During the Chinese New Year, Mr. Zhang from Gansu province encountered a car accident while driving back to his hometown. The Ideal L8 Pro he was driving rear-ended a snowplow on the highway, resulting in him sustaining serious injuries and several of his family members being injured to varying degrees. One of the focal points of the incident was the two airbags of the vehicle not deploying.
Recalling the car accident during the Lunar New Year, Zhang expressed deep regret, saying, “Due to the snowy weather, I wasn’t driving fast on the highway at a speed of only fifty to sixty kilometers per hour. If the airbags had deployed, perhaps I wouldn’t have been injured so severely.” The malfunctioning airbags became a significant issue post-accident.
According to a recent report by Huashang News, Mr. Zhang, who resides in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, bought an Ideal L8 Pro for 338,000 yuan from a 4S dealership in Changsha in late November 2023. The vehicle was primarily used for commuting and leisure outings with his family.
On January 23, 2025, Zhang drove from Changsha, Hunan, back to his hometown in Gansu for the New Year celebrations. He mentioned, “Besides myself, there were my sister and three young children in the car.”
While heading towards his hometown on the expressway, around 8:40 p.m. on January 24, when passing through the Hongbao District of Wuzhong City, it started snowing heavily, leading to a collision between his car and a snowplow in front.
Zhang recalled losing consciousness immediately after the impact and being rushed to the hospital by emergency services. When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying in a hospital bed.
He detailed his injuries, including multiple fractures in his skull and cranium, nerve damage on both sides of his face, fluid discharge from both ears, his sister suffering from a broken collarbone, and two children getting injured. Fortunately, they all recovered from the life-threatening situation after further treatment.
Video footage from the scene showed Zhang’s car roof being flipped, the steering wheel deformed, and both the driver and passenger airbags failing to deploy. His face was covered in blood, and the external appearance of the vehicle was severely distorted.
Zhang mentioned that a traffic accident determination document issued by the Traffic Police Brigade of Hongbao District on February 6 revealed that he was primarily responsible for the accident due to not controlling the vehicle’s speed on a rainy and snowy road section during the night. The snowplow was also found negligent for not properly placing construction and danger warning signs.
After being discharged from the hospital, Zhang instructed the insurance company to tow the car to the nearest Yinchuan Helan Service Center for inspection and repairs. He requested the EDR data of the vehicle from the service center, which initially promised to provide both the data and a report on why the airbags did not deploy.
Disappointingly, Zhang stated that they reneged on their promise and refused to give him the EDR data or the testing report. It was only after he reported the incident to the authorities that they verbally informed him that the impact speed and angle during the collision were insufficient to trigger the airbags.
Zhang raised doubts about the functionality of the airbags, pointing out that he was driving at a speed of 50 to 60 kilometers per hour at the time of the accident. His wife had to take leave from Changsha to deal with the situation, with assurances of compensation for lost wages and flight expenses, which have not been fulfilled to date.
He emphasized his desire for a written testing report on why the airbags did not deploy and sought clarity on the safety production standards of the Ideal vehicle.
Despite multiple attempts, Huashang News failed to reach out to the Ideal manufacturer for comment.
A spokesperson from the Yinchuan Helan Service Center of Ideal Motors stated that they did not possess a testing report on the malfunctioned airbags and suggested that a third-party investigation was required to determine the specific reasons.
The spokesperson added that options presented by Zhang, such as vehicle replacement or cash compensation, did not comply with the relevant provisions of consumer rights protection laws, implying that the car itself had no quality issues. They advised Zhang to seek legal recourse for his grievances.