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On November 1st, ideal Motors announced that it would upgrade the ball pin to release the lower arm of the front suspension with a higher force for the ideal ONE vehicles produced on and before June 1, 2020, in order to reduce the probability that the lower arm of the front suspension will fall off after a vehicle collision. However, shortly after the upgrade was released, it caused controversy, and what was supposed to be a "recall" was officially glorified as a hardware upgrade.

On November 6th, ideal Auto officially issued a letter of apology for the ideal ONE hardware upgrade. "after the release of the information, many car owners, media and expert friends have pointed out that this action should be defined by 'recall' rather than 'upgrade', and the expression of the ideal car is not in line with the perception of the industry and the public," the ideal car said in the letter. "

Ideal Motors said: "to correct these criticisms, ideally sincerely accept criticism, and express deep apologies to car owners, media and industry friends for the previous incorrect and unreasonable practices." In addition, ideal Motor also mentioned that the recall will be conducted in strict accordance with the requirements of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, and the recall and replacement work is expected to be completed within three months.

According to the official website of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, ideal Motor has decided to recall a total of 10469 ideal ONE electric vehicles with production dates from November 14, 2019 to June 1, 2020, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the total delivery (21852 ideal ONE delivered from January to October).

The reason for the recall is that due to the design of the out-of-stock force of the lower arm ball pin of the front suspension, the collision impact of the vehicle may lead to the release of the lower arm ball pin of the front suspension, which may affect the handling of the vehicle and, in extreme cases, increase the risk of accidents. there are security risks. In view of the above defects, the ideal car will replace the lower arm of the front suspension with a higher release force of the ball pin for the vehicles within the recall range free of charge, in order to eliminate the hidden danger of safety.

This is the first time that the ideal car has launched a recall, and from the recall information, the recall batches, the causes of the recall and the resolution of defects are basically consistent with the previously officially announced hardware upgrade measures.

According to previous reports, the ideal ONE has experienced many quality problems since its delivery last year, including vehicle fire, high-speed brake failure, autopilot failure, dashboard display power failure, etc., among which a number of axle breakage incidents have attracted much attention in the industry, and this recall is also based on a number of axle breakage accidents.

According to the data of ideal car, up to October 31, 2020, there have been a total of 97 front suspension collision accidents in ideal ONE, of which 10 cases occurred when the ball head of the lower arm of the front suspension came out from the ball pin. Through the analysis of the accidents that have occurred, it is found that the ideal ONE suffered a great impact on one side of the wheel in the accident, which caused the ball head of the lower arm of the front suspension to break off from the ball pin. At the same time, it was found that the probability of ball head falling off of the ideal ONE in the accident was higher than that of the vehicle of the same grade.

Previously, the ideal car also said that the front suspension and hem arm of the ideal ONE had no problems in terms of quality and materials. With the announcement of the recall, it also means that the ideal car officially acknowledges the existence of front suspension and lower swing arm problems.

As for why the recall is only for models before June this year, according to previous official statements, the ideal car has used a higher release force lower arm ball pin of the front suspension for the ideal ONE produced after June, and the ball of the lower arm of the front suspension has not yet come out.

In other words, the ideal car was aware of the car design defects in June this year and upgraded the subsequent production vehicles, but why did it not immediately "upgrade" the regular users, but wait until nearly half a year later? In response to this problem, ideal car CEO Li said, "it was not replaced before June 2 because there were only two actual cases, and the proportion was within a reasonable value."

As a member of a new force in car building, ideal car has indeed been affirmed and supported by many users in service. From the apology letter, the ideal car attitude is also quite sincere, accepting criticism and advice from the relevant media and consumers.

However, some netizens think that the ideal car is "stingy". "if you can't fool the hardware OTA' first, and then recall it, is it not a recall?" A recall under the cover of manipulating public opinion, controlling comments and washing the floor by the media is not a recall? " In response to the ideal car recall, the last quote from the car commentator: "No matter it is compulsory or voluntary, there is no need to be so taboo about the recall." Manufacturers can maintain a humble attitude in the face of accidents and doubts, and do not subconsciously 'talk hard'.

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