BEIJING — The rear wheels of a sport utility vehicle exported to Malaysia by China's Chery Automobile detached entirely from the vehicle while it was being driven. Chery has acknowledged a possible welding defect and launched a recall of about 9,000 vehicles, but concerns over the quality of Chinese-made cars are growing after it emerged that a similar failure occurred on the same model two years ago.
According to Chinese outlet Caixin on the 13th, the rear axle of a 2023 Omoda 5, a Chery SUV, separated from the body while the vehicle was being driven in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on the 6th, causing both rear wheels to come off together. No injuries were reported, but video of the scene spread on social media, fueling questions about the vehicle's safety.
As the controversy grew, Chery issued an official statement on the 11th acknowledging that "some welds on the rear trailing arms in this production batch lack sufficient strength, creating a risk that the welds could fail under extreme conditions." The company launched a recall of 8,878 Omoda 5 vehicles sold in Malaysia and said it would replace the defective parts free of charge. It also began special inspections of identical production batches sold in China's domestic market and in other overseas markets. Malaysia's Road Transport Department has temporarily suspended the model's vehicle type approval and new vehicle registrations, and plans to conduct a technical investigation into the production and assembly process and parts suppliers.
The problem is that this is not the first such failure. In April 2024, the rear axle of an Omoda 5 also broke while the vehicle was being driven in Malaysia. At the time, Chery identified improper calibration of welding equipment as the cause and recalled 600 vehicles, replacing the axles on 60 of them in which defective parts were confirmed. But with a similar failure recurring about two and a half years later, questions are being raised over whether the earlier quality controls and recall measures were sufficient.
Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Union, said the repeated problems should not be dismissed as a one-off. "The fact that the same rear-wheel area has had problems twice within two years should not be written off as a simple accidental incident," he said. "There is a possibility that the earlier recall was limited to part of the production volume, and that no review was conducted of the entire welding process and structural safety."
Safety controversies have been mounting in China recently. On the 8th, footage drew attention after the brake pedal supports on three units of Huawei's luxury car, the Maestro V800 — which sells locally for more than 200 million won ($140,000) — all broke during emergency braking tests. In response, four Chinese ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a draft regulation on the 10th to tighten vehicle development, testing and verification procedures, and began gathering public comment. The aim is to curb what is known as the "quick-build car" practice, in which companies compete to shorten new vehicle development times while neglecting safety verification.
As Chinese automakers stake their prospects on expanding exports to offset weak domestic demand, observers say the string of safety controversies could become a burden on their push into overseas markets. Countries are already raising trade barriers in response to the surge in imports of Chinese-made cars. The European Union recently agreed with China to cap imports of Chinese-made hybrid vehicles at 350,000 units a year. Chery, the automaker involved in this case, is heavily dependent on exports, earning more than 70% of its total sales abroad last month. Across China as a whole, domestic passenger car sales fell 28.0% from a year earlier last month, while exports surged 73.7%.