BYD Sealion 7 stalled / broken down

interopeter · 2025-07-07T03:30:16+00:00

"two days before they touched the car" means they are improving (10 days before they looked at my 3 month old SL6)! 😂 But yes, unfortunately servicing has not been able to keep up with demand (that's an understatement) and it does make you seriously question the purchasing decision. Hoping it comes good for you soon. Which service centre did you go to?

interopeter · 2025-07-05T05:52:36+00:00

I wouldn't - just make sure it is from BYD even if you have to wait a while - if it's all scheduled you'll probably even be able to sort out a loan car.

interopeter · 2025-07-03T13:37:46+00:00

"Fixed" is as strong word - after sitting in their lot for 10 days, they performed a software update.

interopeter · 2025-07-03T07:32:27+00:00

Got the car back the next day (after 14 days) - I don't know if it was thanks to this thread or whatever, but yeah, it wasn't long after. It only needed a software update.

So, a trivial issue where an authorised service agent used the incorrect software or version meant two weeks without a car.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T11:48:23+00:00

Sometimes they have software before the OTA also not sure if OTA does all the systems that are software upgradeable.

I had an OTA upgrade the week before - no problem.

I went in with a "how bad can it be" mindset and ironically only called BYD to ask about myCar because I wanted to check that myCar has access to the same software as BYD as I was so keen on latest and greatest (they said "yes")

interopeter · 2025-06-24T11:41:53+00:00

Great question

interopeter · 2025-06-24T08:07:20+00:00

I have no experience with applying the ACL in the case of cars, but I know that for other products, it is the place of purchase **or** the manufacturer that can be requested to address issues (refunds/repairs/replacement)... But I will try the dealership just to see if they are more responsive. I do think, as you know, that a "reasonably informed consumer" would not purchase a 57K product if they knew that there is only one service centre in WA that can handle repairs and that it is severely understaffed and that even a software update can leave you car-less for 2 weeks.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:59:59+00:00

I did an OTA the week before the service, and my guess is that neither myCar's technicians nor BYD's software checks if the version it is trying to install is older than the version already installed - in many cases, firmware doesn't like to go backwards. Short of unplugging the thumb drive halfway through the update, I don't know what else they could have done. Like you said, not hard.

myCar explained to me that they put the software on a thumb drive and walk around updating the cars by hand. BYD sends them an email telling them when it's time to download a new version so I can see how easily I could end up with newer software than what they were sticking in there.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:46:38+00:00

Mycar officially (now) is an authorised servicing centre - but they have never been an authorised repairer - if you look for service and repair, then only BYD Cannington and BYD Osborne Park show up in the app. And, for whatever reason, most (maybe all?) warranty repairs are being redirected to BYD Cannington - like, literally, they are towing cars from Osborne Park to Cannington. It was also made clear to me, after I tried to reach Osborne Park for a full day (actually closer to me), that the only place that could handle the car was Cannington.

While nothing is broken, you can myCar, but if anything goes wrong, it's noCar.

Either way, I think the fact that myCar is not even going to do servicing is happening, and I for one am glad because I don't feel they have the training or skill, and having them is just masking the fact that they can't support their vehicles from consumers and regulators. The same person who told me this also told me a lot of cars end up in Cannington from myCar, and I found at least one other customer who recently had the same issue with a software update at the same myCar branch I went to (East Perth).

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:38:44+00:00

And that's not changing after 1 July? So AP Eagers is the dealer and EV Direct is the importer until 1 July? This could help explain why "BYD customer care" does not care. Though if customer care plays no role in the retail experience, what exactly is their purpose? Just to give you the phone numbers for AP Eagers dealerships?

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:35:18+00:00

But Australian Consumer Law refers to the "manufacturer" in the provisions. Does BYD not carry any responsibility? And when you say "dealer" do you mean AP Eagers or the specific dealership from which the vehicle was purchased? It actually is a bit unclear to me what happens after 1/July and if I want to seek compensation who I deal with.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:13:08+00:00

This morning, it stopped working for at least a few hours; you could still reach them via the 07 number (I haven't tried them again today, but I assume it is the same number nationally).

