Hector Retamal

Three departments probe Seres V800 after brake-pedal brackets break despite passing test

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Administration for Market Regulation announced on the evening of October 15 that they had formed a joint investigation team to look into the breakage of brake-pedal brackets on the Seres V800, developed by Huawei and JAC Motors. The authorities said the matter would be handled "in accordance with the law and regulations" and that updates would be released in a timely manner. The announcement said the investigation was being conducted "on the basis of preliminary investigative work".

The incident began on October 8, when Chinese automotive platform Dongchedi released footage of road tests in which it said the brake-pedal brackets on three Seres V800 vehicles broke during emergency braking from 100km/h to a standstill. The bracket on the first vehicle broke during its third braking attempt, the second during its fourth, and the bracket on a third vehicle purchased separately during its second full-force braking attempt. After the brackets broke, the foot brake failed and the vehicles could only rely on emergency braking through the P gear. Stopping distances increased from about 38 metres to about 140 metres. Dongchedi said the three vehicles came from different production batches and that the locations and patterns of the breaks were highly consistent. It also found weld marks after dismantling the components.

Dispute over the figures: 1,612 newtons or 4,589 newtons?

After the footage was released, figures suggesting that the force applied to the brake pedal had reached 4,589 newtons circulated online, prompting criticism that the test had been excessively harsh. Dongchedi said the figure was an afterimage caused by different refresh rates between the high-speed camera and the instrument display, and that the actual peak force was 1,612 newtons. It described this as normal full-force braking. It should be noted that this is Dongchedi's account and has not been independently verified. Dongchedi also said no vehicles from other brands tested at the same session suffered breakages.

According to summaries by mainland Chinese media, the current national standard GB 21670—2025 requires a brake-pedal assembly to withstand a static load of 2,000 newtons for five seconds, while industry standard QC/T 788—2018 sets a threshold of about 1,500 newtons. The 1,612-newton figure falls between the two.

Seres calls test an extreme condition but offers free upgrade

Seres issued a statement on the evening of October 8 saying the braking system had been developed and validated against requirements exceeding both national and industry standards. It said no similar breakage had occurred since the first vehicles were delivered, describing the test conditions as "non-standard extreme testing conditions". The company also said it would optimise the component design and provide existing owners with a free upgrade. Customer service staff later said the upgrades were expected to begin rolling out from November, stressing that they did "not constitute a recall" and that owners who had already taken delivery could apply voluntarily.

On October 13, Seres released details of third-party testing, saying the brake pedal submitted for testing met industry-standard requirements and showed no cracks or damage when subjected to a tightened longitudinal force of 3,000 newtons. Reports said the testing was conducted by the China Automotive Engineering Research Institute testing centre. The institute said its report applied only to the sample submitted for testing and did not guarantee products subsequently manufactured in volume by the company. Engineers cited by the media said questions remained, including whether the testing simulated the impact of an instantaneous emergency stop, whether it recreated dynamic driving conditions, and whether the sample submitted included the bracket that had broken.

In other words, the core dispute is whether failure under dynamic full-force braking can be reconciled with compliance under static bench loading.

Pressure mounts over share price, videos and liability

JAC Motors (600418.SH) hit its daily down-limit during trading on October 8 and fell by the same limit again at the next day's open. Mainland A-shares are subject to daily price limits, meaning a stock cannot trade any further up or down once it reaches the relevant limit. On October 16, the shares hit the daily up-limit about one minute after the market opened.

Videos of Dongchedi's tests of the three vehicles were taken down from several platforms. The National Business Daily reported on October 16 that the relevant videos had been removed from its official WeChat Channels and Douyin accounts, while Dongchedi did not respond to questions about the reason. Taiwan's Central News Agency had already reported on October 10 that the videos could not be found on several mainland platforms, indicating that their removal predated the three-department investigation. Dongchedi issued a separate statement on the evening of October 16 denying claims that it had "deleted a large number of videos", saying its account had not posted other content recently apart from videos related to the brake-pedal brackets.

As for responsibility, Seres was jointly developed by Huawei HarmonyOS and JAC Motors. Huawei was deeply involved in product definition and intelligent functions, while JAC was responsible for complete-vehicle manufacturing. The V800 went on sale in August this year at prices ranging from 766,000 yuan to 1.016 million yuan (about HK$890,000 to HK$1.18 million, based on the mid-market exchange rate in mid-September). It is currently the most expensive MPV sold under Huawei's HarmonyOS Intelligent Mobility Alliance. No official disclosure has been made on which supplier provided the bracket. Bethel Automotive Safety Systems, a supplier of braking systems, has said it did not supply brake pedals for the V800.

Legal issue: a free upgrade is not the same as a recall

Under the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Motor Vehicle Products, a "defect" refers to an unsafe condition generally present in motor vehicle products of the same batch, model or category as a result of design, manufacturing, labelling or other causes. If the State Administration for Market Regulation confirms through analysis, testing or appraisal that a defect exists, it may order the manufacturer to conduct a recall. The regulations therefore do not set separate recall thresholds for "design defects" and "manufacturing flaws"; either could trigger a recall. Seres has currently opted for a voluntary upgrade rather than a recall.

What to watch next

The findings of the joint investigation team have yet to be released. Key issues to watch include whether the investigation concludes that a defect exists, whether the upgrade ultimately becomes a recall, whether the broken brackets and those installed on mass-produced vehicles share the same design, and how responsibility for the bracket's design and supply is divided.