The dispute surrounding the brake pedal bracket fractures in the high-end MPV Zunjie V800, a vehicle priced in the millions, has escalated beyond mere corporate public relations battles. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the State Administration for Market Regulation have collectively formed an investigation team to thoroughly examine the matter. The incident came to light during testing when the brake pedal brackets of three brand-new Zunjie V800 vehicles, each from different production batches, successively fractured during emergency braking at speeds of 100 km/h. The lowest pedaling force recorded at the time of fracture was a mere 1612 N, leading to a complete failure of the foot brake function.
Initially, Zunjie dismissed the tests as involving non-standard extreme operating conditions, a stance that drew widespread public dissatisfaction. Subsequent third-party testing reports focused solely on verifying static loads, failing to address the root cause of the fractures observed in real-world driving conditions. This led to a heated debate over whether the vehicles met industry standards while still lacking adequate safety measures. The joint investigation by the three departments will delve into every aspect of the issue, including design standards, production quality control, testing conditions, and information dissemination. It is anticipated that the investigation will yield an authoritative conclusion, drive the enhancement of industry standards, and establish a clear safety benchmark for the development of domestic high-end new energy vehicles.
