Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Safety Recall - Brakes

I believe the brake problem was caused by a faulty seal, which may have been supplied to the part manufacturer by another 3rd party. This is a long chain of responsibility for quality control with MMC at the end of it. For Morgan to have picked up the fault during assembly, they would have had to disassemble and check every unit and even then a faulty seal may be very hard to detect.
Regardless of the law, I personally feel that Morgan have been unfairly criticised over the recall and other company's quality control failed before Morgan's and left MMC in an impossible position.

All this is taking place in an environment where car components for older vehicles are not manufactured to the original spec. There's nothing new in this. Those who were repairing old cars in their youth will recall how dodgy spares were around in the seventies, and no doubt well before that. I remember "reconditioned" dampers for my Midget for a fiver a side. They lasted a few months. The BL items were significantly more expensive.

Nowadays, the big players seem to get component spec right most of the time, but not always. I had a warranty job done on our Polo, because there is a design issue with the water pump and associated mouldings which causes a premature leak with potential failure. If VW can't get this right, what chance do Morgan have?

I agree 100%, and have said so on more than one occasion, to the irritation of a couple of people here.

^^Exactly, even the really big players get caught out

A few years ago I needed a replacement brake servo that hadn't been made for perhaps 40+ years, fortunately a reputable specialist had had a batch of new copies made, very expensive but I bought one, it failed within a 100 miles ! Second attempt was a NOS refurbed one which failed whilst trying to bleed the brakes before I could even test drive it. Third attempt was a specialist who re-sleeved my existing 50 yr old unit at considerable cost - but it came with a test cert from a static rig stress test showing actual psi & boost pressures achieved, rather pricey, but still spot on after many 1000's of miles.
At no point did I try to cut costs or corners, but I still had surprising failures of a safety critical part

I feel quite sorry for MMC, it was a bought in part that has lead to some serious issues, costs, and upset customers, that was not their fault

There's an element of accumulated distrust at play with Morgan though. Whereas previously they could survive on the "they all do that sir" mantra, things have changed.

Social media exposes the extent of issues with all manufacturers.

Obviously over the years we've seen a series if issues such as sagging springs, cracked windscreens, rev hang, and so on. All generally accepted as being what Morgan is, and an unwelcome part of the deal.

BUT the M3W chassis affair, and bevel box whine could have been handled better by MMC.

The CX radiator issues should have been sorted much quicker.

So the brake problem, even though not MMCs fault is a big negative experience, especially for owners new to the brand.

They need much better customer focus now if they want to restore trust.

Agreed at prices well above other good sports cars like the Alpine or Boxster they need to join the big league of CS

This article makes an important point: Morgan is no different to any other car assembler.
https://www.the-intercooler.com/library/features/who-made-your-car/

This is interesting. A faulty seal may have been to specification when assembled, likewise the cylinder, but the combination failed in use. Was this due to the seal or the surface finish of the cylinder? Was the problem evident in new stock as delivered to MMC?

If the problem existed in new stock it is unlikely to be detected by MMC. Are new engines dyno tested before assembly? Of course not. Statistically relevant samples are tested by the engine maker. MMC would rely on the batch control report from their master cylinder supplier who in turn will rely on the same from the seal supplier. MMC’s involvement is to agree the unit specification, use suppliers in the whole chain that have current quality management certificates issued by independent quality procedure auditors and to check the batch report for each delivery.

The quality management system will get (has got) to the bottom of this and lessons will be learned. More important to us as customers is the apparent tolerance of the groundswell of comment on here and at dealers from the beginning. Maybe the situation was taken more seriously than I am aware. Is the MMC customer experience feedback system adequate?

DaveW is right, the days of 'they all do that sir' are over, especially when you now want £80k for your product.

The recent, and not so recent past at MMC is littered with valiant attempts at introducing new products that are high on ambition but less successful in delivery.

The factory are pretty good at assembling the components, although my first new Morgan 15 years ago had woodwork/bodywork issues and they'd been building the same model for more than half a century by then...!

I wonder if the new (large) design department are too good/advanced/ambitious for the budget available to build the cars?

When you combine the (large) design team with the (large) management team, who talk management buzzword bo!!ocks like the new guy recently employed, high prices, 'average' build quality and questionable quality control you have a perfect storm, the right ingredients for.............. TVR, MG, Austin Healey, etc etc etc.🙃

Except that the major car manufacturers make their own engines