In April, a total of 13 car brands issued a total of 14 announcements, recalling a total of 370153 passenger cars, down 22.92% year-on-year. The scale of the recall increased by nearly 2.2 times from the previous month, and continued to show a rapid upward trend from the bottom.
Following the top of the recall list in February, Tesla once again became the largest number of monthly recalls in April with 142469 vehicles, and will use OTAs to upgrade the software of the recalled vehicles to eliminate safety hazards. In order to cope with the new models and challenges brought by new technologies, the policy specifications for OTAs and recalls are improving with the times, and in June last year, the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a supplementary notice for the filing of remote upgrade (OTA) technology recalls; On April 15 this year, the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Notice on Carrying Out online upgrade filing of automotive software.
According to the recall announcement issued by the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation in April, the China Economic Network Auto Channel summarized and counted the "April 2022 Domestic Passenger Car Recall List". In April, a total of 13 car brands issued a total of 14 announcements, recalling a total of 370153 passenger cars, down 22.92% year-on-year and 219.02% month-on-month.
Overall, the passenger car recall situation in April continued to show a rapid upward trend from the bottom, and the scale of recalls increased by nearly 2.2 times compared with the previous month; At the same time, the number of recalled brands has also increased significantly, with a total of 13 brands issuing recall announcements.
In April, a total of 4 Japanese brands recalled 156565 passenger cars, accounting for 42.30%, the largest number; Secondly, the US 2 brand recalled 142474 vehicles, accounting for 38.49%, of which Ford accounted for only 5, and the rest came from Tesla; Next, the share of British, autonomous and Korean recalls was 8.96%, 7.48% and 2.16% respectively; Both Italian and Ashkenazi account for less than 1%.
Specifically, after "climbing to the top" of the recall list in February, in April, Tesla once again became the highest number of monthly recalls. In April, Tesla recalled 142469 imported and domestically produced Model 3 and Model 3 high-performance electric vehicles in two batches. Among them 127785 Model 3 recall is due to "the possibility of minor manufacturing differences in the vehicle's rear motor inverter power semiconductor components, or the vehicle can not start, losing power during driving"; Another 14,684 Model 3 High Performance Editions were recalled because "the speed area in the center touch display in track mode only shows the speed value, and the lack of speed units (KM/H) may affect the driver's correct understanding of the speed information."
Image source: Screenshot of the website of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation
It is worth noting that Tesla will carry out software upgrades through the vehicle remote upgrade (OTA) technology to eliminate safety hazards for the above 2 batches of recalled vehicles. Coincidentally, in April, Lexus also adopted an "OTA recall" for 6832 NX series vehicles, which may have a situation where the multi-function display screen cannot be switched normally. Last month, Mercedes-Benz conducted an "OTA recall" of 86,437 cars with hidden dangers. It can be seen that with the continuous deepening of the degree of car intelligence and networking, OTA technology has almost become the standard of new cars, which can not only make vehicles "commonly used and always new" through remote upgrades, but also gradually become one of the means to eliminate hidden dangers of vehicles.
Image source: Screenshot of the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
In order to cope with the new models and challenges brought by new technologies, the policy specifications for OTAs and recalls are also improving with the times. In June last year, the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a supplementary notice for the filing of remote upgrade (OTA) technology recalls of vehicles, which stipulates that producers are required to submit the "Vehicle Remote Upgrade (OTA) Safety Technology Assessment Information Form" when filing OTA-based technical service activities or recalls. On April 15 this year, the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Carrying out online upgrade filing of automotive software", which stipulates that automotive vehicle manufacturers that have obtained road motor vehicle production access permits and their complete vehicle products with OTA upgrade functions and OTA upgrade activities implemented should be filed.
Image source: Screenshot of the website of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation
Another recall worth noting comes from the Toyota system. In April, GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. Changchun Fengyue Company, and Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. jointly recalled a total of 138899 Toyota and Lexus vehicles, which was also the largest number of recalls in the month.
Specifically, it includes 82680 Willanda High Performance Edition, the new fourth-generation Highlander, Xena, and Weisa Dual Engine, as well as 51903 Crown Land Release, RAV4 Rongfang, Lingfang, and 4316 imported Lexus NX350h and NX400h+ cars. The reason for the above vehicle recall is that the internal procedures of VSC (Body Stability Control System) are not perfect, if the driver artificially closes the VSC function when the vehicle is started, and keeps the state of pressing the brake pedal all the time, after the vehicle is turned off and restarted, vsC cannot automatically return to the initial default mode (open state), and the VSC off prompt light on the dashboard is lit, at this time THE VSC may not play an effective role, there is a safety hazard. (China Economic Network reporter Guo Yue)