In recent years, there have been more and more new energy vehicles with green license plates on the road, and last year, the sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China have reached 3.52 million, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, ranking first in the world for 7 consecutive years. However, behind the sharp increase in sales, the frequent occurrence of accidents in new energy vehicles, the prominent risk of operating safety hazards and other issues have become increasingly prominent, and the safety of car owners' lives and property is threatened.
New energy vehicles due to the "three electricity" (battery, motor, electronic control system) caused by fire, out of control and other accidents frequently. According to statistics, from 2017 to 2019, there were 18,582 traffic accidents in new energy vehicles, and the accident rate of 10,000 vehicles was 3 times that of traditional vehicles; in 2019, 170 fire accidents were included in the investigation.
Aoyi News noted that while new energy vehicles are frequently involved in accidents, the number and number of recalls are also rising. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2021, the mainland implemented 59 recalls of new energy vehicles, involving 830,000 vehicles, and the number of recalls and recalls increased by 31.1% and 75.9% over the previous year. According to the China Consumer Association, consumers also have many dissatisfaction with new energy vehicles, and the problems of centralized complaints are spontaneous combustion of automobiles, failure of automatic driving, battery quality, and shrinkage of battery life.
On the occasion of "3·15" in 2022, Aoyi News focused on the new energy automobile industry, sorted out important cases in related industries in the past year, and exposed its safety hazards and difficulties in safeguarding rights.
Tesla recalled 540,000 vehicles a year
BMW Brilliance and Porsche recalled 4 times
Recently, the State Administration of Market Regulation issued a notice on the recall of automobiles and consumer goods nationwide in 2021, and the data shows that in 2021, the mainland will implement a total of 232 car recalls, involving 8.736 million vehicles. Among them, the recall of new energy vehicles in 2021 accounted for 9.5% of the total number of recalls in the whole year. Specifically, in 2021, there were a total of 59 domestic new energy vehicle recalls, an increase of 31.1% year-on-year; involving 830,000 vehicles, an increase of 75.9% year-on-year.
From the perspective of defect clues, 3033 cases of defect clues of new energy vehicles were reported, reflecting that the problems of power batteries, motors and electronic control systems accounted for 52.5% of the defect clues of new energy vehicles. Up to now, a total of 229 new energy vehicles have been recalled, involving 1.98 million vehicles.
According to the recall announcement released by the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Austrian news reporter found that in 2021, the new energy vehicle brand with the largest recall volume was Tesla, and the cumulative number of recalls in China reached 6 times, with a total of 543811 electric vehicles recalled, and the number of recalled models accounted for about 65% of the total recall of new energy vehicles. Tesla's recalled models cover imported Model 3, Model S, Model X and domestic Model 3, Model Y and other models, far exceeding the recall level in the same period in 2020. However, Tesla delivered about 940,000 new cars worldwide in 2021, that is, the number of recalls in a year has reached 57% of the total sales volume of the year.
The reporter combed and found that the reasons for Tesla's recall include active cruise control system problems, failure to tighten the screws fixed to the B-pillar on the top of the front seat belt to standard torque, and possible that the alignment of the front trunk latch and the lock buckle is slightly behind. The risks include increasing the risk of a collision; affecting the driver's field of vision when reversing, increasing the risk of a collision when reversing in extreme cases; and increasing the risk of injury to the occupants in a collision.
Figure: Tesla 2021 recall information summary Data, content source: State Administration for Market Regulation Defective Product Management Center Drafting: Aoyi News
The new energy vehicle that was recalled last year after Tesla is BMW Brilliance, a joint venture brand of BMW Cars. In 2021, BMW Brilliance has recalled four times in mainland China, with a total recall volume of about 26,000 vehicles, and the main recalled model is the iX3. As BMW Brilliance's first domestic pure electric SUV, the iX3 was listed on November 20, 2020, with an official price of 399,900 yuan, but since its listing, many car owners have complained about the quality of the battery system.
Among the reasons for these recalls, it was also mentioned that bmw brilliance battery systems have many safety hazards. According to the announcement on May 28, 2021, the software of the battery control unit of the 6636 iX3s within the scope of the recall has design problems, and when a serious collision occurs in the vehicle, some functions of the vehicle (such as warning lights, vehicle lighting or emergency rescue telephone functions, etc.) do not work properly, and there is a safety hazard.
According to the announcement on December 24, 2021, the 1974 iX3s within the scope of the recall, the power battery internal contact system plug-in pins and pins are of poor welding quality, which may cause deviations in the actual and measured values of temperature/voltage. When the deviation value exceeds the set safety value, the vehicle will start the battery system fail-safe mode, the fault code or alarm prompt information will appear, and cut off the power battery output, causing the power interruption during the vehicle's driving, and there is a safety hazard.
Figure: BMW Brilliance 2021 recall information summary Data, content source: State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration Defective Product Management Center Drafting: Aoyi News
Luxury car brands don't mean that the quality of a vehicle is necessarily at the "luxury" level. The reporter found that in the recall list of new energy vehicles of the State Administration of Market Supervision in the past year, there is no shortage of luxury cars such as Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi. For example, Porsche was also recalled 4 times in the mainland last year, mainly involving the Model of the Taycan series of pure electric vehicles, there are problems such as electronic control software, and when driving in complex traffic conditions such as highways, it will increase the risk of vehicle collisions and there are safety hazards.
Consumer complaints are on the rise
Safety issues, shrinking battery life, and battery quality have become the hardest hit areas
According to the statistics of the "2021 Complaints Accepted by the National Consumer Association" released by the China Consumer Association, the complaints related to new energy vehicles have increased year by year, of which the number of complaints about automobiles and auto parts is 41624, accounting for 8.48% of the complaints in the commodity category, ranking third in the overall complaint volume of the commodity category, up 19.28% year-on-year.
