Downgraded safety equipment for top-selling Chinese cars in South Africa

[Luis]

Downgraded safety equipment for top-selling Chinese cars in South Africa

Several of the top-selling Chinese cars in South Africa have significantly downgraded safety equipment on their entry-level models compared to their most affordable variants in larger overseas markets.

Despite this, some manufacturers of these vehicles tout overseas crash-test safety scores in their marketing materials, which apply only to higher-end trims.

 

[Zellephant]

Nothing new to see here, just Chinese manufacturers being dodgy Chinese manufacturers, and thier South African marketing departments taking advantage of the lack of safety regulation in South Africa. No ons ever expected any integrity from a Chinese company, or from a car salesman or marketing exec.

 

[garyc]

He was specifically worried that Chinese carmakers were “corner-cutting” on the tensile strength of the metals used in key structural parts of some vehicles after visiting car shows in China.

I did some structural steel design a while ago for a Chinese company (non-automotive). The strength of their cheaper steels is very low, possibly the lowest I have seen. If the vehicles were designed for higher strength steels and then these cheaper ones were substituted it is unlikely that the car structure would maintain integrity during a crash.

Edit: It is possible that a quick hardness test would show the difference between overseas and local vehicles. The equipment to do this is portable and so the test can be done in-situ.

 

[3Gee]

Chinese are following Toyota

 

[joshuatree]

Quite a few Chinese people stay in our complex, and adjoining complexes, due to their wholesale facilities close by, and haven't seen one driving a Chinese vehicle. Only one road for access to the area. They drive BMW, VW, Toyota. Older and newer vehicles.

This to me is telling. Have mentioned this before, and will get negative comments on this again, but this is my observation.

 

[The Gilded]

Anti-Chinese propaganda nonsense as always like those idiotic YouTube videos. The West cannot deal with the trauma that Chinese cars are better. Think you're safe in a German car? Hah!

 

[XPD]

Toyota, Suzuki, VW etc all have done the same for years so not a Chinese specific thing. Our safety bar is very low and unlikely to change soon as I see our DoT is far too busy trying to fleece motorists with extra licence
taxes to prop up the RAF than worry about safety.

The rule should be that any advert of safety credentials across a model range must be based on the safety spec of the lowest available model in the range.

 

[RaptorSA]

Nothing new to see here, just Chinese manufacturers being dodgy Chinese manufacturers, and thier South African marketing departments taking advantage of the lack of safety regulation in South Africa.

25% import duties in a country with absolutely f*kol public transport infrastructure is an ANC problem, not a China problem.
We should probably thank them for giving cheaper options on the low-end... poors don't give a f**k about curtain airbags.

Plus, we're like 100 on the world per capita GDP index.
If we're going to accept democracy and capitalism, as we do, then your life of objectively worth less than that of people in other countries.

We're so k@k, the chinese should consider removing all airbags and stuffing our dashboards with Tannerite.

 

[Zellephant]

Anti-Chinese propaganda nonsense as always like those idiotic YouTube videos. The West cannot deal with the trauma that Chinese cars are better. Think you're safe in a German car? Hah!

How is this Anti Chinese propaganda? The AA have always been a relatively trustworthy and objective body. They are simply disclosing facts.

Chinese manufacturers are producing models for our and other less regulated markets with lower safety standards. Their local marketing departments are then using misleading claims about safety to drive sales. This is dodgy business practice - and should be called out.

There is nothing wrong with selling a “less safe” car as long as it complies with local minimum requirements. But there is a problem when you don’t disclose that to customers, and actively lead them to believe the vehicle they are buying complies to a higher standard.

If I bought scissors from a Chinese manufacturer that claimed to be made from stainless steel, and after a week they begin rusting, would it also be anti-Chinese propaganda to report on it?

Oh, and yes, having been involved in a high speed collision in a German car, I’m pretty confident I am reasonably safe in a German car - and I also don’t need to wonder if the model sold in South Africa actually complies to the same standards, because we know they build them to the same standard for all markets.

25% import duties in a country with absolutely f*kol public transport infrastructure is an ANC problem, not a China problem.
We should probably thank them for giving cheaper options on the low-end... poors don't give a f**k about curtain airbags.

Plus, we're like 100 on the world per capita GDP index.
If we're going to accept democracy and capitalism, as we do, then your life of objectively worth less than that of people in other countries.

We're so k@k, the chinese should consider removing all airbags and stuffing our dashboards with Tannerite.

That would be perfectly fine, so long as they were honest about it.

I’m also not sure what 25% import duty on cars has to do with lying about safety standards. This is generally a weird comment.

 

[Ϲhristopher]

Nothing new to see here, just Chinese manufacturers being dodgy Chinese manufacturers, and thier South African marketing departments taking advantage of the lack of safety regulation in South Africa. No ons ever expected any integrity from a Chinese company, or from a car salesman or marketing exec.

I think the issue is a combination of poor safety regulations and uninformed (or uncaring) consumers. It's obvious that quite a few other manufacturers are doing it too, look at the difference between a Hyundai i10 sold in Europe vs one sold here, it's even worse considering that Global NCAP is similar to Euro NCAP from the 2014.

Euro NCAP | Hyundai i10

Euro NCAP 2020 safety results for Hyundai i10 rated 3 stars. See detailed results, pictures, video and expert insights.

www.euroncap.com

Hyundai falls short with zero star result in Africa — Global NCAP

The Hyundai Grand i10 falls short on safety with a zero star rating for adult occupant protection in our #SaferCarsForAfrica campaign.

www.globalncap.org

 

[Ground Control]

Not all Chinese car brands are guilty of offering poor safety features in South Africa. In fact, the following articles confirm that Toyota is just as guilty:

• MyBroadband: 2-Star Safety Rating for Popular SA Car
• MyBroadband: Zero-Rating Adult Safety Crash Test Video

 

[Blu82]

Not all Chinese car brands are guilty of offering poor safety features in South Africa. In fact, the following articles confirm that Toyota is just as guilty:

• MyBroadband: 2-Star Safety Rating for Popular SA Car
• MyBroadband: Zero-Rating Adult Safety Crash Test Video

But Toyota is not lying in their marketing material about the safety features while the Chinese manufacturers are and that is a big difference which is the point of the initial article.

 

[cr@zydude]

The rule should be that any advert of safety credentials across a model range must be based on the safety spec of the lowest available model in the range.

I hear you, and agree with that idea. While the AA talks about testing entry level models, note that there VW Vivo's 4 star rating is based on optional extra airbags. The entry level Vivo only has 2 airbags and would not earn 4 stars.

 

[adrianx]

I try to judge governments, not people, but when I see all these Chinese shops that sell Fong Kong rubbish.... I don't know what to think.