MG Motors has confused customers after it emerged the roof rails on one of its electric vehicles are unable to carry any weight.
An eagle-eyed MG customer spotted the disclaimer on page 62 of his 267-page user manual, with drivers warned that ignoring the roof rail instructions could “result in an accident or damage to the vehicle”.
Then, alongside a warning sign, the manual states that the optional roof luggage rack for the car is a “non-load-bearing roof rack, which is used only as a decoration”.
The manual then adds: “Do not place any load on the roof luggage rack, otherwise, it may result in an accident or damage to the vehicle” and that the rails are for “decoration purposes only”.
MG offers various optional accessories for the MG 5 EV estate, including roof rails for an extra £228, and a £192 cycle carrier, and according to the report on Which? the model had previously been pictured and advertised with the roof rails online and in brochures, with a standard 50kg roof carrying limit.
Furthermore, photos previously displayed on the MG website have now been altered, removing the optional roof rails from the 5 estate – with a bicycle pictured attached – and replaced with the standard model photos without roof rails.
According to Which?, the customer has asked MG – owned by Chinese firm SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) Motor – for clarification and a resolution to his issue before taking delivery of the all-electric car.
Regarding the customer, Which? explained that: “He pointed out if people did not know about the rails being for decorative use only, and should someone try to use them to carry objects like bicycles and roof boxes, it could lead to a serious accident if the roof rails came loose as they were carrying a load they are not designed to do.”
Which? said that after contacting MG, the manufacturer had no plans to issue a recall for the roof rails.
A spokesperson from MG told the This Is Money website: “As a vehicle importer we take the safety of our cars and our customers very seriously.
“With MG5 EV, we initially believed that the car was approved to carry weight on its roof, but we have since become aware of some missing engineering data meaning that we are – at present – unable to confirm this, so have taken the safest possible action of advising our customers not to carry a load on the roof until we can confirm otherwise.”
The statement added: “We have already carried out testing with mass being carried on the car's roof rails and have seen satisfactory results but are awaiting the final confirmation from durability testing that is still ongoing.
'It is our belief and we hope to be able to confirm very shortly that there is no concern with carrying weight on the car's roof. But until we have satisfactorily validated this we do not wish to confirm it.”
Keyword: MG says its roof racks are for "decoration only" as customer spots disclaimer in user manual