Over 280,000 vehicles: Two new car - making forces issue urgent recalls. ZEEKR replaces batteries, and NIO conducts OTA updates.

At the beginning of the year, two new energy vehicle manufacturers urgently recalled over 280,000 pure electric vehicles.

According to CheDongXi on February 10th, recently, the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation released the vehicle recall information of two automakers, Shanghai NIO Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "NIO") and Zhejiang ZEEKR Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ZEEKR"), involving 284,500 vehicles.

▲ NIO and ZEEKR released vehicle recall information on the same day

In terms of the reasons for the recall, NIO's recall this time is directly pointed at software problems, and there is a potential risk of the vehicle screen going black. ZEEKR's recall this time is due to the risk of thermal runaway in the battery.

01. NIO Recalled Over 240,000 Vehicles of Three Models Due to Potential Screen Blackout Hazard

Specifically, NIO's recall number is S2026M0017I. The recalled vehicles are ES8, ES6, and EC6 pure electric vehicles produced between March 16, 2018, and January 16, 2023, totaling 246,200 vehicles.

▲ NIO's vehicle recall announcement

It is worth noting that NIO sold over 289,000 vehicles in total from 2018 to 2022, and the latest recall scale reaches 85% of the total sales from 2018 to 2022.

The recall announcement pointed out the reason: In some vehicles within the scope of this recall, due to software problems, the instrument panel and the central control screen may go black for a short time under specific conditions. During this period, necessary vehicle information and functions (such as speed information, fault alarm prompts, defrosting and demisting functions, etc.) cannot be provided to the driver, posing a safety hazard.

▲ Interior of NIO ES8

For these vehicles, NIO will use over-the-air (OTA) technology to upgrade the software of the recalled vehicles to Aspen 3.5.6, Alder 2.1.0, or a higher version free of charge.

▲ NIO ES8

For vehicles that cannot be upgraded via OTA technology, NIO's service centers will contact relevant users to implement the recall to eliminate the safety hazard. Since some vehicles have previously been upgraded with the optimized software, these vehicles do not need to be upgraded again in this recall.

02. ZEEKR Recalled Over 30,000 Vehicles and Will Replace Power Batteries for Free

ZEEKR's recall number is S2026M0023V. The recalled vehicles are some ZEEKR 001 WE models produced between July 8, 2021, and March 18, 2024, totaling approximately 38,300 vehicles.

▲ ZEEKR 001

The reason for the recall is that due to the manufacturing consistency of components in the high-voltage power battery of some vehicles, the internal resistance of the power battery may increase abnormally after long-term use, which may lead to a decline in the performance of some power batteries. In extreme cases, it may cause thermal runaway of the power battery, posing a safety hazard.

▲ ZEEKR 001

ZEEKR will inspect or remotely diagnose the vehicles within the recall scope and replace the power battery packs of vehicles that have not had their power batteries replaced for free to eliminate the safety hazard.

▲ ZEEKR's vehicle recall announcement

03. Conclusion: The Automotive Industry Pays More Attention to Safety

The large-scale recall actions of NIO and ZEEKR this time are mainly aimed at proactively eliminating potential risks and putting user safety first.

This not only reflects the automakers' positive response to product quality monitoring but also reveals the high attention the automotive industry pays to safety issues during the transformation towards intelligent and electric vehicles.

This article is from the WeChat official account "CheDongXi". Author: Guo Yue. Republished by 36Kr with permission.