This week in South Africa the National Consumer Council reveled they have opened a case against Chery the Chinese automotive brand. When vehicles are recalled the manufacturers have to inform the NCC on their reasons and reveal the faults. This is not only a public safety issue but also about protecting the consumer.
The recalls by a number of Chinese auto brands are more worrying when you actually read the faults why the recall is taking place. This is not about a loose wire or a faulty starter motor, but more in line with major manufacturing irregularities. What is rather obvious is there is no quality control taking place in the factories or these faults would have been detected during the manufacturing process.
Chery Tiggo 4 which involves a reported 17 508 vehicles sold between October 2023 and March 2024. Chery reveals that these vehicles may have welding faults or irregularities with regard to the rear axle sleeve. This may lead to the rear axle dislodging which would collapse the entire rear end of the car onto the road.
Omoda C5 involves 2685 vehicles sold between February 2023 and July 2026 with the exact same problem as the Chery Tiggo 4. This is a major defect and this is a 3 year old major safety risk that one has to ask did the Chinese know about this before last week and we all know that answer.
Tiggo 8 Pro Max 2.0 has recalled 3474 vehicles sold between 20 May 2026 to current. This recall "may involve" a front brake pipe in contact with the turbo charger causing wear and tear resulting in brake fluid leakage. This would directly impact the brake fluid pressure resulting in poorer or no performance meaning total brake failure.
The NCC has stated that if you are concerned about your vehicle then the manufacture dealerships will arrange for a towing collection. Chery had been running an undercover recall for the last 5 weeks without informing the NCC.
The worry is Chery issued recalls in foreign markets back in June this year and has taken them 6 months to "notify" their SA customers of known faults. We all know where this can lead as brands lose trust very quickly. Ford lost market share due to trust issues after ignoring the combustible catching on fire models. Customers died yet the company still refused to take accountability and only jumped in when customers were asking for full refunds umping these cars at the dealerships. Ford in 2023 spent $4.8 billion fixing vehicles being recalled.
The problem with Chinese products is consumers are skeptical when it comes to price, quality and safety and they are justified in thinking like this knowing the quality of Chinese products is not fantastic. Yes things have improved over the years bit once bitten twice shy and even if I was given a Chinese car I would not drive one.
I will leave you with a scary thought and that the Chinese Aircraft company COMAC has just tested and completed an all electric flight with crew on board. This has a range of 500km at a speed of 300km/h so roughly 3 x slower than a jet plane. The unknown is the battery life so this is still very early yet I do find worrying knowing this will be rushed through by the Chinese and safety will be compromised by cutting corners like they always do.