Author: Song Liangchen

Introduction: Although not fully entering the new energy vehicle market, iA5, which has frequent problems, has already damaged the reputation of Toyota’s rugged and durable quality. Guangfeng should reflect on this.

As Toyota’s first electric vehicle in China, Guangfeng iA5 has been causing trouble lately.

Battery lock controversy

According to media reports, hundreds of Guangqi Toyota iA5 owners have reported their rights to the State Administration for Market Regulation, Quality Development Bureau. The car owners wrote in their complaint letters that without prior notice and consent of the customers, from July 18th to 23rd, 2021, the company surreptitiously upgraded the battery management system (BMS) of many Guangqi Toyota iA5s produced in June last year through OTA, which reduced the available capacity of the electric power battery and restricted the output power of the vehicle.

It should be noted that on July 15th, a Guangqi Toyota iA5 caught fire while charging in Xiamen. The owner of the car believed that Guangqi Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. secretly upgraded the OTA to evade its responsibility, thus reducing the capacity of the car’s battery, and limiting the output power of the electric motor from 100% to 60%.

To protect the legitimate rights and interests of themselves, car owners took samples by themselves and found that Guangqi Toyota iA5 was upgraded on July 18th, 2021 to “2510015ARD0000C.9” BMS calibration software, which can be clearly seen in the background of the car’s BMS battery management system. However, this upgrade caused degraded performance and weakened endurance. Some users went to the 4S store for the car diagnosis before departure, and the test found that when the battery power was at 99%, the actual available electricity that BMS could get was only 83.5%.Recently, to protect their own rights, some users of Guangqi Toyota iA5 have formed their own chat groups. They hope that the official party can make a statement regarding this event so that the performance and endurance of the car can remain consistent with the brand’s advertising. They expressed that if there are safety issues or quality defects with the vehicles, corresponding measures such as a unified recall should be taken immediately to handle the situation. If effective solutions cannot be found, they will voice their concerns through various means to ensure their legitimate rights and interests, such as to the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Poor Service Attitude of Guangfeng

Someone asked, why does Guangqi Toyota do this? From the perspective of Guangqi Toyota, it can be roughly divided into two aspects: on the one hand, forcibly locking the electricity can make the car battery safer in hot weather and extend the battery life; On the other hand, not just the hardware, there may also be some hidden dangers in other aspects of the vehicle.

Perhaps Guangqi Toyota is trying to prevent spontaneous combustion during charging in hot weather. After all, on July 15th, Guangqi Toyota iA5 had a spontaneous combustion incident in Xiamen. Regardless of whether it is accidental or not, it is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Guangqi Toyota, and has caused a bad impact.

So, how to handle this event?

Up till now, this incident has been brewing for a long time, and various solutions have been discussed by the car owners. Although the owners have come up with many mature solutions, Guangqi Toyota has not made a reasonable explanation for the forced OAT behavior:

1. Why can’t they choose to replace the problematic battery reasonably?

2. How to compensate for the losses caused by the electric lock?

3. Why not apologize to the silenced ones?

4. If the problem is really due to the battery itself, can the battery be replaced after the recall of the vehicle?

For Guangqi Toyota, there is still a long way to go: if Guangqi Toyota iA5 does indeed have some problems or certain defects, it should quickly file with the market supervision department and initiate a recall as soon as possible. This can also keep other models unaffected. If it is to prevent harm caused by high temperatures, Guangqi Toyota should speak openly, explaining the existing problems and defects in a clear manner, giving everyone a reasonable explanation, and handling it effectively with a problem-solving attitude instead of ignoring it and remaining silent like they are now.

At present, it is in the high temperature season, and undoubtedly, air conditioning will be turned on while driving. The total capacity of Guangqi Toyota iA5 is only 58kWh, and now it has been locked out more than one sixth, how far can it drive?

Guangfeng iA5 – A Failed Project

In addition to this lockout incident, the quality of Guangqi Toyota iA5 has always been criticized. The data from the China Quality Car Assosiation shows that the Guangqi Toyota iA5 model ranks first on the car quality complaint list. Its related users say this car has many problems such as inaccurate mileage, body attachments and electrical faults.## Here are the drawbacks of GAC Toyota iA5:

According to feedback from many owners of this car, there is a strong odor when sitting inside the car, stability is poor when turning, and the shock absorption effect is not very good on bumpy roads, making it difficult to control. During winter driving, the endurance mileage will experience some decline, especially during high-speed driving. Although this car is named GAC Toyota iA5, its logo is not Toyota. It lacks ADAS driving assistance system, and the control panel of the air conditioner is prone to reflection in sunny weather. The rear suspension structure is a torsion-beam type, and the chassis is very low, making it easy to scrape the bottom of the car.

Due to serious quality issues, new customers are also skeptical about whether to buy GAC Toyota iA5 or not.

In a survey of the reputation of the GAC Toyota iA5 model, some car owners expressed satisfaction with its quality, but there were also many users who questioned its quality, which can be seen from its complaint volume. Due to some controversies surrounding this car, we would recommend waiting before making a decision. On the other hand, compared with other cars of similar prices, the GAC Toyota iA5 does not have outstanding cost performance advantages, nor is it highly equipped.

Generally speaking, although it has not yet entered the new energy market on a large scale, the frequent problems with the iA5 have already damaged Toyota’s reputation for durability. GAC Toyota should reflect on this issue.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.