A few days ago, the China Consumer Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Consumer Association") released an analysis of the complaints accepted by the National Consumer Association in 2021, pointing out that the number of complaints about automobiles and auto parts has increased significantly, and the number of complaints last year reached 41624, accounting for 3.98%. Among the specific product complaints, automobiles and auto parts ranked third, an increase of 19.28% over the same period of the previous year, second only to food and clothing products.
The China Consumer Association pointed out that the increase in the number of complaints about automobiles and auto parts has a certain relationship with the gradual promotion of new energy vehicles and the continuous growth of their ownership. Although the fast-growing new energy automobile industry has achieved gratifying results, the number of complaints that have increased with its production and sales is also worthy of attention.
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Complaints have soared, and big brands are hard to escape
In 2021, the number of complaints about new energy vehicles is obviously more numerous and louder. As early as last September, at the 2021 World New Energy Vehicle Conference, Gan Lin, deputy director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, pointed out that the number of complaints and reports on new energy vehicles accepted by the market supervision department is increasing day by day, and recalls caused by defects such as power battery failure and insufficient braking power also occur from time to time. Sun Xiaoming, operation manager of the Black Cat Complaint Operation of the Internet complaint platform, introduced that in 2021, the Black Cat Complaint Platform received more than 6,200 consumer complaints about automobiles, involving sales, marketing, delivery and other links.
New energy vehicles with their own traffic are paired with "net red" car companies such as Tesla and Weilai, making the public opinion influence of new energy vehicle complaints more and more powerful. In the "Top Ten Consumer Rights Protection Public Opinion Hotspots in 2021" released by the China Consumer Association, Tesla car owners " won the first place in the list of "roof rights protection" incident. The tit-for-tat confrontation between car owners and Tesla has just subsided, and in July last year, Weilai car owners collectively complained about the defects of Weilai seats, and the number of "Wei you bend your waist" rights protection community group exceeded 1,000. At the end of the year, Euler's good cat secretly "changed the core" so that the owner of the good cat also embarked on the road of rights protection.
Even Mercedes-Benz, which has a century-old foundation, will inevitably overturn on the road of electrification transformation. Recently, 68 Mercedes-Benz owners made a collective complaint about Mercedes-Benz's first electric vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz EQC. The owners' joint statement pointed out that the Mercedes-Benz EQC had a motor failure during use. According to the description, 1 to 2 months before the motor failure, the central control screen after the vehicle starts prompts the words "fill coolant", and the front cabin cover is opened to find that the traces of coolant are significantly reduced.
In this regard, mercedes-benz 4S shop detection is fruitless, after filling coolant failure is still the same, and coolant penetrates the motor, resulting in the owner can not start the vehicle, the center console prompts the word "fault". Many car owners asked the 4S shop for detailed work orders, motor failure reports, and the reason for replacing the motor, but they were rejected. Mercedes-Benz's official response did not explain in detail the cause of the failure, only that it had repaired the customer's vehicle and would actively study user feedback and optimize the product.
In addition to complaints caused by defects such as seats and motor failures, many consumers are dissatisfied with the false publicity behavior of car companies. According to the January 2022 pure electric vehicle complaint list released by the car quality network, the top 10 models mostly have problems such as false publicity and failure to mention the car.
The reporter saw on the black cat complaint platform that a Lynk & Co consumer said that from booking a car to picking up the car, he had repeatedly confirmed with the official customer service of Lynk & Co that the Lynk & Co 06phev pro motor brand was Siemens, but after picking up the car, he found that the supplier of the vehicle motor was Jingjin Technology. Secondly, the official previously said that the tires of the Lynk & Co 06phev pro model were of the Giti brand, and when picking up the car, it was found that the tires had been replaced by the Atlas Batman brand.
