COM2000 Units

As the toher manafactuer of Com2000 units apparently went bankrupt, since when have all Pug 307's C5's, C3's and Xsaras been installed with the other manafacturers unit which is apparently better??? If so has it been proven that there are less faults or problems with the electricals with the new unit?

Cya Stalled

I suppose i should ask this question so i can tee up Justin to give me a long response. What is a com2000?

I'm going into as little detail as possible and probably making mistakes so Justin can give us a long winded response


The Com2000 is essentially the indicator stalk in these PSA cars, however I believe it does a few extra essential things in those multiplexed cars.

Ours was replaced recently, and it's playing up again.

If you indicate right for instance, and turn the wheel quickly when straightening up, the left indicator will turn on. Sometimes it will take a while for you to notice as you don't expect it.

I reckon it's pretty dangerous.

I've heard about complete failure of indicators, and even stalks snapping off!

Then there are all the other electrical problems that plague the 307. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was related to the R25!

The COM2000 is an integrated communications hub which lives inside the steering column. A lot of people think it is just the indicator stalk, but it comprises of more things than that. It comprises of:

• Indicator & wiper stalks
• Sockets for cruise control & audio controls
• Receiver for the remote control
• Speaker for warning chimes & indicator 'tick tock'

It costs around $1000 new. The cost to the dealer is just over $300 less

COM2000s exist in various forms (there are several models, around 7 - depending if you have auto lights, trip computer, etc) amongst current PSA models - eg. 206, 307, 406, C3, Xsara, C5, Berlingo etc. I still remember receiving an email from someone in the UK who had a 406 and 307 and both of the cars were off the road due to the COM2000 issue and Peugeot UK's lack of customer service. So the COM2000 issue isn't limited in the 307, but because more 307s have been sold downunder than any other model and they received more stalks from the bad manufacturer, the problem is more associated with the 307 (eg. 406s aren't exactly rushing out of the door, and how many Aussie 406 owners do you see online?).

Now, in the olden days, there were two manufacturers. One seemed to make more problematic COM2000s than the other and more 307s received those stalks than other models. One of the problems was the forming of the, you guessed it, indicator stalk.

According a report I received from the UK, the manufacturer of the COM2000 used in the 307 went bust as they vac formed a part of the stalk. This part of the stalk could not stand up to the pressure of the steering wheel being returned to the center straight ahead position. From a right hand turn when centering the wheel, this meant that the stalk either

• <LI type=square>
  Over corrects the self cancelling action & starts indicating left. OR
  ​
• The stalk becomes jammed in the right indicating position and when the driver applies pressure to cancel the indicator, the stalk snaps off
  ​

So there was a delay during the first quarter last year as the new manufacturer had to retool & get approval. Yes, the old one went bankrupt early last year

I have not really received any reports about the stalks snapping off, rather the self cancelling mechanism going all "Citroen like" (being on Aussiefrogs, I'm sure you'll know what that means). Other problems include the indicators activating the headlights, overcorrection after certain right turns (eg. indicate right going around a roundabout, as you straighten the wheel, instead of returning to the neutral position, the indicator indicates left - basically anytime you straighten the wheel quickly after a significant RH turn), indicators fail to indicate, etc.

Only some of the above issues seem to come up here and then (the replacement rate of COM2000s has dropped significantly -although unlike most warranty parts, Peugeot no longer wants them back for auditing claims - they've had too many come back) - ie. the minor problems (haven't heard anything about indicators failing to indicate for ages, seems to be cancellation or accidental headlight activation problems now).

300 COM2000s were imported recently, so there should be better supply now.

I think the fact that the COM2000 has been used in cars for three years and the issue still is not quite 100% resolved shows that PSA needs to go to quality school. How many manufacturers would let a problem like this go on for such a long time?

Too right Justin. I can understand teething problems when a new car is introduced, but this is verging on ridiculous.

Our 307 recently was at Alec Mildrens in Artarmon for two whole weeks trying to sort out small irritating problems, and they still aren't rectified. You might be able to imagine how annoying this is getting.

