Source of this article: Time Weekly Author: Liao Wei
"Hundreds of thousands bought a time bomb, how can the mood be good?" Recently, Li Hui (pseudonym), owner of Mercedes-Benz EQC, complained to the Times Weekly reporter.
Li Hui's Mercedes-Benz EQC has been bought for 11 months, during which there have been more obvious failure problems 3 times, and the trailer has been called twice, and the maintenance time has accumulated to 40 days. "Although the vehicle is still in the warranty period, the maintenance is free, but it has brought a lot of impact to life and work, and this car does not dare to drive to a farther place."
Li Hui is not the only one who has suffered the same. As early as this year's Spring Festival, a joint statement of 68 Mercedes-Benz EQC owners circulated online. In the statement, car owners have said that the Mercedes-Benz EQC they purchased has one or more motor failures in use, and they speculate that it is caused by the leakage of coolant to the motor.
After the incident fermented, Beijing Benz filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation in February, saying that it would replace the improved electric drive module assembly for the recalled vehicle free of charge to eliminate safety hazards. However, most of the Mercedes-Benz EQC owners do not accept the way and attitude of the Mercedes-Benz side to solve the problem, and they believe that the Mercedes-Benz side is not sincere and the perfunctory intention is obvious.
"Such an insincere recall has further stimulated the beginning of a new round of contradictions." In response to Beijing Benz's plan to recall Mercedes-Benz EQC, the owner at that time, Ms. Zhao (pseudonym), told the Times Weekly reporter. Subsequently, on March 7, 245 Mercedes-Benz EQC car owners once again issued a joint statement, raising 7 questions and 4 appeals to mercedes-Benz officials, asking manufacturers to immediately recall and solve the problem of vehicles.
On March 14, a reporter from The Times Weekly interviewed Mercedes-Benz about this, but there was no response as of press time. Mercedes-Benz previously responded to the media, "Noting that some customers have doubts about the EQC recall measures and plans, please give us a certain amount of time to understand customer feedback." If we obtain the authorization of the customer for their contact information, we will contact all customers participating in the feedback as quickly as possible, listen to the needs and respond to their concerns appropriately."
Repair the motor badly
The core system of electric vehicles, that is, the "three electric systems", includes batteries, motors and electronic controls, in which the motor is the power source of electric vehicles, and its functions can be compared to the engines of traditional fuel vehicles, which belong to the core components of vehicles.
"Picked up the car on June 1, the first motor in August was broken, the second motor was broken in October, and it was directly anchored on the road." Out of trust in the Mercedes-Benz brand, Zhang Hui (pseudonym) spent about 500,000 yuan last year to buy a Mercedes-Benz EQC, but did not expect that the new car had two motor failures in less than half a year, which not only made him almost encounter danger, but also brought a lot of trouble to his life and work.
"The city expressway jumped out of the fault, I found out and quickly got off the expressway, drove for a while and then stopped directly." Recalling the scene at that time, Zhang Hui still had palpitations in his heart, and if he had not handled it properly at that time, the consequences would have been unpredictable.
When the motor first failed, Zhang Hui reported the situation to the 4S store, but the relevant person said that it was his bad luck. Until the second time the motor failed, Zhang Hui felt that something was wrong, searched for relevant cases on the Internet, and found that there were many people in the same situation. Therefore, he asked the 4S shop for a return and replacement of the car, but it was rejected.
"My car has reached the standard of three packs of returns, but I have to pay Mercedes-Benz more than 70,000 damage fees!" There was something wrong with his car, why did he want me to lose money! Zhang Hui was very angry, "Equal to more than 10,000 expenses a month, this is not bullying?" Recently, it began to indicate the lack of antifreeze, which feels like a precursor to the bad motor, and the previous two bad motors have prompted the lack of antifreeze."
On March 14, the Times Weekly reporter also interviewed the 4S shop where Zhang Hui bought the car, and the relevant people said that they would give upward feedback and then reply. However, as of press time, there has been no positive response.
Although Mercedes-Benz said in the recall plan that it will replace the improved electric drive module assembly free of charge to eliminate safety hazards. But for the recall plan, many car owners do not buy it.
"A large number of car owners are suddenly stopped in the middle of the nest, some on the highway, some in the rural road, the owners of the car life is at stake, and the trailer experience is unbearable, many are tens or even hundreds of kilometers away to come to the rescue, all the riders are now driving are worried, do not know when to encounter the risk again." After many previous contacts and saws, Ms. Zhao's trust in the manufacturer is declining, "After the recall, can we ensure that the new motor has no safety hazards?" It is recommended to disclose the true test report of the original motor. Some of our riders have already replaced 4 motors, and immediately announced that they want to replace the 5th or even 6th? How can this be explained? And the new motor started leaking again less than a day later."
Motor design defects?
Mercedes-Benz EQC is the first pure electric model of Mercedes-Benz, listed in 2019, and there are currently models on sale such as EQC 350 and EQC 400, and the manufacturer's guidance price is 499,800 yuan and 579,800 yuan respectively.
For the case that the motor of the car is repeatedly replaced and there will be frequent problems, many car owners believe that this is due to the design defects of the motor.
"Component product quality, component coordination, design defects are all possible." For the reasons for the repeated problems of Mercedes-Benz EQC motors, Feng Yankun, deputy director of the secretariat of the China Automobile Maintenance Industry Association, told the Times Weekly reporter on March 14, "Auto parts are a complex system engineering, and motor power drives are new processes after all, which need to be produced, used, adjusted and improved." It will take at least 20-30 years."
Some Mercedes-Benz EQC car owners proposed in the above-mentioned joint statement that they hope that Mercedes-Benz manufacturers will disclose relevant information and solutions about Mercedes-Benz EQC motors; initiate a recall procedure for automobile product quality defects to eliminate safety hazards in a timely manner. For owners who have replaced the motor, they should all implement the relevant policies in accordance with the new version of the three-guarantee policy, return or change the car; for all Mercedes-Benz EQC owners with motor, battery and electronic control failures, extend the warranty period of the three-electric system and extend the lifetime warranty commitment.
"If Mercedes-Benz can handle it well, then in the future, you will choose Mercedes-Benz when buying a car." For the current solution attitude of Mercedes-Benz, Zhang Hui is not satisfied, he said, "500,000 yuan to buy a car, I want to drive for 10 years, do not want to change in a few years." At present, the hidden dangers of this car are very large. (If Mercedes-Benz does not properly solve the problem) I will prepare for the lawsuit, and I have contacted several EQC owners of the same 4S store."
"Production enterprises should actively face the demands of car owners, ensure product safety first, and other problems can be solved through consultation during product production, service and use." Feng Yankun said.