BAIC New Energy recall: The problem existed many years ago, what are they still covering up now?

On November 30, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a recall notice showing that: Recently, Beijing Automotive Co., Ltd. has filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation in accordance with the requirements of the "Regulations on the Management of Recall of Defective Automobile Products" and the "Implementation Measures for the Regulations on the Management of Recall of Defective Automobile Products". From December 1, 2018, it will recall some E, EV, EX, EU, EH, and new energy Weiwang EV series pure electric vehicles produced from February 28, 2012 to May 8, 2018, totaling 69,358 vehicles.

The reason for the recall is that the brake booster vacuum pump fails due to other reasons, which will cause insufficient brake booster performance or even loss of brake vacuum booster function during vehicle use, posing a safety hazard. BAIC Motor Co., Ltd. will inspect the vehicles within the recall scope and replace the improved brake booster vacuum pump free of charge to eliminate the safety hazard.

​

The state has increasingly stricter requirements on subsidies for new energy vehicles. Generally speaking, models with longer driving range will receive higher subsidies, while models with shorter driving range will receive less or no subsidies. Because of this subsidy policy, when we pay attention to new energy vehicles, we often focus too much on driving range. In fact, whether new energy vehicles can gain a foothold in the auto market depends not only on driving range, but also on solving technical and quality problems.

Although the recall by BAIC New Energy is due to a brake system defect, why this problem only occurs in new energy vehicles is worthy of our attention. In addition, regarding this recall, the person in charge of BAIC New Energy told the media, "So far, we have received 6 related complaints, of which 3 have been confirmed to have their faults eliminated after replacing the improved booster vacuum pump, and the other 3 non-brake booster vacuum pump problems have not reappeared after investigation." So, is this really the case?

▲The words do not match the facts?

On the Auto Complaints website, the editor searched for complaints about the brake system of BAIC New Energy and found that there were as many as 7 cases from January this year to date. From the recall information, we can see that the earliest defective vehicles involved were produced on February 28, 2012. In addition to the Auto Complaints website, China also has other similar complaint platforms. In other words, the statement of the person in charge of BAIC New Energy, "So far, we have received 6 related complaints", is not accurate.

In addition, BAIC said it investigated the relevant accidents and repaired the vehicles in time, and did not cause any personal or property damage to users. Is this really the case?

As shown in the above complaint selected from the Auto Complaint Network, the owner experienced brake failure and caused a traffic accident while driving a BAIC New Energy EV electric vehicle in June 2016;

In another complaint, the owner also said that because the BAIC New Energy EX electric car he was driving malfunctioned, it collided with two cars in front of it, causing serious damage. The airbag did not deploy normally, causing the owner to suffer a slight concussion.

The third complaint showed that the owner was driving the BAIC New Energy EX series on an uphill section when the power suddenly lost, the brakes became hard, and there was no obvious braking effect. Finally, the vehicle collided in the parking lot, causing the owner to feel dizzy and have a head bump, and a recurrence of heart disease.

▲Depending on subsidies, there are many side effects

It is reported that as early as 2014 and 2016, BAIC New Energy invested in two major car rental companies. Due to the large-scale purchases by the rental companies, BAIC New Energy's sales always looked so good. However, when the country's required mileage became more stringent and subsidies were reduced, such a large output seemed to become meaningless and even resulted in losses. So over time, BAIC New Energy, which was extremely dependent on subsidies, continued to suffer from sequelae. In addition to the technical problems that were criticized, quality problems made it fall into the bottom.

Judging from the development characteristics of BAIC Motors, the proportion of its own brands is getting lower and lower. The only thing worth looking at is the "new" part. However, how to do the "new" well, how to improve technology and quality, and how to better serve individual consumers are probably the many issues that BAIC Motors, which has been lacking vitality for many years, needs to think about.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.