Figure: Consumers' main complaints about new energy vehicles, Aoyi News Mapping
The main problems of consumer complaints are: First, the safety problems of new energy vehicles, such as driving power outages, spontaneous combustion of cars, and failure of automatic driving systems. Second, the battery quality problems are prominent, such as charging failures. Third, the mileage is shrinking, especially in the winter low temperature, the endurance loss is fast. The fourth is not to fulfill promises, such as publicizing the use of high-performance chips, but this is not the case. Fifth, the price change caused controversy, consumers just signed the contract has not yet picked up the car, the purchased model will reduce the price, or launch the same price but higher performance configuration of the product, resulting in consumer dissatisfaction. Sixth, for the sold models, modify the online promotional materials and instructions at will. Seventh, the supporting after-sales service system, maintenance outlets, maintenance technicians, etc. cannot meet the needs of high-speed growth of new energy vehicles, affecting consumers' experience and after-sales satisfaction. Eighth, the issue of car data storage and provision has aroused widespread concern. With the improvement of the intelligence of new energy vehicles, the relevant data is monopolized and refused to be provided by manufacturers, and disputes have arisen.
The reporter searched on the black cat complaint platform and found that many consumer complaint cases also reflected the quality and safety problems of new energy vehicles. For example, in February 2022, there were user complaints about Tesla on the platform. According to its description, "the rear seat was knocked into the rear seat to move, the front was hit by the collision and broken, and the collapse box was deformed." The airbag did not pop out. The automatic recording function of the accident in the vehicle's own driving recorder function failed, and the accident video could not be saved. He reflected that the vehicle's airbags had serious safety hazards and serious problems with the driving recorder. This model is the model 3 model that Tesla has recalled in large quantities.
In addition, the iX3 model recalled by BMW Brilliance in 2021 mentioned above has also been complained by consumers on the platform for quality problems. One user said the new energy vapor iX3 he purchased in May 2021 had battery quality issues.
Also complained about for power batteries are BAIC BJEV, BYD Automobile, WM Motors and other car companies. In addition, in addition to the quality of new energy vehicles, consumer disputes and delayed delivery are also the hardest hit areas for complaints.
In addition to quality problems, there are many subjective and objective factors that lead to consumer dissatisfaction with new energy vehicles. According to ai media consulting and research data, 41.7% of Chinese consumers are dissatisfied with new energy vehicles because of poor endurance, 39.8% of Chinese consumers are dissatisfied with new energy vehicles due to high maintenance costs, and 36.7% of Chinese consumers are dissatisfied with new energy vehicles because of imperfect supporting facilities.
Ai Media Consulting analysts believe that because of the limitations of the battery, the mileage of new energy vehicles generally ranges from 100 to 700 kilometers, so it is suitable for transportation in urban areas, and the characteristics of not being suitable for long-distance travel have become the limiting factors for the development of new energy vehicles in China.
It is difficult for new energy vehicle owners to produce evidence and protect their rights
China Consumer Association: Operators have the main responsibility
In January this year, the China Consumers Association released an analysis of the complaints accepted by the National Consumer Association in 2021, pointing out that in 2021, complaints related to new energy vehicles increased significantly, and it was difficult to prove and difficult to protect rights.
Aoyi News reporter noted that on the black cat complaint platform, many new energy car owners said that their cars have a battery charge dissatisfaction, fast power loss, and the actual mileage is inconsistent with the official propaganda, but because the battery charging involves charging piles, personal operations and other reasons, it is difficult to prove that the battery quality is the problem. A owner of GAC New Energy Eian V said that the car lost power abnormally during driving, but the 4S shop test said that there was no problem.
In view of the problem of new energy vehicle rights protection, the China Consumer Association believes that operators have the main responsibility to solve the difficulty of protecting the rights of new energy vehicles.
First of all, business operators should pay close attention to product safety, including data security, network security, etc., to ensure the safety of consumers' personal and property; second, they should truly and comprehensively inform consumers of the product situation, fairly and reasonably agree on the rights and responsibilities of both parties, and not exaggerate or falsely publicize; third, they should implement the obligation to deliver qualified products, assume contractual responsibilities, and fulfill the commitments made; fourth, they should protect consumers' right to know data; finally, they should do a good job in after-sales service, respect consumers, and actively and properly handle relevant complaints.
In addition, in order to solve the problem of safety management of new energy vehicles, further standardize the data monitoring of the safety monitoring platform, and improve the safety standard system for the operation of new energy vehicles, the National Standards Commission decided to solicit public opinions on 64 recommended national standard projects such as the "Technical Requirements for Dynamic Monitoring and Early Warning of New Energy Vehicle Operation Safety Performance", which ended on March 14, which stipulates the general requirements, monitoring requirements, safety risk assessment, and early warning disposal requirements for dynamic monitoring and early warning of new energy vehicle operation safety performance.
It can be seen that in view of the quality and safety hazards of new energy vehicles, the difficulty of consumer evidence, and the difficulty of safeguarding rights, the relevant departments are responding to the above problems, and look forward to the above problems can be further solved.
Producer: Liu Lijun
Planner: Xie Jiangtao
Coordinator: Guan Yuhui
Written by: Aoyi news reporter Feng Xiaohui Lu Ruoqing Lin Sisi
Draft: Aoyi news reporter Lin Sisi Feng Xiaohui
![Due to the risk of power loss of control, Tesla recalled another 120,000 "problem cars"[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)