In addition, a Xiaopeng car owner also encountered false publicity of corporate activities. As an old car owner, the owner participated in the "Old with New" recommendation activity held by Xiaopeng officials from November 1 to December 31 last year, and the minimum score was 1000 points. At the recommendation of the owner, his friend submitted a deposit to buy a new car during the campaign period, and the owner only cashed out 50 points. After contacting customer service, customer service said that the right to explain the activity was on the corporate side.
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New areas, new technologies, new troubles
The attention of public opinion on new energy vehicle complaints remains high, but the number of complaints is still increasing day by day, and the types of complaints have become diverse. In addition to the problems of body failure and false publicity mentioned above, it is not uncommon to mention the problems of cars and poor service attitudes.
The China Consumer Association pointed out that at present, there are mainly the following types of consumer complaints related to new energy vehicles: First, new energy vehicles have safety problems, such as power outages during driving, spontaneous combustion of automobiles, and failure of automatic driving systems. Second, the battery quality problems are very prominent, such as charging failure. Third, the mileage is shrinking, especially in the low temperature conditions in winter, the endurance of electric vehicles is too fast. The fourth is not to fulfill promises, such as the Euler chip incident. Fifth, there are many controversies caused by price changes, resulting in consumer dissatisfaction. In addition, some car companies also have improper behavior of arbitrarily modifying online promotional materials and instructions for sold models.
In terms of service, the after-sales service system, maintenance outlets, maintenance technicians, etc. of car companies cannot meet the needs of high-speed growth of new energy vehicles, affecting consumer experience and after-sales satisfaction. Finally, controversial issues with the storage and provision of car data have also left many consumers unhappy.
What is even more troubling is the difficulty of proof and rights protection faced by owners of new energy vehicles in their complaints. Yang Yang (pseudonym), a legal practitioner, said in an interview with China Automobile News that the current problem of proof difficulties faced by consumers of new energy vehicles is more prominent. "Many consumers say that their electric vehicles have problems such as driving range that does not match the advertised or that the charging is not satisfactory, and this complaint is difficult to come up with tangible evidence." Because the car company can completely say that the consumer charging operation is wrong or there is a problem with the charging pile setting, it is difficult to prove that it is indeed due to the battery problem caused by the shrinkage of the mileage or the dissatisfaction of charging. Yang Yang said.
As Yang Yang said, the reporter saw a number of complaints on the black cat complaint platform that reflected that the charging speed was seriously inconsistent with the propaganda or the driving mileage was inaccurate. A BAIC EX360 owner said that he used the State Grid standard charging pile to charge, and the vehicle was charged from 30% to 60% in 1 hour, which was seriously inconsistent with the official propaganda that the fast charge from 30% to 80% only took half an hour.
Legal practitioner Wang Erya (pseudonym) pointed out that the reasons why new energy vehicle complaints are facing difficulty in presenting evidence can be considered from four aspects. First of all, for product liability, the principle of "who advocates, who proves" is generally adopted, and consumers need to prove that there are defects in the new energy vehicle products themselves, such as causing damage and proving that there is a causal relationship between the damage and defects, which brings a heavier burden of proof to consumers.
Secondly, complaints about new energy vehicles generally focus on more professional issues such as mileage and brake systems, and the professionalism of the evidence is very strong, which brings greater pressure to ordinary consumers to produce evidence.
Third, Wang Erya told reporters that the evidence presented in such cases generally involves identification methods, and the cost of identification is relatively high, and most consumers tend to be discouraged. Finally, in her view, the data of new energy vehicles is in the hands of car companies, and the information that consumers can obtain is very limited, and the asymmetry of this information has also brought great difficulties to consumer rights protection.
In the view of Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Joint Association, due to the limitations of technological development, some of the indicators of new energy vehicles are indicators in the ideal state, rather than indicators in the actual state. "If the driving mileage is not able to achieve the actual state and the indicator calibration state completely coincide, there will be contradictions, which is a normal phenomenon." Cui Dongshu explains.