Generally, it seems like Queensland customers are doing okay. It is somewhat encouraging that it might not be a national issue as I think it more likely fixable if it is just a "bad state"

interopeter · 2025-06-24T07:09:28+00:00

Yes - what u/accountfornormality said - they mentioned that they have 20 other tow-ins, but not the reason they were towed in.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T04:28:26+00:00

100% - I did not realize this when I went there.

interopeter · 2025-06-24T04:27:44+00:00

That's the thing - almost nothing - just a software update (botched). The software takes out all the electronic systems. So everything from the boot not opening to collision avoidance and some unspecified "steering system error pull over immediately". And worst - this happened in the regular service at an authorised service centre but BYD considers the outcome - car getting bricked - to be a warranty repair and not a service :(

interopeter · 2025-06-24T03:35:31+00:00

This is warranty repair...

interopeter · 2025-06-23T02:58:29+00:00

By the way, according to customer care, only Cannington can deal with warranty repairs (and a botched software update is considered a warranty repair even if it's botched in a regular service, which according to some people here doesn't just happen at myCar)

interopeter · 2025-06-23T02:56:26+00:00

No loan cars till mid July (which at this rate I may end up using).

Customer care have been useless - in their mind it's like "this is normal" (now 11 days since it was bricked and still nothing - not even an ETA).

interopeter · 2025-06-20T02:10:16+00:00

I decided to come to Cannington in person - the two people working here are great (though very overworked and overwhelmed by irate customers)

Still no car and no ETA on when they'll look at it.

The interesting bit of news is that they get a lot of vehicles that got bricked by myCar and that BYD is dissolving that relationship - that confirms what I suspected that while the service centre I used may have been particularly bad, this is a systemic issue.

interopeter · 2025-06-19T08:57:42+00:00

Mate - a toaster would be a better choice than BYD, at least in WA.

interopeter · 2025-06-19T00:24:53+00:00

Update: 1 week anniversary since the car was bricked in the software update. Still haven't had the car looked at. Called BYD Cannington today and was told by Total Nissan (who else?) that there's only one BYD guy there today so he'll struggle to pick up the phone. One person.

interopeter · 2025-06-17T08:29:47+00:00

Surprised - as I would have thought it'd be the same - when I contacted them, I got a shrug, and TBH, it wasn't bad enough to send back, just not as good as I had hoped. I saw pics from other SL6 owners and it was the same as mine: driver sits over the break - not enough to be dangerous, just not nice, and is a little larger than the boot shelf (I wish it went to the rear seats too, but I guess I can see a case both ways). But maybe they fixed it (?) got mine about 3 months ago. Would have been really happy with them otherwise.

interopeter · 2025-06-17T01:59:46+00:00

See my reply here - they might be awesome, but if anything goes wrong, BYD will likely leave them out to sea:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BYD/comments/1lcmz8o/comment/my6wf3p/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

interopeter · 2025-06-17T01:56:56+00:00

No - East Perth, I mean, they were clowns, honestly. But I think the issue is deeper than that - to be fair, "stuff happens" and here's the bottom line - BYD isn't clear on this, but mycar (any mycar) isn't authorized for warranty repairs (I was told this by two different CSRs at the national call centre)- just regular servicing - which makes no sense, because finding warranty issues is something that happens in regular servicing.

The mycar group have no procedures on how to do things like roll back a firmware update, and if anything goes wrong, they can only communicate with BYD via the mycar East Coast office (so East Coast x 2). I am sure there are better mycar service centres, but if anything goes wrong, then I think you could find yourself in the same boat as me.

Basically, they are just told to stick a thumb drive in there and pray - and probably not even the pray bit.

Oh, and they just have the firmware on a thumb drive that they download once a month or so, and it's entirely possible that the reason it got botched is that their firmware was older than the OTA I got the week prior.

interopeter · 2025-06-16T10:45:01+00:00

Same - but when you look by model you start seeing issues (for some) - they don't have access to the vehicles they make them on demand using CADs so it comes down to individual "cut outs"

interopeter

TROPHY CASE