On the way to drive the child to school, Mr. Lou, the owner of the Audi Q5L, and his family, the normal Audi Q5L suddenly braked sharply, and the whole car was "paralyzed", which made him still have palpitations.
Mr. Lou said that after the inspection of the 4S store, it should be caused by the gateway module under the seat that is easily infiltrated by the rear seat. Shortly after the incident, the State Administration for Market Regulation informed that 450,000 Audi Q5Ls would be recalled for technical rectification, also for the same reason that if a large amount of liquid accidentally spilled on the rear seat, it may enter the gateway control module, resulting in a short circuit.
Mr. Lou's car is also covered by the recall, but he does not approve of the rectification plan for the installation of protective covers. He believes that the gateway module of the Audi Q5L is located under the rear seats of the car, and there is a groove in the middle of the rear seat of the car, and if there is water spilled here, it just flows from the seat belt "buckle" to the position of the gateway module, which indicates that there is a problem with the design itself. In addition, he already has a psychological shadow, and now he does not dare to open it at all, and only asks Audi to return and replace it.
A person in charge of the 4S store involved told the surging news that they also gave feedback to the company on Mr. Lou's appeal, but this situation simply did not meet the conditions for the manufacturer's return and replacement. Audi's official customer service told the surging news that the gateway module is under the rear seat, not directly below the water cup slot. According to the relevant laws and regulations, Mr. Lou's situation does not meet the conditions for returning the car and cannot return the car.
In an interview with The Paper, a lawyer believes that when the car dealer and the consumer sign a sales contract, whether the car is already aware of the safety hazards in this regard of the car and deliberately conceal it is the key to whether the contract can be revoked ("returned"). But if the car dealer does not admit it, it is difficult for consumers to prove that they "deliberately concealed".
Mr. Lou's Audi Q5L Images in this article are provided by the interviewee
The Audi Q5L was suddenly paralyzed while driving
Mr. Lou is a native of Tongxiang, Zhejiang. He said he bought the car at the Tongxiang Deody 4s store on May 9, 2020.
On January 12, 2022, he drove the car and his family to send his children to school, and was on the move, the vehicle suddenly braked sharply, paralyzed, the throttle was pressed down without any power, and the dashboard showed: circuit system, drive system, driving system, tire tire pressure all had problems. In the end, the car was still turned off, and it couldn't start. "If it's on the highway, it could be a car crash." Mr. Lou still has palpitations in his heart.
Mr. Lou said that he could only call a trailer at that time, and after arriving at the 4s shop, he could not start the trailer because he could not start, and finally he was hoisted. At that time, the 4S shop said that the relevant problems were not within the scope of the warranty, and the maintenance cost of 15,000 yuan needed to be borne by itself.
He said that according to the inspection and analysis, it should be that the rear seat of the car is easy to seep water into the gateway module below, which he has no objection to, the child is in the back seat on the same day, there should be water seeping down. But it was originally a place to put water, it was designed that way, and there were no relevant hazard warnings on the interior and instructions of the car that this location needed to be waterproof.
The gateway module of the Audi Q5L is located under the rear seat, and the central armrest of the rear seat has two cup slots dedicated to filling cups and water bottles. Mr. Lou believes that this means that from the design, this is a place to use water, the water in this place spills down, and flows down the seat belt buckle to the gateway module position, which is a key facility that needs to be waterproof, but it is placed in the most vulnerable place to enter the water, which is a serious design defect. He went online to check and found that as early as 2020, there were already car owners who encountered a similar situation.
The Center Armrest of the Audi Q5L Rear Seat
450,000 models of the same model were collectively recalled due to safety hazards
During Mr. Lou's negotiation with the 4S shop, more than 450,000 Audi Q5Ls, including Mr. Lou's car, were recalled.
The Paper noted that on January 27, the State Administration for Market Regulation informed that after the bureau intervened in the investigation, FAW-Volkswagen's more than 450,000 Audi Q5L vehicles would be recalled. According to the circular, FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. has filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulations in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products and the Implementation Measures for the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products, and from February 28, 2022, it has recalled some domestic Audi Q5L vehicles with a production date from March 1, 2018 to December 4, 2021, with a total of 453791 units.
The notice said that the reason for the recall of this batch of Audi Q5L is: because the gateway control module is located in a lower position under the rear seat, if a large amount of liquid is accidentally spilled on the rear seat, it may enter the gateway control module, resulting in a short circuit inside the gateway control module, which further causes various internal errors. Because the gateway control module has a safety design, if an untrustworthy signal is detected, the engine, gearbox, steering system, etc. will enter the protection mode, at which time the transmission clutch will be disconnected, causing the interruption of the power during the vehicle, increasing the possibility of accidents, and there are safety hazards.
