The number of recalls increased by nearly 30% last year – voluntary car recalls became the norm

Recently, the State Administration of Market Regulation released the recall of defective products in 2021. According to the data, in 2021, the mainland implemented a total of 232 car recalls, involving 8.73 million vehicles, an increase of 29% year-on-year. From the perspective of the structure of the recalled parts, 84% of the total number of recalls due to defects in engines and electronic and electrical components accounted for 84% of the total number; from the perspective of defect recall reasons, those recalled due to manufacturing reasons accounted for 15% of the total number of recalls; those recalled due to design reasons accounted for 85% of the total number of recalls.

"In the past 5 years, auto safety recalls have occurred on average once every 1.6 days, and auto companies have taken the initiative to find problems, and active recalls have become the norm." Wang Yunsong, deputy director of the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration of Market Regulation, said that the company has improved the level of quality and safety through the recall, strengthened the brand reputation, and won the trust of consumers.

It is worth mentioning that in 2020, the penetration rate of intelligent and connected vehicles in the mainland will remain at about 15%, and the market penetration rate is predicted to exceed 75% in 2025. The ensuing scenario recognition, software defects and information security defects have become the more obvious new types of defects in intelligent networked vehicles.

In recalls that require only software upgrades, the number of OTA recalls significantly exceeds that of store-based software upgrades. "Enterprises improve and optimize some functions or performance of sold vehicles by remotely upgrading OTAs, saving time and reducing costs, and most OTA recalls are completed 90% in 3 months, and the completion rate of car recalls is significantly improved." Wang Yan, director of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Regulation, said.

There are also views that OTA upgrades are a "fig leaf" for software defects in car companies. In this regard, Wang Yan said that we encourage enterprises to implement recalls in the form of OTAs, but whether enterprises use OTAs as recall measures or technical service activities, they must fulfill statutory obligations such as filing to better protect public safety and consumer rights and interests.

As the world's largest automotive market, carbon emissions from motor vehicles have an important impact on achieving the carbon peaking target by 2030. In order to reduce the air pollution caused by pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, the State Administration of Market Regulation and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly formulated and issued the Regulations on the Administration of Motor Vehicle Emission Recalls, which will be implemented from July 1, 2021.

Since the implementation of the Provisions, the State Administration for Market Regulation has strengthened supervision over key emission parts such as forced ventilation devices for crankcases of some models, reducing agent reservoirs, three-way catalytic reactors, and on-board automatic diagnostic systems OBD, and by the end of 2021, a total of 1.44 million vehicles have been recalled.

Yin Hang, director of the Motor Vehicle Pollution Monitoring Center of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences, believes that emission recalls are more difficult to collect emission hazard information than safety recalls. In recent years, the ecological environment department has continued to strengthen the construction of environmental information systems for new cars and vehicles in use, and built a vehicle "one car and one gear" information database, covering data and information such as emission inspection and pollution control of the whole life cycle of vehicles. In the next step, we will establish an information sharing mechanism with the State Administration for Market Regulation and its technical institutions, carry out information consultation and judgment on key clues in a timely manner, and jointly implement the regulations on the management of motor vehicle emission recalls.

As a new energy-saving industry, new energy vehicles bear the important responsibility of promoting the realization of carbon peaking goals and carbon neutrality visions. "Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles present new safety characteristics, and some vehicles on the market have emerged new types of risks such as battery chemical stability, regenerative braking, and collision compatibility, and need to strengthen supervision." Wang Yunsong introduced that in this regard, the State Administration of Market Supervision has established a new energy vehicle accident reporting system, established a new energy vehicle accident investigation and cooperation network, formulated and revised relevant standards and norms, and strengthened the research on the common safety issues of new energy vehicles. Up to now, a total of 229 new energy vehicles have been recalled, involving 1.98 million vehicles.

The data shows that 99.9% of the car recalls and more than 50% of the recalls of electronic and electrical products are products that meet the standards but are found to be unreasonable dangers that endanger the safety of people and property after use, which requires enterprises to continue to improve technology and quality in the design, production and after-sales service.

"In view of the internal quality and safety management problems of enterprises, enterprises must be promoted to deepen the concept of total quality management and improve the ability to analyze and identify defects." Wang Yunsong said that the State Administration for Market Regulation has guided more than 2,400 technical improvements for automobile enterprises and more than 3,400 times for consumer goods manufacturers.

At present, the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with relevant departments, is stepping up the formulation of trial opinions on the supervision system of automobile safety sandboxes. In the aftermarket phase, sandbox supervision is introduced, mainly for the cutting-edge technology of vehicle applications for in-depth safety testing, with the purpose of guiding enterprises to find problems at a deeper level, improve design, and reduce risk. (Economic Daily reporter Guo Jingyuan)

(Economic Daily)