China.com Motor, March 9 (Reporter Li Chi) As a global strategic model of Toyota, the Corolla has sold more than 50 million vehicles worldwide since its release 56 years ago. In the domestic market, the Corolla has also sold 4.5 million vehicles, becoming the absolute main sales model of FAW Toyota. However, since 2022, the China Online Car Quality Complaint Platform (I want to complain: http://315.auto.china.com.cn/) has received a number of complaints about the 2021 FAW Toyota Corolla model, and its most common problem is manifested in the CVT transmission setback and abnormal sound, focusing on the Corolla model equipped with a 1.2T turbocharged engine.
Corolla was frustrated by the low speed of the gearbox and "entangled" with strange noises FAW Toyota responded to complaints poorly
Mr. Pan, the owner of the 2021 FAW Toyota Corolla 1.2T S-CVT Elite Edition model, said: "The CVT gearbox has a very serious setback when it is low-speed, and the new car bought in June last year has no problem when it is normally opened, and the setback at low speed is very severe, or when it is decelerated and accelerated, the setback is also very serious, and the 4s store actually said that it was a common disease, and it was proposed that if there was a problem, it might also need to replace the gearbox.
In 2021, Mr. Zhou, a Tangshan 2021 Corolla owner, described: "Manufacturers told me that (low speed bumps) are normal, saying that there is gear gap after the gearbox gears are thermally expanded, and they also say that all CVT models have this problem, but many CVT models I have driven do not have this sound." When the sound in the car is not particularly large, you can hear the sound of the gearbox gear hitting, and you can record it in the car with your mobile phone. Generally in the 20-30 low-speed refueling, oil collection, you can hear this abnormal sound, accompanied by obvious frustration. If the voices were within the acceptable range, I probably wouldn't have looked for them that way. Especially when driving in the community, this car is constantly clucking... just like driving a tractor. ”
After inquiring about the major complaint platforms and forums in China, the reporter of China Net found that the CVT transmission of the Corolla model was also a problem that the car owners reacted to strongly. Since February 17, 2022, the "Little Horse Talking Car" column of China Net Auto has also continued to track the problems of Corolla's gearbox setbacks and abnormal noises. "Pony Talk Car" tried to mediate between the 4S store, the official customer service of FAW Toyota 400 and the owner of the car to find the best solution, but in the end it was fruitless. As with the response received by the owner, the manufacturer insisted that there was no problem with the quality of the vehicle.
Compared with the high response rate and high case closure rate of car companies such as Changan Ford and Great Wall Euler, FAW Toyota's data on the China Net Auto Quality Complaint Platform is not "good-looking". According to the latest data, the platform received 10 complaints about FAW Toyota in February, with 4 responses and a response rate of 40%. Faw Toyota's complaint volume in February was 10, and the number of cases closed on the platform was "0".
Corolla has carried out a large number of recalls in quick succession The prospects are not optimistic
The latest data shows that the Corolla sold 12,564 units in January 2022. Although the number of over 10,000 units in a single month is not bad, it has fallen by as much as 65% year-on-year, and the monthly sales decline of 30,000 units in December last year is also amazing. Throughout 2021, corolla sold 318303 vehicles, with an average of more than 26,000 units per month. However, during the traditional peak sales season, the Corolla sold just over 10,000 units in August and September last year, and sales took a sharp turn for the worse.
Although the domestic car market is still affected by the new crown epidemic and the lack of cores, the decline in Corolla's sales may be more closely related to its own product performance. In June 2021, FAW Toyota announced a recall of more than 191,900 Corolla models. Because some components of the vehicle's high-pressure fuel pump are not fully pressed, abnormal wear may occur inside the high-pressure fuel pump during use, and fatigue cracks may occur at the weld of the high-pressure fuel pump, and there is a possibility of fuel leakage. Then in July, FAW Toyota recalled 116,500 Corolla dual-engine models, due to the imperfect brake control computer program of the adaptive cruise system equipped with the vehicle, and the brake lights did not light up when the system performed slight braking in some speed ranges, which may cause rear-end collisions in extreme cases. Then in January this year, 162301 FAW Toyota Corolla was recalled due to engine ignition coil manufacturing problems, which could lead to a shutdown during driving in extreme cases.
Some insiders joke that the car recall does reflect the car company's responsible attitude towards product defects, but the overly frequent recalls undoubtedly expose Corolla's shortcomings in quality control. Combing the complaint data of The China Net Automotive Quality Complaint Platform, Corolla's complaint cases accounted for about 40% of FAW Toyota's total complaints, and the complaint problems mainly focused on abnormal noise and transmission setbacks.
At the same time, on the China Net automotive quality complaint platform, FAW Toyota's 2019 Asian Dragon 2.0L fuel version was also exposed to the failure of "the engine is continuously and unprovoked, and the fault light is on". Earlier, FAW Toyota Asia Dragon was plagued by problems such as abnormal noises and "increased oil". In fact, soon after the listing in 2019, The Asian Dragon has frequently appeared problems such as sunroof noise, abnormal sound in the car, and abnormal sound in the central control, which has also triggered a large number of complaints from car owners. At the same time, the problem of "increased engine oil" in winter twin engine models has aroused strong concern from the outside world. Mainly because the engine is repeatedly used in the state of not being able to warm up sufficiently in winter, a small amount of condensation water in the engine cannot evaporate, and is mixed into the engine oil, so that the engine cannot be fully lubricated, which has caused the owners to worry about the service life of the engine, and toyota has asked Toyota to provide extended warranty service for the engine of the dual engine, but it was not adopted in the end.
Since Toyota entered China, its products have accumulated a good reputation in China with high reliability, and the reputation of "Toyota that cannot be broken" has also spread. In 2018, FAW Toyota released a new brand slogan of "To the Extreme", in which "Pole" represents FAW Toyota's ultimate precision and perfection in production quality. However, a series of problem complaints may make FAW Toyota's "true to the extreme" quality halo face a real test. ( Editor: Wang Fang )
Note: This article is reprinted by Tencent Auto authorized by China Net Auto