Recently, the China Consumer Association released the analysis data on the complaints accepted by the National Consumer Association in 2021. In 2021, the National Consumer Association organization received a total of 1,044,861 consumer complaints, and 491,040 complaints about commodities, accounting for 47.00% of the total complaints. Among them, the number of complaints about automobiles and auto parts was 41,624, accounting for 8.48% of the complaints in the commodity category, ranking third in the overall complaint volume of the commodity category, an increase of 19.28% year-on-year.
In 2021, the mainland automobile industry produced and sold 26.082 million units and 26.275 million units respectively, maintaining the first place in global automobile production and sales for 13 consecutive years. According to the Statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in 2021 reached 3.521 million units, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market share was as high as 13.4%. The China Consumers Association said that the number of complaints about automobiles and auto parts has increased significantly, and the gradual promotion and ownership of new energy vehicles continue to increase, and in 2021, complaints related to new energy vehicles have increased significantly, and it is difficult to prove and difficult to protect rights.
With the rapid growth of car ownership, consumer disputes and complaints caused by car purchase contracts, car quality, after-sales service and other issues have also become important issues of social concern. The main problems of consumer complaints include: new energy vehicles have safety problems, such as driving power outages, auto spontaneous combustion, automatic driving system failure, etc.; battery quality problems are prominent, such as charging failures, etc.; cruising range shrinkage, especially in winter low temperature endurance loss is fast; failure to fulfill promises, such as the use of high-performance chips, but the actual situation is not so.
The continued increase in the number of complaints involving new energy vehicles has also raised concerns among many consumers. According to the data of the relevant complaint platform, the first place in the number of complaints about new energy vehicles in 2021 is the Great Wall Euler Good Cat, with an annual complaint volume of 1569. Previously, Euler Good Cat was blown up by the car machine system chip goods wrong board, completely inconsistent with the official propaganda. This incident was jointly voiced by a large number of car owners to defend their rights and CCTV news reports.
Ranked second on the complaint list is a miniature electric vehicle under Changan New Energy, the E-Star. Last year, Ben Ben E-Star was suspected of "disguised price increase" and "refusal to perform the contract" by 30,000 quasi-car owners to protect their rights, according to the International Financial News, some car owners said: "Install a service package of 5,000 yuan, or add 10,000 yuan to upgrade to a newly listed colorful model can pick up the car in advance, otherwise continue to wait, (Changan's move) is actually a 'disguised mark-up'" After waiting for 3-5 months, many prospective owners were uniformly informed by dealer sales staff in early and mid-November that the car might not arrive. Changan official customer service said that the owner of the reservation but not delivered can continue to wait, the waiting time varies according to the situation of the 4S store in various places, if you can not wait, you can also handle the chargeback. At the same time, car owners can also consider other plans given by each 4S store, including adding 5,000 yuan to buy service packages, adding 10,000 yuan to buy colorful models, etc. Chen Yuanxi, a partner at Shanghai Haihua Yongtai Law Firm, said: If the 4S store clearly tells consumers that they can pick up the car first, it is a kind of disguised price increase.
After entering 2022, the motor failure of Mercedes-Benz EQC has become the focus of attention, and recently there have been media reports that a number of Mercedes-Benz EQC owners have launched rights protection incidents due to the failure of the motor of the purchased vehicle. According to the owner, the failure of the Mercedes-Benz EQC is due to the failure and leakage of the internal coolant seal of the drive motor, resulting in the direct burning of the motor, and the owner who has replaced the motor has the same situation again. In February 2022, more than 100 EQC car owners issued a joint statement. Mercedes-Benz officials have not yet proposed an effective solution.
The China Consumer Association believes that operators have the main responsibility for solving the difficulty of safeguarding the rights of new energy vehicles. Among them, vehicle safety is the primary premise, including the active and passive safety of vehicles and information security. Second, it is necessary to protect consumers' right to know and truly and comprehensively disclose relevant data and parameters. Attention should also be paid to assuming contractual responsibilities and fulfilling commitments, while paying attention to after-sales service guarantees and timely solving user-related problems.
Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, believes that the increase in complaints about new energy vehicles is mainly caused by three aspects. First, the development of new energy technology has been less than 10 years, and the industrial chain of new energy parts is not as mature as that of traditional fuel vehicles. Second, the energy system of new energy vehicles is not as mature as traditional fuel vehicles, the national standard for charging piles has only been established in recent years, and the standards and quality of charging piles are not as reliable as petroChina, Sinopec and other gas stations, so charging piles are also one of the factors that trigger the failure of new energy vehicles. Third, at present, many car owners are not familiar with the driving characteristics of new energy vehicles, new energy vehicles are motor driven, and the traditional engine is different, if the improper operation is also easy to lead to failure or accidents, then the owner of the loss or poor experience, naturally will produce complaints.
In addition, from the relevant complaint platform, it was found that there were also many complaints about traditional fuel vehicles. For example, FAW-Volkswagen Tanyue particle trap plugging fuel consumption high start-stop failure, Audi Q5L body leakage, Trumpchi GS4 oil increase, Beijing Hyundai leading steering wheel abnormal stuttering heavy steering and so on.
Whether it is a new energy vehicle or a traditional fuel vehicle, only by protecting the interests of the majority of consumers, enterprises can get a long-term and virtuous cycle of development, in the face of the new energy vehicle market, consumer complaints should be more attention to enterprises.