The following article is from the 1039 Investigation Group, written by Qi Tian
Introduction
The mileage has always been a pain point in the use of electric vehicles, and the original overstretched endurance has been secretly locked, which makes it more difficult for car owners to travel. In the past year, there have been as many as 500 complaints about power locking, but car companies such as Weima have not responded positively to consumers' doubts. Behind the phenomenon of power locking, battery safety, OTA operation specifications, and the owner's right to know have also become unavoidable industry issues, so let's pay attention to it!
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Hundreds of car owners suffered from "locked electricity"
Mr. Zhou was one of the first owners of WM Motors, and after picking up the car in 2018, he found that the vehicle with a nominal range of 400 kilometers could only run 250 kilometers. After a visit to the store in June last year, the battery life was reduced to 180 kilometers. He said that he had to charge once every 4 days before, and after that maintenance, he had to charge it once every 3 or even 2 days.
Mr. Zhou charged / reporter photographed
Some people in the group of riders have reported that the subsequent mileage of maintenance has decreased. Everyone realized that they may have encountered "locked electricity", that is, by rewriting the battery management system, limiting the upper charging limit of the battery.
Mr. Zhou took out a maintenance work order with the project of upgrading the "battery management system". "It was mainly used to control the power lock and charging strategy, but they did not explain or explain to us beforehand, and they did this operation."
Mr. Zhou's maintenance work order / reporter shoot
During New Year's Day this year, WM Motors provided free testing for 18,888 lucky car owners across the country and gave away 200 yuan shopping cards. The owner of the car, Mr. Zhu, introduced that before the door-to-door inspection, the car was fully charged and could run 230 kilometers. After this test, it can only run 130 kilometers, which is reduced by 100 kilometers.
WM Motors launched the event / from the Internet
Voltage situation before and after detection / Courtesy of the surveyed owner
The number of charging degrees before and after the detection / The car owner interviewed provided the picture
In January this year, after a large number of car owners participated in the free testing activities, they believed that the mileage of the vehicle was significantly reduced. Questions and complaints about power locks have surged, with hundreds of owners of rights groups.
The mileage after the rights protection car owner was locked / the interviewed car owner provided the picture
The rights of car owners are deadlocked
On January 10 this year, 173 car owners jointly issued a lawyer's letter, demanding that WM Motor publicly apologize and take the initiative to communicate compensation. More than two months later, WM Motors did not respond to the owner's lawyer's letter.
Lawyer's Letter / Courtesy of the interviewed car owner
The reporter contacted WM Motor, and as of 6 p.m. on March 14, the reporter did not get a reply. Previously, WM Motors had replied to CCTV Finance to deny the locking of electricity, but did not make a specific explanation for consumers' doubts. The reporter called the customer service phone of WM Motor as the owner of the car, and the staff said that they had not received any feedback on the problem of locking the power, and suggested going to the store for testing.
The owner of the car, Mr. Zhou, went to the store for testing according to the WM customer service guidelines, but was told that the testing items had nothing to do with the power lock. He ended up with a test report that said battery health was 96. Mr. Zhou was very puzzled, "Do you dare to believe it?" A car with a range of 400 kilometers can only run 200 kilometers now, and the battery health is 96. ”
Battery health test results / Reporter photo
Within one year, there were 500 complaints of "locking electricity"
In the past year, domestic complaints about power locking have continued to rise, and statistics from the third-party automobile complaint platform - Car Quality Network show that the number of complaints about power locking has reached 500. Zhang Yue, research director of the car quality network, introduced that the complaint brand involves WM, Euler, Toyota, and Aeon, and there is no unified solution or reasonable explanation.
Car quality network lock related complaints / reporter screenshots
Why do car companies lock the electricity? From the timeline, in December last year, three WM cars spontaneously combusted in Zhengzhou, Sanya and Haikou. Officials then launched a free testing campaign, triggering large-scale complaints about power locks. Models that have been previously complained about locking electricity often have spontaneous combustion accidents before locking electricity.
Automotive analyst Zhang Xiang introduced that the positive electrode of the battery precipitates lithium ions to form crystals like branches. In the case of overcharging of the power battery, the dendrites will puncture the separator of the battery, causing the positive and negative electrodes to be short-circuited, causing thermal runaway, and then spontaneous combustion or explosion. Car companies lock the electricity in advance, which can prevent the battery from overcharging, and the probability of spontaneous combustion and explosion will be greatly reduced.
WM cars spontaneously combusted/from the network
Spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles / from the network
Globally, Tesla once locked the power on some models without clearly informing the owners. Last year, a Norwegian court ruled that Tesla should pay each owner of the car involved 136,000 crowns, or about 100,000 yuan.
The owner's right to know was violated
The Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests clearly stipulates that consumers have the right to know the true situation of goods or services. The previous power locking incident that triggered complaints did not inform the owner in advance, violating the consumer's right to know. Some power locks use OTA (remote upgrade) methods, making it more difficult for consumers to find out in time.
During this year's Spring Festival, Ms. Wang, the owner of the Wei carriage, accidentally found that the dashboard and logo of her car lit up at more than 2 a.m., and the follow-up voyage mileage also changed. "My car is already in a locked state, but I found that the logo in front of me has been flashing, which is very weird." In this regard, the WM store replied that it was charging the small battery, but Ms. Wang believed that the car also suffered from a locked electricity.
Ms. Wang's car logo is self-lit / provided by the interviewee
For OTA upgrades, the legal provisions displayed on the WM Vehicle screen make it clear that WM Motors can remotely update or modify the vehicle system without further notification to the owner or obtaining the owner's consent. Mr. Liu, the owner of the Wei carriage, believes that this is the overlord clause, and if the car company changes the vehicle without the consent of the owner, the risk of unauthorized change of vehicle will be a major problem.
Mr. Liu pointed out the relevant provisions / reporter photographed
Previously, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have issued documents requiring OTA upgrades to be filed, and those involved in automobile defects must be recalled, in an effort to prevent car companies from secretly upgrading to eliminate safety hazards and harm consumer rights and interests. Industry insiders believe that the regulatory authorities also need to carry out spot checks on the content of the filing to ensure consistency with the actual operation project.
The relevant notice of the State Administration for Market Regulation / Source is from the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation
Hao Qingfeng, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Law Research Association of the China Law Society, suggested that OTA filing information should also be disclosed to the public, and car companies should also inform consumers in advance and respect consumers' right to know. If consumers suspect that the actual operation of the OTA and the content of the filing are inconsistent, they have the right to complain and report, and the management department should also intervene.
Locking the power directly affects the mileage, and is also closely related to battery safety, which will inevitably touch the bottom line of the owner. Car companies ignore consumer complaints, which is nothing more than relying on information barriers, and it is expected that it will be difficult for car owners to obtain comprehensive evidence. Such a dilemma of rights protection can only be expected by regulatory forces to break the situation. At present, automotive technology is changing with each passing day, regulations have caught up, and enforcement must also catch up, in order to guide "science and technology for good" and make consumption fairness practical and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Welcome to the 1039 Mission series of reports
"Promoting Consumer Equity Together" is the theme of this year's International Consumer Rights Day. From March 15 to March 17, the "1039 Investigation Team" will launch a series of three reports on "Focus on Travel 315", focusing on new energy vehicles locking electricity, car advertising involving false publicity, travel software preferential "routines" and other transportation issues, safeguarding legitimate rights and interests, and jointly promoting consumer fairness.
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