Recently, the Blue Whale Auto reporter received feedback from consumers, saying that the GAC Toyota iA5 2019 luxury version purchased in June 2020 has successively declined in 2021, and the mileage has fallen from the initial 460-470km to 420-430km, according to its communication with the 4S store, the battery of the model it purchased has welding problems, the manufacturer is replacing the battery, and the new battery can solve the problem of reduced battery life and long charging time.
After changing the battery, the problem is aggravated
The consumer replaced the new battery on February 25, 2022, and then used the same charging pile for multiple charges, and found that not only did the charging time increase, but its charging power also fell from about 59 kWh to about 53 kWh.
Image source: Provided by the owner
What is even more unacceptable is that after replacing the battery, the power performance of its vehicle has obvious attenuation, the acceleration time is slow, and the limit speed is also significantly different from before. The cruising range has also declined again, and the actual driving mileage of full power is about 400km.
Through its communication with a number of car owners, many car owners have a similar situation after changing the battery, and what is more puzzling is that the BMS version number of the same model is not the same, which also makes many car owners suspect that the replaced battery is not new.
4S shop avoids the heavy and light, and the explanation is vague
When seeking a solution from the 4S store, the 4S store said that it can test the battery for the owner, compare it with the previous results, and make a judgment, and reiterate that the owner should pay attention to 30%-80% of the charging time, which means that the battery state is normal.
Subsequently, the reporter also called the 4S store to consult about this matter, and the reply was that if 30%-80% of the charging time met the standard, indicating that the state of the battery was qualified. At the same time, it is not recommended to charge the power to more than 80% frequently, which will have a negative impact on the life of the battery. For the battery version, "lock the power" and other situations, the 4S store said that it was not aware of it, nor could they operate it.
"Lock first and then change", the actual problem has not been effectively solved
According to the reporter's understanding, the battery problem of GAC Toyota iA5 experienced a round of consumer collective complaints as early as last summer, because the battery capacity indicated in the product information was 58.8kWh, and many car owners found that their car could only reach 47kWh, until they went to the 4s store to check it out that the manufacturer upgraded the vehicle's battery control program in the background in July, which is what everyone usually calls the "locked power" phenomenon, resulting in less charging power and shortened mileage.
Image source: Baidu
On a car complaint platform, the reporter also inquired about the number of complaints about the problem of the battery and battery life of the GAC Toyota iA5 only this year, and the problems reflected are very similar to the content introduced above. The obvious difference from last summer's collective complaint is that these car owners have replaced the battery due to the "lock power" problem, not only the problem has not been effectively solved, but it is still much worse than before.
Image source: Car Quality Network
At present, the consumer is actively communicating with 4S stores and manufacturers, hoping to at least restore the available power and charging rate of the previous old battery, as well as the power performance of the vehicle. And the outgoing battery is a written description of the new battery, otherwise it will be replaced back with the original old battery.
Xu Di, a lawyer at Guangdong Guohui (Beijing) Law Firm, believes that consumers have the right to know according to the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law. Whether it is battery product information, version information, and manufacturers should clearly inform consumers when they carry out operations such as "locking the power". In addition, the manufacturer's "power locking" behavior infringes on the rights and interests of consumers to a certain extent, and according to the principle of fairness, reasonable compensation should be made to the users who are locked in electricity.
We will also continue to pay attention to this matter, and look forward to manufacturers can give consumers a satisfactory answer.