Centralized complaint inventory in the first half of 2023: Highlander OTA into a decoration
With the continuous development of automotive intelligence, OTA upgrades have gradually become the standard equipment of automobiles. However, GAC Toyota has fallen behind in OTA upgrades, especially its Highlander, which was repeatedly complained by car owners in the first half of this year because the vehicle could not be upgraded OTA.
According to the complaint data of Auto Door Network, in the first half of 2023, Highlander's cumulative complaint index reached 1261.9, ranking fifth in the model complaint list.
Recently, the problem of the inability to OTA upgrade of the car machine in a large area is behind the complaints of the Highlander. According to statistics, the complaint rate of this problem is as high as 53.07%. The model in question mainly involves the 2022 dual-engine 2.5L Premium Edition/Extreme Highlander model.
Some car owners said that since the purchase of the car in 2021, the vehicle system has not been updated and upgraded and still stays in the factory version, the OTA function is useless, and other on-board software cannot be downloaded and installed. Car lag and large navigation errors also occur from time to time. In addition, the official support for Carlife, CarPlay and HiCar functions is not actually available in vehicles.
Interestingly, these car problems only appear on the Premium Edition and the Supreme Edition, that is, medium and high configurations. This problem does not exist for lower-end models.
It is understood that Highlander's low-end model is equipped with an 8-inch car machine screen, which does not support OTA upgrades and car networking, but supports the use of Carlife, Carplay and HiCar mobile phone interconnection functions. On the other hand, medium and high-end models equipped with 12.3-inch large screens not only do not support mobile phone interconnection, but also cannot be used normally with Internet of Vehicles and OTA upgrade functions.
This also made many car owners feel the differential treatment, and even bluntly said that GAC Toyota "cut leeks". In this regard, many car owners jointly issued a "National Fourth Generation Highlander Owner Rights Protection Book".
The month after the rights protection letter was released, GAC Toyota pushed an upgrade notice to car owners who did not have an OTA upgrade. But the owner of the updated and upgraded car was not happy, and even quite angry.
According to the owner, the official upgrade of the car machine can be described as a pure gimmick, and the problem of stuttering black screen during use still exists. Not only that, but there are also owners who complain that it is better not to upgrade, not only the problem has not been improved, but whether the car can start normally has become a problem.
In addition to the above problems, Highlander also has problems such as blurred 360-degree panoramic image function and high vehicle traffic costs. However, in the face of the problem-ridden Highlander, GAC remained silent. Up to now, GAC Toyota has not responded positively to Highlander's existing vehicle problems, nor has it proposed an effective solution.
Written at the end:
As one of GAC Toyota's three flagships, Highlander's reliability and reputation have been recognized by many consumers. Since GAC Toyota introduced it to the domestic market in 2009, its cumulative sales have exceeded 1.1 million units. However, in recent years, Highlander has frequently caused engine oil emulsification, body resonance, engine noise and product quality problems. It can be seen that Toyota, which has been passed down from one car to three generations, seems to be moving away from us.
According to relevant sales data, Highlander's cumulative sales in 2021 were 107,000 units, and sales in 2022 were 85,000 units, down 20.33% year-on-year. Entering 2023, Highlander's sales continue to decline. Cumulative sales from January to May 2023 were 24,300 units.
In the highly competitive Chinese market, if GAC Toyota does not actively handle and respond to this matter, Toyota's share in the domestic automobile market may further decrease in the future.
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