Problems with our particular car include;

* Noisy/chattering belts at idle (problem arose when new, never rectified)
* Front left suspension creak (As above. Strut top replace once)
* Left rear suspesion squeek (As above, no action taken)
* Passenger airbag de-activates itself (Recent problem. Supposedly fixed during two week stay. Still happens)
* Rough idle (I'm not sure this has ever been reported as a fault, but for a new car the motor sure idles roughly)
* Wipers hitting windscreen surround (reported a few times now, never rectified)
* Aircon emits a putrid smell when started in the morning (Never fixed)
* COM2000 replaced. Replacement broken already.

So imagine you have a friend in the car. Some might comment on how nice the car is. First impressions are good. Next, they will be subjected to that incredible pong from the Aircon. You try to play it down with a weak excuse. Next they hear the chattering belts, the front and rear suspension having a conversation with each other as you exit the driveway. Not a good impression. Next they'll get a nice little message on the centre display saying their airbag has been de-activated. If they're clever they might notice you having to cancel the indicators yourself. Just wonderful!

Our car is not that old, it was purchased mid last year so you'd assume that these problems would be sorted. I would also assume that the dealer network would be able to quickly fix these problems but they have shown to be so incredibly incompetant. Maybe it is just the dealer we are going to?

Everybody knows what I think the 307 is like to drive, so I won't go on about it. Combine this though, with woeful ownership experience and you can understand why the 307 leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I can understand why people like them though.

The only thing to go wrong with the 406 HDIs which Peugeot supplied for the Redex was the COM 2000 in the white sedan. At first I thought I could live with it but the symptoms got worse and we got it replaced at Taylor's during the Adelaide stop.
Incidentally I thought the 406 was a much better car than the 307, why they don't sell is beyond me. I know they have around a while but whenever we parked the car in the street it always looked better than anything else parked nearby. These cars will be a real classic in years to come.

Graham Wallis

Hi macquered,

I have a 307 too, which i bought from Alec mildren. I wouldnt recommend going there as they cant seem to fix any problems. They couldnt even upgrade my ECU! and i have been waiting for a part for my car since i bought the car which was over 10 months ago now!

Ive tried Peugeot on Crown and they seem to know what they are doing there, and for the 20k service they quoted me $416 inclusive of Mobile 1 oil which Mildren wouldnt supply.

Tim

macquered said:

Too right Justin. I can understand teething problems when a new car is introduced, but this is verging on ridiculous.

Our 307 recently was at Alec Mildrens in Artarmon for two whole weeks trying to sort out small irritating problems, and they still aren't rectified. You might be able to imagine how annoying this is getting.

Problems with our particular car include;

* Noisy/chattering belts at idle (problem arose when new, never rectified)
* Front left suspension creak (As above. Strut top replace once)
* Left rear suspesion squeek (As above, no action taken)
* Passenger airbag de-activates itself (Recent problem. Supposedly fixed during two week stay. Still happens)
* Rough idle (I'm not sure this has ever been reported as a fault, but for a new car the motor sure idles roughly)
* Wipers hitting windscreen surround (reported a few times now, never rectified)
* Aircon emits a putrid smell when started in the morning (Never fixed)
* COM2000 replaced. Replacement broken already.

So imagine you have a friend in the car. Some might comment on how nice the car is. First impressions are good. Next, they will be subjected to that incredible pong from the Aircon. You try to play it down with a weak excuse. Next they hear the chattering belts, the front and rear suspension having a conversation with each other as you exit the driveway. Not a good impression. Next they'll get a nice little message on the centre display saying their airbag has been de-activated. If they're clever they might notice you having to cancel the indicators yourself. Just wonderful!

Our car is not that old, it was purchased mid last year so you'd assume that these problems would be sorted. I would also assume that the dealer network would be able to quickly fix these problems but they have shown to be so incredibly incompetant. Maybe it is just the dealer we are going to?

Everybody knows what I think the 307 is like to drive, so I won't go on about it. Combine this though, with woeful ownership experience and you can understand why the 307 leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I can understand why people like them though.

Click to expand...

Yeah I have the COM2000 problem too, and I thought it would have at least been corrected by now. I have a May 2003 307 XSE and have the problem of the indicator stalk overcorrecting and indicating left after making a right turn. The dealer in Hobart ordered a new one after my 20,000 service about 3 weeks ago, but apparently it hasn't turned up yet. My indicator also makes a fairly unpleasant crunching sound when attempting to signal right, like it's going to break!

