Car not working after mother gets robot (9)
I believe the answer is:
automaton
'robot' is the definition.
(I know that robot can be written as automaton)
'car not working after mother' is the wordplay.
'car' becomes 'auto' (synonyms).
'working' indicates an anagram.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mother).
'not' anagrammed gives 'ton'.
'ton' put after 'ma' is 'maton'.
'auto'+'maton'='AUTOMATON'
'gets' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for automaton that I've seen before include "Robotic figure" , "Mechanical man" , "being worked invariably" , "machine" , "working robot" .)