Friends, it's been a long time since the accelerator pedal of a car could be broken, and the joke of "putting the accelerator pedal in the engine compartment" turned out to be a reality. As the protagonist of this incident, NIO is undoubtedly on the cusp of public opinion again.
First of all, let's review the course of this incident. On June 24, 2024, a video of a female driver holding a car's accelerator pedal went viral. In the video, the female driver claimed that in the process of overtaking the future car she was driving, she suddenly heard an abnormal sound under the pedal, and then the accelerator pedal broke, and the vehicle immediately lost power, and the speed at that time was 60~70 km/h, and the situation was quite critical. Luckily, the female driver managed to safely pull the vehicle into the emergency lane with her calm maneuvering, thus avoiding a potential traffic accident.
After all, there are not a few users who choose Weilai, even if they are not the car owners, they may face potential risks in daily driving.
In the face of surging public opinion, NIO responded to this matter on June 26, in the official statement, NIO apologized for letting the owner encounter a thrilling moment, and after a later investigation by NIO, the vehicle driven by the female driver in the video was a total loss accident car resold by a third party, and the reason for this accident may be related to the owner's improper operation during driving, but the specific cause needs to wait for further inspection and analysis to determine.
In addition, the relevant staff also confirmed that NIO's accelerator pedal is made of engineering plastics, and said: "In specific circumstances, the pedal will indeed break, such as when the driver pedals hard, which is also to protect the safety of the driver." ”
According to NIO, the broken accelerator pedal of its own vehicle is a safety design designed to prevent the driver from stepping on the accelerator pedal again after the vehicle loses control and causes secondary injury. However, this statement did not dispel the doubts of netizens, but instead sparked a wider discussion. Some netizens believe that they have never heard of such a design before and have begun to question the rationality and safety of the design. In addition, some netizens said that even if such a design exists, plastic should not be used, doesn't this increase the risk of the accelerator pedal breaking?
Judging from the information we have, this is not the first time that NIO has had an accident with a broken accelerator pedal, as early as 2021, similar accidents were exposed on the Internet, in addition, there are also related cases of many brands' products. It may seem strange to use plastic as a material for accelerator pedals, but it does meet industry regulations. Of course, for the strength of the engineering plastics used in the accelerator pedal, the mainland has relevant regulations, according to the requirements, the accelerator pedal needs to meet the force of 550±10N applied in the forward direction without breaking or damage, with 1 kg of force ≈ 9.8 N converted, almost a 55 kg adult standing on the pedal, it stands to reason that under normal circumstances, it is absolutely constant, and the products of Weilai Automobile must be in accordance with the standard, otherwise they will not dare to push it to the market. This makes people very curious, what did the female driver in the video do to the accelerator pedal?
I think the crux of this incident may point to three words - accident car. It can be confirmed that the NIO car driven by the woman in the video is a second-hand accident car, and it is also a total loss accident car, which makes people can't help but think about it. According to the normal process, the insurance company will directly destroy and scrap the total loss accident car after giving compensation to the owner. Obviously, the NIO car in the video did not follow the normal process.
If nothing else, the total loss of the accident car is after the repair of the second-hand market again, the maintenance cost should not be too high, the parts are also based on analogues, the entire maintenance link can be saved, after all, even if the total loss of the accident car is repaired, it is difficult to sell at a high price. This can be explained, because the NIO car in the video was seriously damaged in the previous major accident, and after low-cost repairs, it looks like nothing is fine, but there are internal injuries, including the accelerator pedal, and then there are later things.
It seems that unscrupulous second-hand car dealers should bear the blame, and NIO should bear the blame. The current second-hand car market is indeed very chaotic, mixed with fish and dragons, and the quality of the car is very difficult to say. When you choose a second-hand car, you must have a long mind, keep your eyes open, don't listen to the words of the salesperson because the picture is cheap, you must check the insurance records before paying the money, and write the relevant responsibilities in the contract, beware of being deceived. At the same time, the relevant departments should also strengthen the supervision of identity accident vehicles to ensure that such dangerous vehicles do not enter the market again, and protect the life safety and related rights and interests of our consumers.
Uncle Che concluded
In general, the NIO accelerator pedal fracture incident is the result of a combination of factors, the most important video mentioned in the NIO car is a total loss accident car, itself has major safety hazards, of course, we can not rule out the existence of NIO product quality defects and the possibility of improper operation of the woman in the video, at the moment we can only expect NIO to give us an exact statement after a detailed investigation.