Recently, there have been a series of safety accidents and related rights protection incidents involving electric vehicles in China. A Xiaomi car owner from Foshan, Guangdong, recently revealed that his Xiaomi SU7 experienced autopilot failure twice on the highway, rendering it unable to drive. The car was less than a month old when this happened. Following the incidents, Xiaomi has not yet released a report on the vehicle’s malfunctions.
According to a report by Red Star News on May 21st, Mr. Nie from Foshan, Guangdong, disclosed that on March 28, he purchased the newly released electric car SU7 Max from Xiaomi for 299,900 yuan and picked it up on April 10. He had used the autopilot function a few times before encountering issues.
On April 29, while driving on the Foshan expressway, Mr. Nie experienced a sudden malfunction of the autopilot and emergency braking failure. After consulting online customer service, he was informed it was a software issue and underwent remote diagnosis.
However, on May 1, while driving on the highway again, Mr. Nie faced another autopilot failure. The onboard display showed multiple malfunctions and advised contacting the service center. Due to the holiday, towing the car took 11 hours. That night at 9 p.m., Mr. Nie was informed that it was a hardware issue, and the vehicle needed repairs.
Mr. Nie was puzzled by the cause of the malfunction as the explanations varied between the two occurrences, affecting his and his family’s holiday travel. From May 1 to May 10, he spent a great deal of energy and time communicating with Xiaomi’s after-sales service about the vehicle’s malfunctions, hoping for an official apology from the manufacturer and a report on the vehicle’s issues.
“Fortunately, the mechanical brake pedal did not malfunction during the incident, avoiding injury to passengers and vehicle damage. But as a car owner, I have the right to know the cause of the malfunctions,” Mr. Nie said. Even if the vehicle is fixed, he hesitated to drive it and agreed to Xiaomi’s proposal for a refund. However, he still wants to understand why the vehicle’s malfunctions occurred.
On May 18, Xiaomi Group’s Chairman Lei Jun conducted a live test drive. During the livestream, Lei Jun stated that Xiaomi’s autonomous driving technology is still in the “human-vehicle co-driving” stage, urging users to be cautious when using it. Regarding Xiaomi’s intelligent driving technology, Lei Jun admitted that Xiaomi had only been making cars for 3 years.
In fact, since the launch of Xiaomi cars, many owners have reported related autopilot issues.
On April 9, a Xiaomi SU7 owner from Jiangsu posted on social media that their Xiaomi car bumped into a pillar while parking itself. After the incident, the owner communicated with Xiaomi car employees, and Xiaomi acknowledged the autoparking issue, but did not provide the remote analysis data to the owner.
Regarding the compensation plan for the subsequent vehicle damage, the owner stated that Xiaomi suggested resolving it through insurance and did not agree to the request for a car replacement. Both parties have not reached an agreed upon compensation plan, and the owner will continue to seek justice.
Additionally, according to a report by Daily Economic News, some Xiaomi SU7 owners have reported suspected brake failures shortly after taking delivery of their vehicles. In response, Wang Hua, the General Manager of the Public Relations Department of Xiaomi Group, stated on social media that the malfunction was caused by a system software misidentification. This low-probability event has been rectified, and users are advised not to panic.
On May 6, Mr. Wen, a Xiaomi SU7 owner from Xiamen, Fujian, posted a video on social media. His newly purchased Xiaomi SU7 broke down on the highway shortly after leaving the dealership, driving 39 kilometers before needing to be towed back to the delivery center. Xiaomi car customer service staff mentioned on the 7th that they are negotiating the refund with Mr. Wen.
It is worth noting that recent safety accidents and rights protection incidents involving electric vehicles are on the rise in China.
On May 21, a video posted by a Weibo user showed a BYD electric car branded “Haiou” catching fire. The cause of the fire is unknown.
In response, a BYD spokesperson mentioned that the leakage monitoring “did not show any abnormalities.” Currently, both sides have conflicting statements regarding the “leakage” incident involving the electric car.
Nezha Motors stated that after the fire incident, all systems of the vehicle displayed “normal” signals until the data was interrupted.
In early May, Lei Jun’s speech at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show garnered industry attention. Lei Jun expressed disappointment after visiting the show and criticized Chinese auto companies for blindly chasing trends without a clear direction.