Due to the continuous application of new technologies such as automatic driving and the increasing proportion of software in automobiles, consumers of new energy vehicles face greater difficulties in defending their rights and submitting evidence. Cui Dongshu said that compared with traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles are in the development stage, whether it is technology or industry standardization is not yet mature, all aspects of the policy is also in the process of gradual standardization, some technical indicators, testing methods have not yet formed a consensus.
Once a problem arises, it is difficult to obtain effective evidence and recognition, so it brings greater difficulties to consumer complaints. Taking automatic driving technology as an example, Yang Yang stressed that the definition of responsibility on the issue of automatic driving is still relatively vague, and the law does not put forward clear provisions, only pointing out that autonomous driving development units need to bear corresponding responsibilities, but how to allocate responsibilities has not been mentioned.
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It is urgent to face up to the problem, and it should also be viewed rationally
"With the acceleration of the pace of vehicle electrification and intelligence, legal issues closely related to new energy vehicles are emerging, and the problem of mileage, automatic driving, and data safety issues are now inconclusive." Yang Yang told reporters that because the strength of individual consumers is too weak, to improve the phenomenon of rising complaints about new energy vehicles, it is necessary to rely on national legal navigation, self-discipline piloting of car companies, escort of industry associations, and assistance of consumer associations. The joint action of multiple forces can avoid the intensification of complaints about new energy vehicles. "Especially car companies, they must be responsible." She said.
The China Consumer Association also pointed out that to solve the difficulty of safeguarding the rights of new energy vehicles, operators should bear the main responsibility. First of all, business entities must pay close attention to product safety issues, especially to strengthen the data security, network security, software upgrades and functional safety of intelligent networked vehicles, strengthen the risk notification and quality control of auxiliary automatic driving, and ensure the safety of consumers' personal and property. Secondly, it is necessary to truly and comprehensively inform the product situation, and must not exaggerate or falsely advertise.
Article 28 of the Advertising Law points out that an advertisement that deceives or misleads consumers with false or misleading content constitutes false advertising. Therefore, when car companies publicize autonomous driving technology, they must ensure authenticity and avoid misleading consumers. Yang Yang stressed. In addition, operators should earnestly implement the obligation of delivery of qualified products. In terms of car data, car companies must protect consumers' right to know data. In terms of after-sales service, operators must actively and properly handle relevant complaints, and put an end to delay, bullying, coercion and intimidation.
On January 1 this year, the new version of the three guarantees for automobiles officially began to be implemented, and the China Consumer Association stressed that automobile operators should conscientiously study the new regulations, update the three-guarantee policy in a timely manner, strengthen the training of enterprise employees, and implement the three-guarantee regulations in place. Wang Erya pointed out that in response to the trend of the popularity of new energy vehicles, the new version of the three guarantees of automobiles has expanded the scope of adjustment of the three guarantees of household cars, incorporated the quality problems of special components such as power batteries and driving drive motors into the three-guarantee return and replacement clause, and added the content of after-sales service, providing certain support for the protection of new energy vehicle rights at the legal level.
In addition, Wang Erya said that consumers also need to further enhance their awareness of evidence, ask for performance, data and after-sales plans in detail as much as possible when purchasing, and fix the evidence through audio and video recordings. At the same time, when quality problems occur, consumers should record the scene at the first time, contact the after-sales service, and record and video to fix the evidence.
"We should rationally look at the increase in complaints about new energy vehicles." Just like the recall of fuel vehicles, the number of international brand recalls is large, and the recall of joint ventures and independent brands is small, which shows that the quality of international brands is poor? This is actually not the case at all. Cui Dongshu stressed that the increase in the number of complaints about new energy vehicles reflects that new energy vehicles are really being popularized, and the scale of private use is getting bigger and bigger. In his view, the emergence of many problems is not a bad thing, it is difficult to prove and protect rights is a necessary process in the development process, this phenomenon can help car companies quickly find problems and promote the rapid maturity of the entire industry.
Text: Zhang Yiwen Editor: Huang Bei Layout: Wang Kun