On January 24th, several Chinese automotive companies filed recall plans, involving brands from companies such as Tesla, BYD, Xiaomi, Dongfeng, GAC, SAIC, and others.
According to reports from Daily Economic News, The Paper, and Observer Network, on January 24, 2025, the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation of the Communist Party of China displayed that multiple car companies filed recall plans before the Chinese New Year, involving a total of 12 companies.
The reasons for the recalls vary, with Tesla, Xiaomi, SAIC GM Wuling, and Chery Jaguar Land Rover needing to recall models due to software-related safety hazards. Tesla, Xiaomi, and Chery Jaguar Land Rover (certain models) stated that these issues can be resolved through Over-The-Air (OTA) software updates.
On the other hand, BYD, Geely’s Lynk & Co, Jiangsu Yueda Kia, and other companies need to recall certain models due to hardware-related safety hazards. Owners of affected batches need to visit offline locations for inspection and hardware replacement.
In terms of solutions, Tesla, Xiaomi, and Chery Jaguar Land Rover (certain models) can address the safety hazards directly through OTA technology.
SAIC-GM Wuling and Chery Jaguar Land Rover (certain models) did not specify whether the software updates to mitigate the risks require users to visit offline stores.
Specifically, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Beijing) Co., Ltd. plan to recall a total of 335,700 imported Model S, Model X, and domestic Model 3, Model Y electric vehicles produced between July 16, 2023, and December 14, 2024.
Vehicles within Tesla’s scope of this recall might have reverse current during charging that could damage power components on the mainboard, affecting the rearview camera function and potentially hindering the display of the reverse image, thus impacting the driver’s visibility during reverse maneuvers, increasing the risk of collisions.
Furthermore, Tesla also plans to recall a total of 871,100 domestic Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles produced between January 3, 2022, and September 23, 2023, due to software issues in the electronic power steering system that could limit steering assistance, leading to a failure in electronic power steering function, posing safety risks.
On the same day, Xiaomi Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. announced the recall of some standard version SU7 electric vehicles.
Xiaomi Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. decided to recall a total of 31,000 standard version SU7 electric vehicles produced from February 6, 2024, to November 26, 2024. This marks Xiaomi’s first recall.
Certain vehicles within Xiaomi’s recall range may have software strategy issues that could disrupt timing synchronization, affecting the smart parking assist function’s detection of stationary obstacles, increasing the risk of scraping or collisions, posing safety hazards.
Aside from Tesla and Xiaomi, several other companies announced recall plans on the same day.
Among them, BYD recalled 6,843 Yuan 5 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles produced between October 16, 2023, and February 1, 2024, due to a risk of fire caused by loose electrical connector bolts inside the integrated dual-motor controller.
In addition, many other companies such as Brilliance BMW, Shanghai Volkswagen, Dongfeng Honda, GAC Honda, Hyundai, Yueda Kia, SAIC-GM Wuling, and others also issued recall notices on the same day.
According to an earlier report by Caixin, in 2024, a total of 142 recalls were implemented in the domestic automotive market, marking a 33.6% decrease compared to the previous year. However, the number of vehicles involved increased to 11.23 million units, reflecting a 65.3% increase. Among them, the number of recalls for new energy vehicles reached around 3.8 million, a 137.5% increase compared to the previous year, representing 34.2% of the total recalls, an increase of 10.4 percentage points from the previous year.