According to the statistics of the State Administration for Market Regulation in 2021, a total of 44 car brands in the domestic passenger car market issued 155 recall announcements in 2021, with a total of 8,733,735 passenger cars recalled, an increase of 31.88% over 2020.
From the perspective of the recall ranking, Mercedes-Benz has suppressed a number of brands and reached the top of the 2021 domestic recall ranking. On March 12, 2021, Mercedes-Benz filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation, recalling some imported and domestically produced A-class, B-class, C-class, E-class, S-class, GLA SUV, GLB SUV, GLC SUV, GLE SUV, GLS SUV, EQC vehicles due to the problem of communication module software, totaling more than 2.6 million vehicles.
The recall on March 12, 2021 alone has exceeded the total annual recalls of other car companies. Throughout the year, Mercedes-Benz has recalled a total of 2781204 passenger cars in 17 times, leading first-tier luxury brands such as Audi and BMW.
Unexpectedly, the recall of SAIC-GM-Wuling is second only to Mercedes-Benz. On July 16, 2021, SAIC-GM-Wuling recalled a total of 1436997 vehicles due to insufficient wear resistance of the spool of the forced ventilation valve of the engine crankcase, which may cause engine damage in extreme cases and unreasonable emission risks. It is understood that this is the first relevant recall after the official implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Motor Vehicle Emission Recalls.
In addition to SAIC-GM-Wuling, independent brands including BAIC BJEV, BAIC Senova, Jacques, Chery, FAW Besturn, BYD, Euler, Cheetah and other independent brands have all had recall measures during the year, and their own brands have recalled a total of 1,989,023 vehicles in 2021, accounting for 22.77% of the total recall.
In third place is the Toyota brand, with a cumulative recall of 1.285 million vehicles throughout the year, the largest recall occurring at the end of last year. On December 10, 2021, Toyota Joint Venture Company filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the internal components of the engine exhaust gas recirculation valve (EGR valve) of the vehicle within the scope of the recall may be corroded by the higher concentration of chlorine in the fuel, resulting in poor valve movement, which may cause the engine to run poorly, and in extreme cases, the vehicle will be turned off at low speed, increasing the risk of collision accidents.
To this end, Toyota recalled nearly 900,000 vehicles, including Toyota brand and Lexus brand, involving Camry, Asia Dragon, Veranda, RAV4 Rongfang, Lexus ES200, Lexus ES260 and other best-selling models.
This is Toyota's fourth large-scale recall this year. In June and July this year, Toyota Motor launched two recalls, with a total recall of more than 200,000 vehicles, also involving a number of popular models.
New power brands also recalled a lot during the year, especially Tesla. With the popularity of new energy vehicles, the Tesla brand has repeatedly created "miracles" in the domestic market, especially the Model Y, although its listing time is only one year, but the sales exceed the Model 3 to become Tesla's best-selling model in China.
However, while sales have reached new highs, Tesla's product problems have also continued to emerge, and in 2021, Tesla has carried out six recalls of 543,811 electric vehicles in China, far exceeding the level of recalls in 2020.
On the last day of 2021, Tesla launched a recall in China, recalling a total of 199,741 electric vehicles due to "the front trunk storage of the vehicle cannot be locked" and "the trunk wiring harness wears or causes the reversing image to not work", including the domestic Model 3, the imported Model 3, the Model S, and almost at the same time, the US regulator said that Tesla recalled 475,318 Model 3 and Model S in the United States due to the same problem.
In addition to Tesla, the new power brands Xiaopeng Automobile and Jixing Automobile have also been recalled in China. In January 2021, Xiaopeng Automobile recalled 13,399 G3s due to the tinned terminals connected to the copper row screws on the dc bus capacitor of the inverter, which may cause a short circuit between the positive and negative poles of the high-voltage DC current due to the tin whiskers, the vehicle in the parked state may not be able to start again, and the vehicle is in the driving state may cause the vehicle to lose power.
While accelerating the development of new energy vehicles, the quality of their products has also attracted market attention, which is a problem that cannot be ignored by automobile manufacturers in the production process.
The car recall does not represent a quality problem, but to some extent reflects that there are still some problems with the brand in some aspects. From the above brands, there are Mercedes-Benz who pay for "low-level errors", there are also recalls caused by Buick's negligence in parts, and of course, there are also "innocent lying guns" like Honda Toyota.
So is the brand without recall more secure product process and design?
Obviously not! Either there is no relevant statistics and feedback on consumer quality complaints, or there is no awareness of consumer responsibility.
Some netizens said, "The recall at least determines that there is a problem with the product, but if it is not recalled, you will never know where the problem is"!