

Tow truck is still another 45 minutes out. If he can’t tow it, I’m going to go get a jump box and some tools and try and look for a 12 volt problem.

 

[TonyaE]

Freaky as hell just going black like that. The area wasn’t well lit and I had a hard time going on the shoulder without hitting the guardrail.

Lucky me, it was in a bridge without a lot of room to pull over.

This is scary as hell. Good luck?

 

[jhalkias]

I don’t have anything with me. My wife showed up while I wait on the tow truck. I opened the passenger door so I could sit in her car and still have access to the inside. We’ll a gust of wind must of partially closed the door so I can’t get in now. Yay.

Tow truck is still another 45 minutes out. If he can’t tow it, I’m going to go get a jump box and some tools and try and look for a 12 volt problem.

You know, I carry a 12v jumper battery in the car. But now that I think about it, I keep it in the hatch under the cover - which in your situation I would not be able to open the hatch. Time to think about moving that thing somewhere so I can access it if this ever happens.

Too bad the first tow truck did not think to try and give you a jump.

 

[Jon]

1st truck declined to even show up.

 

[JamieGeek]

You know, I carry a 12v jumper battery in the car. But now that I think about it, I keep it in the hatch under the cover - which in your situation I would not be able to open the hatch. Time to think about moving that thing somewhere so I can access it if this ever happens.

Too bad the first tow truck did not think to try and give you a jump.

You could still get to it back there with some gymnastic moves (climb into the back seat, fold one side forward and then lift the cover).

 

[SWO]

You know, I carry a 12v jumper battery in the car. But now that I think about it, I keep it in the hatch under the cover - which in your situation I would not be able to open the hatch. Time to think about moving that thing somewhere so I can access it if this ever happens.

Too bad the first tow truck did not think to try and give you a jump.

I keep mine under the passenger seat.

 

[Lscamp]

Yeah I had a similar issue with my Volt. The 12V battery was dead and I couldn’t do anything. Though it did give a bunch of error messages, none of which having to do with a low battery (traction error, shift to park, brake error) so, yeah, the 12V battery can perplex an electric car.
On a side note, I passed you on my way to work on the bridge. I had a flat tire around that curve a couple weeks ago.

I don’t have anything with me. My wife showed up while I wait on the tow truck. I opened the passenger door so I could sit in her car and still have access to the inside. We’ll a gust of wind must of partially closed the door so I can’t get in now. Yay.

Tow truck is still another 45 minutes out. If he can’t tow it, I’m going to go get a jump box and some tools and try and look for a 12 volt problem.

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