2001 Renault Clio Dynamique 1.4

Faults:

Passenger car airbag deployed without impact. Renault charged for an inspection and we were told that the computer said it had approved deployment on impact. I am extremely worried that this is a grave safety issue and told Renault this. I have read other people have had this problem, and it appears this is the company's automated response to all. Please could anyone who this has happened to get in touch with me, and I will take this further.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 12th March, 2010

15th Apr 2010, 07:02

Hitting a pot hole can cause airbags to deploy (search in Google). As the bags deploy with great force, it is possible to not notice the pothole due to the explosion, which would happen within Milli-seconds of impact. The sensors measure impact and deceleration, so in certain circumstances can trigger deployment and leave no visible cause.

The manufacturer in many cases can tell the speed of the car at time of deployment by taking out the ECU and testing the data. It is unlikely the manufacturer would fob you off over such an issue. There are plenty of cases on the Internet of such deployments regardless of manufacturer, I very much doubt that Renault are at fault here.

25th Nov 2014, 22:19

My daughter has a 54 plate Clio 1.4, and 2 days ago the driver's seat air bag exploded while she was driving along a smooth pot hole free road. In a panic as unsure what happened and thinking "I've crashed", "Somebody has driven in to me" etc. She swerved to the left mounting the pavement.

Fortunately nobody was on the pavement at this time, and my daughter was not significantly hurt, only minor bruising. Approx. 20 people saw the incident as they came out of a church on the opposite side of the road.

Damage to the car includes a smashed alloy on front passenger side, much steering suspension damage on this corner. Cracked windscreen and obviously the now damaged seat. So a few hundred pounds, but could have been so much worse.

Contacted our local Renault dealer and they are not really interested in the issue, but will inspect the car at their "reasonable" rate of £68 / hour.

Who else could I contact?

2001 Renault Clio Dymanique 1.5 turbo diesel

Faults:

I have a 2001 Renault Clio 1.5 diesel, and have have problems with running smoothly and starting issues.

Renault were not very helpful, and did not fix it after the £65 cost to put on their diagnostic tool. It came up with some problems, which were cleared, and they said if it persisted, then they would look into it further, no doubt there would be another £63 for diagnostic before they even started.

Although the running problem has rectified itself, I'm sure I narrowed it down to a very dirty EGR valve. Take of the airfilter and you will see a sound thing sticking out above the turbo, 3 10mm bolts and pull it out. Plenty of WD40 and kitchen roll, looking back rubber gloves would have been helpful as it's that really sticky black grease gunking it up.

As described in many comments here, I have also had a starting problem where more often than not the heater light would not light up, but after several turns of the key it would work. So I cleaned the 3 little black relays under the bonnet on the passenger side, which were corroded, and used a small nail file in each hole the relays sit in and it work for a short while. I think the left one is the heater plug relay, middle is the fuel pump, and the right relay is the starter motor.

So I swapped the heater plug with the starter motor relay, and the heater plug lit up every time, but it would not start, so although the relay was clean of corrosion, I think it must be corroded inside, so I'm off to buy a new one on Monday. I've read on this forum that they cost about £15.

In short, if you have this problem, don't waste your time and money at Renault, and try these 2 things, it could save you a bundle as most comments here say that Renault think it's wiring loom or throttle body.

General Comments:

The car is general a very good car, it's just these few problems that let it down, and Renault have no idea about. They seem to try the most expensive thing first.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 21st November, 2009

8th Dec 2010, 10:22

Just cleaned out the EGR valve on my 1.5 DCI & what a difference in performance. I bought the car the other day & found it to be very sluggish & a bit lumpy, so upon your good advice here I cleaned the EGR valve (very easy job by the way, if I can do it etc etc). It was all sooty, a small tip for anyone doing this job, there are 2 moving valves in the unit, make sure that you jam one of them open so as to clean the other & vice versa, it's self explanatory once you see the valve. Also it can be a little tight to come out of the housing, so you might have to price it out slowly.

The car is still a bit lumpy on idle, but 100% improvement on performance & I can live with that.

Thanks for the advice.