Are Car Owners Being Treated as Guinea Pigs? Mainland Car Manufacturers Recalled 8 Million Vehicles in a Single Day in August

Illustration: Chinese-made electric vehicles flooding the European market.(video screenshot)

[People News] On September 19, during the 2026 China Automotive Industry Development (Teda) International Forum, Xiao Lingyun, the director of the Industrial Products Department at the Defective Product Recall Technical Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation of the Communist Party of China, disclosed that on August 21 this year, nearly 8 million vehicles were recalled in the Chinese market. By the end of 2025, a total of 121 million vehicles are expected to be recalled in China. Xiao Lingyun noted that these recalls are all linked to safety defects arising from new technologies. Many consumers have criticized that some Chinese car manufacturers, in their rush to produce and deploy intelligent driving features, often treating consumers as 'guinea pigs' for testing incomplete products.

As reported by the Daily Economic News on September 19, Xiao Lingyun indicated that by the end of 2025, China will have conducted 3,265 vehicle recalls, affecting 121 million vehicles. Among these, 662 recalls were prompted by investigations, involving 64.0821 million vehicles, which accounts for 53.14% of the total number of recalled vehicles.

In explaining that vehicle recalls are primarily due to safety defects caused by new technologies, Xiao Lingyun stated that the training and testing of autonomous vehicles in China are largely conducted based on established standards. However, in practice, vehicles often encounter non-standard situations. Additionally, the defects of intelligent connected vehicles are characterized as 'intangible, digital, and difficult to reproduce.' While innovation drives development, safety is what truly defines a vehicle. Only vehicles that are safer will achieve better sales.

The Epoch Times highlighted that in mainland China, safety incidents related to electric vehicles often arise from a reckless pursuit of new technologies, with hidden door handles being a prime example of significant safety risks.

To achieve 'aesthetic appeal,' many vehicles in mainland China have eliminated manual door handles in favor of button-operated systems. The door handles of electric vehicles depend heavily on intricate electronic control systems, which can lead to situations where doors cannot be opened during power failures or after collisions that cause deformation. Additionally, the physical mechanisms for opening doors in electric vehicles are often designed to be quite discreet, potentially hindering occupants' ability to escape quickly in unfamiliar circumstances.

Data from the vehicle model database on the official Autohome website as of May 2025 indicates that out of 14,341 models across 1,691 vehicle series, 253 series comprising 1,578 models are equipped with hidden door handles, of which 198 series include 1,174 electric vehicle models.

On August 21, the widespread recall of 'hidden door handles' and 'emergency mechanical pull handles that are hard to identify' ignited lively discussions online. Many car owners expressed concerns that some new energy vehicle models overly emphasize a 'minimalist technological aesthetic' at the expense of ergonomics and safety in critical situations—such as when a vehicle is involved in an accident and loses power, making it challenging for passengers or rescuers to quickly locate a way to open the door. These discussions have led consumers to reconsider whether the designs from car manufacturers that prioritize innovation for its own sake are genuinely practical.

Che Yitiao, an automotive self-media platform founded by a veteran automotive journalist from the mainland, commented on August 24 this year: The hidden door handles reveal potential safety issues, including difficulties in identifying control logic, failures during power outages, and the risk of pinching hands. There are also concerns regarding escape and rescue, as incidents such as collisions and fires can lead to power failures that disable electric interior and exterior door handles, thereby increasing obstacles to rescue and escape and complicating operations in emergencies.

Moreover, as autonomous driving technology begins to be integrated into civilian vehicles, there remains a significant gap between these technologically advanced cars and those operated by humans. In China, the number of unmanned delivery vehicles is on the rise, and their sudden braking, sharp turns, and stop-and-go behavior at intersections are increasingly causing traffic congestion and public discontent.

According to a report by China Automotive News on August 3, the Xiaopeng X9 has recently faced widespread driving failures due to high temperatures, prompting some owners to question, 'With such widespread failures, wasn't there an extreme heat test conducted before the launch?' Furthermore, several operational vehicles equipped with the Zhongchuang Innovation 177Ah battery have recently reported battery failures.

On July 31, automotive content creator Che Man Tribe remarked: Many hidden risks in vehicles are entirely shouldered by the owners, including issues such as door handles failing to pop out, errors in brake software calibration, insulation failures in high-voltage lines, driving assistance systems failing to detect road obstacles, coolant corrosion performance not meeting standards, batteries bulging and leaking after three to four years, and air suspension systems failing under high temperatures. These are all potentially life-threatening faults.

Industry experts have noted that automotive failures have evolved from traditional physical issues like wear and material failure to software vulnerabilities, algorithm flaws, and system crashes. These unseen coding problems can also pose significant driving risks.

Amid the industry trend that 'only safety truly defines a car,' many consumers feel that competition in China's domestic new energy vehicle market has become excessively 'intense.' Some automakers, in their haste to produce and implement intelligent driving features, often treat consumers as 'guinea pigs' for testing incomplete products. There is a widespread call for manufacturers to refrain from attributing technical defects to the 'inevitability of the innovation process.' Instead, they should conduct more stringent extreme pressure tests before launching their products, ensuring a safer driving environment for consumers.
△