In response to these defects, the vehicles within the scope of these recalls will be equipped with protective covers of the gateway control module free of charge to prevent liquids from entering to eliminate safety hazards.
At present, although Mr. Lou's car has been recalled to install a protective cover, he does not accept this disposal plan and insists on returning it. "Cars are such a thing, a small thing can cause a big accident" He is still worried, since this design itself has such a big risk and endangers safety, it should be completely avoided.
The Audi Q5L central armrest can hold two water glasses
Audi: Not eligible for returns
Mr. Lou said that he had repeatedly communicated with audi parties in the form of written complaint letters, but had not yet received a reply.
He said that the 4S store had told him that it was useless to find them, and the Audi manufacturers would not reply. He called the official Audi customer service number and did not get a reply.
Mr. Lou's car was a problem that occurred before the unified recall was announced, and he insisted that this situation was a design defect, at that time, because he repeatedly insisted, he did not pay 15,000 yuan for maintenance according to the requirements of the 4S shop. Finally, when a unified recall came, he said that the staff of the 4S store told him at the time that some car owners had previously infiltrated due to beer, and the same problem occurred, all of which were borne by themselves. He believes that now that the problem has been clear, it is a manufacturer design problem, should Audi also refund the maintenance fee to the owner of the car who was involved in such problems before?
Mr. Lou insisted on returning and exchanging. He said that not everyone is as real as he is, and many people's car problems have not been exposed, which may feel indifferent, but he has experienced the previous dangers, and he is not at ease with the recall plan, and he also has a psychological shadow on the car, and now he does not dare to drive at all.
On February 28, a person in charge of the Tongxiang Deodio Audi 4s store told the surging news that they also gave feedback to the company on Mr. Lou's appeal, but this situation simply did not meet the conditions for the manufacturer's return, no return, and also clearly informed him. They're just in charge of after-sales and can't do anything about it.
Audi's official customer service told the surging news that the Audi Q5L, which is currently recalled with related issues, is only partial, and only the recalled car involves these problems. Customer service personnel said that the gateway module is under the rear seat, not directly under the sink of the water cup. According to the relevant laws and regulations, Mr. Lou's situation does not meet the conditions for return and exchange, and he cannot return the car.
However, Mr. Lou said that according to the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products, as the owner of the car, he has the right to require the producer and seller to bear the corresponding legal responsibilities such as repair, replacement, return and compensation for losses in accordance with the product quality law, consumer rights and interests protection law and other laws, administrative regulations and relevant national provisions and contracts.
Lawyer: It is difficult for consumers to prove
Mr. Lou said that he found that in 2020, audi Q5L owners posted online that it would fail in 2019, and clearly pointed out that the model's gateway module had design and identification defects. He believes that audi should be aware of the situation and not still sell defective cars in May 2020. If the Audi manufacturer faces this problem in time, he may make other choices when he buys a car.
However, Zhang Dezhi, a lawyer at Beijing Codex Aircraft Law Firm, believes that after many commodities are listed, there will be some voices pointing out problems on the Internet, whether it is a case or a congenital design defect, in fact, there is a identification process. The relevant voices that appeared on the Internet against Audi cars at that time did not mean that the manufacturers could immediately confirm that there were security risks in its design.
Zhang Dezhi believes that if at the time of signing the car purchase contract, the merchant already knows the defects of the car and has not informed the consumer, then such a contract is invalid. If the manufacturer also finds the problem later, the merchant should repair and make up for the loss.
He believes that now that the merchant is aware of these security risks before they admit the sale, it is difficult for consumers to prove that they have fraudulently and maliciously concealed the major hidden danger of the car at the time of sale.
Lawyer Leng Xinhong of Sichuan Kanglun Law Firm also believes that the vehicles with hidden dangers sold before the recall announcement cannot be regarded as infringement, as long as the obligation of recall and maintenance is fulfilled, and the sales of problem vehicles after the recall announcement are liable, but it is also necessary to distinguish between general concealment and malicious concealment, general concealment is to compensate for losses, if malicious concealment, you can ask for a refund of one and three. Leng Xinhong believes that Mr. Lou's car was purchased before the recall, and Audi has now recalled its vehicle, so at present, it does not involve general concealment and malicious concealment.