Sudden dashboard and lights shutdown during drive

Hi all,

I have tried to search for this issue with no success. Hope I'm not double posting this issue...
So...

My wife was driving our 2012 C-zero (25000 km with no issue so far) when the dashboard suddenly shut down.
It was not only the backlight, the whole dashboard was off, as in powered off. No speed display etc.
There was no warning light whatsoever and no alarm/bipping sound.

The headlights went off too, at the same time.

It was as if the car was shut down BUT there was still motor power and, as far as she can remember, power steering was still there. She can't tell if the radio was still under power or not.

She pulled out quickly, restarted the car, it went on as if nothing happened.


Have you ever seen this ? What is a plausible explanation ? The dangerous part was the headlights, she was driving at night.

We hope this is a unique odd occurence and not a failure...

Any input appreciated!

I've had my dashboard malfunction, but it was caused by a crash of my OVMS module. I've also had my radio quit while driving due to a loose fuse.

This was probably a malfunction in the EV-ECU. It does have direct control of the headlights, but you should be able to still pull back and hold for high-beams. The most abnormal behavior in my car is a random relay clicking occasionally and a problem with my parking sensors.

Just guessing, but I would look for a loose fuse first. I had that issue and my radio went out, and the lights that go with it, also the turn signal speaker, and maybe another thing or two...

Hi,

If it was a loose fuse, why would restarting the car fix the issue without touching anything ?

That sounds more like a bug/crash/malfunction that a reboot can fix (temporarily).
The car has been used about 200km since with no new occurence.
I hope it stays that way !

I saw the line about 'restarted the car'.

are you suresure.it didn't totally switch off ? I ask because I've experienced this a few times. The car just dies after hitting a bump.

The fault ? Seems the ignition switch is a little weak, and I have a large bunch if keys on the fob. A bump is enough to knock it off.....

The car behaved as I described in the first post.

So no, as I said the car did not shut off entirely.

It's been almost 3 months now, the car has not repeated this malfunction so far.