Land Rover Discovery bonnet release at 60 km/h

drystone · 2006-06-05T06:19:22+00:00

Travelling at 60 km/h on the Glow Worm Tunnel Rd, Newnes State Forestseveral weeks ago, the bonnet smacked into the windscreen withoutwarning. Luckily the road was straight and there were no on-comingcars-I stopped the vehicle without further incident. Upon inspection,two bolt/screws that hold a bonnet plate that engages into therelease levers were found loose in the engine bay (on the bar abovethe radiator).See photos at: some difficulty the three of us lowered the bonnet, carefullymanipulating the wipers under the bonnet's lower edge (they were inthat position because of the accident). Because there was no phonereception, we couldn't call Land Rover's Roadside Assist, thereforewe tied the bonnet down and drown slowly home and called there.Had the bonnet spontaneously released itself minutes before or after,the three of us could have crashed into a pine tree or sandstone roadcutting. We are so fortunate the accident took place where it did.The car: Was I driving an old Disco. No, it's a 2003 Land RoverDiscovery, Series II, purchased Dec 2003,under warranty until Dec 2006. Serviced by the book by Land Roverservice centres.Land Rover "Customer Care" were initially reluctant to provide uswith a replacement car or cover the costs of towing. This, and otherbehaviour, was totally disrespectful considering that the three of uscould have died due to the malfunction had it occurred elsewhere.Particular mention must be made of Andrew Howard and Maggie(Margaret) Horesch (National Customer Care Manager for LRA) both ofwhom work in Melbourne--they have shown complete disreguard for ourcircumstance--I hope none of you have to deal with them when itreally matters.Has anyone heard of this happening to Land Rovers?The most important issue for me and my family is, why did thisaccident happen? Furthermore, what will stop it happening again?

Jun 05, 2006 43 Replies

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Ian Rawlings 20 years ago

What, did they just open the boot, aim the tank and knock the valve off?

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Austin Shackles 20 years ago

On or around Thu, 8 Jun 2006 10:00:13 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

hehe. I dunno. all I saw was a gas filler on the outside back.

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Larry 20 years ago

and now my bonnet catch on my series 3 has failed, only thinging keeping it shut right now is the spare tire. Don't know whats wrong, it just wont latch when I drop the bonnet, plenty of wd40 to loosen up any rust, but it still won't work. Maybe next time I go over a speed hump it will close, but I reckon I am going to have to replace the catch as soon as I get the chance. suppose I had better secure it with a couple of bungees or a strap in the meantime

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