Apart from that, I've had that 'creaking suspension' problem, which was fixed at the 20k service. They also discovered I have a problem with the left rear door latch, and have ordered a replacement.

The other problem I've noticed lately is that sometimes it just won't start on a cold morning, or starts then runs really rough, then stalls. I almost called the RACT the other day, but waited 5 mins and it started OK. Seems to have started since they did the 20k service...

nggy, servicing sounds a bit expensive where you are! My 20,000 service was 'only' $204.

Apart from those problems, love the 307!

Cheers
Dodgy Tone (site newbie).

nggy said:

Hi macquered,

I have a 307 too, which i bought from Alec mildren. I wouldnt recommend going there as they cant seem to fix any problems. They couldnt even upgrade my ECU! and i have been waiting for a part for my car since i bought the car which was over 10 months ago now!

Ive tried Peugeot on Crown and they seem to know what they are doing there, and for the 20k service they quoted me $416 inclusive of Mobile 1 oil which Mildren wouldnt supply.

Tim

Click to expand...

It's funny you say this Tim. We had our 20K service performed by Crown last week. They fixed all the problems inside one day, very impressive considering Alec Mildrens had the car for such a long time and didn't manage to fix anything.

PoC did try to sneak a couple of light bulbs in the bill though, they were adamant that the two brake lights had failed. I pressed them on this, saying that my father followed me into the the dealership that morning...and I *know* he would have picked up on a blown bulb. They refunded the amount and profusely apologised. Apart from that, we are completely happy with their service. The car feels slightly nicer to drive now. The front suspension creaking turned out to be the sway bar that needed lubrication. We had the COM2000 replaced again and new software uploaded to the ECU.

The service was about $420 if i remember correctly.

Just got my new COM2000 yesterday, COM2000 number 4

Second last day of warranty too

The funny thing is, my second COM2000 really was quite a good one, only in about 2% of my daily driving did it cause a minor inconvenience - it'd overcorrect on sharp right hand turns (eg. 270° degree RH turns for roundabouts), instead of returning to the neutral position, it'd start indicating left.

The latest one is a little lighter in action than the third one, which had a more solid, almost German feel. So far it's behaving.

Have to say, I got a good deal out of warranty. It's just a pity Peugeot didn't fix the COM2000 issue from day 2, there's something chronically wrong with quality management if such an issue can persist for such a long time.

Yes Justin. I agree. There is something very wrong with Peugeot management cos they make stax of bad decisions, or none (where even a bad one would be better).
The French are the best engineers in the world, but they don't like management, they LOVE BUREAUCRACY!!
Which means, inaction.

Our COM2000 fitted last week has failed already.

Lets hope number 4 will last longer than a week!

Justin, I'd take out that extra warranty man.

macquered said:

Our COM2000 fitted last week has failed already.

Lets hope number 4 will last longer than a week!

Justin, I'd take out that extra warranty man.

Click to expand...

Geez, only one week, could that be a record?

Troy.

TroyO said:

Geez, only one week, could that be a record?

Click to expand...

What are the details of the failure though?

In all honesty, the problems with my COM2000 that caused me to replace it were apparent after a few hours on the same day - I just haven't had the time to get around to it.

I had it replaced a day before warranty, the guy at my dealer said "Ahh, don't worry they'll replace em anyway" (in reference to the fact I noted the warranty was up last week). My friend the TPA 1975 will probably keep them honest

The car had its second birthday on Saturday and is running normally.

Same old story....indicate right, make right turn, correct wheel movement, left indicator pops on.

It's dangerous, and I'm gobsmacked that Peugeot are letting this happen.

Pug307 said:

The COM2000 is an integrated communications hub which lives inside the steering column. A lot of people think it is just the indicator stalk, but it comprises of more things than that. It comprises of:

• Indicator & wiper stalks
• Sockets for cruise control & audio controls
• Receiver for the remote control
• Speaker for warning chimes & indicator 'tick tock'

It costs around $1000 new. The cost to the dealer is just over $300 less
<SNIP>

Click to expand...

Trust Justin to come up with the definitive explanation.

Pug307 said:

Just got my new COM2000 yesterday, COM2000 number 4

Second last day of warranty too

Click to expand...

Any replaced part is covered by a seperate warranty. So your new Com2000 should be replace under warranty if it fails in the future.