GWM Problems

The best advice here is to disconnect the battery and contact the dealership. Any time there’s odd electrical behaviour combined with a burning smell, there’s a decent chance you have an electrical short-circuit on your hands. And that can easily lead to a fire that could destroy the car and anything near it.

By disconnecting the battery, you’re removing the power source that is making something hot enough to produce the burning smell. The constant beeping, meanwhile could be a symptom of the same thing as the shorted or damaged wiring allows the warning beeper to continue blaring away even though the ignition is turned off.

Straight back to the dealer with this one. You either have a problem with the actual stereo unit, the screen that controls it or perhaps even the body computer which has the final say over functions like this one. Either way, it’s a warranty job for sure.

The dealer may be able to reboot the system to return it to normal operation, but whatever happens make sure the dealership logs and records the problem in case it comes back in the future. Sometimes even a problem that returns after the vehicle is out of warranty, if it was first detected when the vehicle was still under that warranty, may mean the problem is what’s called a pre-existing condition and the manufacturer is still obliged to fix it.

If you jump online and do a search for this very thing, you’ll find a heap of distributors and manufacturers offering just what you’re after. Tonneaus for the Cannon are available in soft and hard formats, made from fibreglass or aluminium, and even versions that offer a roller-top function. If you can’t find what you’re after online, tackle one of the many off-road and ute stores that also stock a range of stuff like this.

If you go down the hard-tonneau route, consider one with central locking that can be paired with the locks on the rest of the vehicle. That way, you’ll have one-button unlocking of the cabin and the tray. It’s a lot less messing around than having a separate set of keys to unlock the cover.

The Ora is produced by Great Wall Motor, or GWM, a Chinese automaker based in Hebei, China.

The law is pretty clear when it comes to problems like this. It is the manufacturer’s responsibility during the warranty period to make everything that’s standard on the vehicle (and not an aftermarket accessory) work again at no cost to the owner. But, the owner must give the manufacturer a reasonable chance to do that. Often, that process will take time and everybody has to be patient. You could ask for a replacement car while yours is being investigated if the dealership needs to keep it for an extended period.

Also, battery failure is not normally covered by a new-car warranty as, like tyres and brake pads, the battery is considered a wear and tear item. However, if it’s the faulty alarm or something wrong with the vehicle that’s constantly flattening the battery and causing it to fail, I’d be pushing for the warranty to cover that as well.

Unfortunately, modern cars are very complex machines and your experience is far from uncommon, with many owners of various makes and models reporting multiple problems in the one brand-new vehicle.

From what I can gather, this is a standard feature of the Tank 500. The beep is to let you know the car has been locked, even if you’re in a position where you can’t see the lights flash (also to confirm locking).

It’s probably possible to turn this feature off via the menus on the infotainment screen. If you don’t like this beeping feature, it’s a fair bet your neighbours don’t either.

It’s possible that all these faults happened at the same time from different causes. But you’d have to agree, it’s much more likely that there’s a single cause for all this stuff happening at once. In which case, suspicions are always drawn to the car’s body computer. This controls a huge range of functions including the lights, climate control, dashboard, entertainment, central locking and much more.

Like any computer, they can be faulty from new or sometimes just need a reboot to put them right. I’d start by disconnecting the battery overnight to see if the car comes good after you’ve reconnected it. But even if it does, a trip to the dealer is in order, to log the problem for future warranty claims.

The GWM Ora is actually a cool piece of gear. It looks great (if you’re into that kind of thing) and it drives pretty well, too. The interior is different enough to be interesting, yet it still works properly.

The big question is whether your lifestyle meshes with the constraints imposed by going fully electric. You need to have access to appropriate charging infrastructure and, if you can charge at home from solar panels, then you’re a long way in front.

But range is also an issue, so you need to know that the Ora’s range will be sufficient. Perhaps spending a bit extra on the extended range model is worthwhile. Keep in mind its claimed range on paper will also be difficult to reach in the real world, you can shave as much as 30 per cent off depending on driving style and environment.

Ultimately, the Ora is a city car and that’s where it works best thanks to its size and its ability to regenerate power in stop-start driving. That doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, but you need to assess it carefully.

It sounds as though the material the dashboard structure or skin is made from has started to collapse or degrade in some other way. If the structure beneath the vinyl skin of the dashboard fails, you could conceivably wind up with a mis-shapen dash.

While that might sound trivial, it’s important that this gets fixed as this part of the dashboard houses the airbag. And if the opening for the airbag is not the right shape or is compromised somehow, it could affect the correct deployment of the airbag in a crash. And the consequences of that aren’t hard to imagine.

The fact that it sometimes runs perfectly means there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the engine’s intrinsic bits and pieces. If there was, it would never run perfectly at all. Which means you’re probably chasing a sensor, fuel supply or electrical problem.

Cars like this have sensors all over them to inform the computer of what conditions demand, what the driver is asking for and what it should do about all of that. Scanning the car electronically might provide the answer via a fault code. But we’d also take a look at the engine’s stepper motor which is a small electric actuator that controls the throttle position. If this component is not working properly, it can lead to the exact symptoms you’re seeing.