BYD Recalls 96,714 Atto 3 & Dolphin EVs in China

BYD has issued a product recall notice for 96,714 units of the Atto 3 and Dolphin in China due to fire risks.

Chinese automaker BYD has issued a massive product recall in China. According to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), this recall notice will affect 96,714 units of both the BYD Dolphin and Yuan Plus (also known as the Atto 3) in China from Sept 30 onwards due to fire risks.

Two BYD entities will conduct this massive recall, with BYD Auto Industry involved in recalling 87,762 units of the Dolphin and Yuan Plus manufactured in China from Feb 4, 2023, to Dec 26, 2023, while BYD Auto will be in charge of recalling 8,952 units of the Yuan Plus manufactured between Nov 2, 2022, and June 19, 2023.

As per CarNewsChina’s report, this recall targets certain vehicles due to defects in the manufacturing process of the electric power steering column assembly (CEPS) controller, where the defects may cause the equipment tool cover to interfere with the capacitors on the controller circuit board, causing micro cracks in the capacitors.

These cracks may eventually expand when the vehicle is running, which could lead to short circuits, overheating, and potentially fires, thus prompting BYD to do this product recall, which is also the largest in the automaker’s history.

All respective owners of the affected Dolphin and Yuan Plus EVs have been contacted directly by BYD to pursue with the necessary repair works.

As for the repair and mitigation works, BYD dealers in China were tasked to install insulation pads on the controllers for free, where affected owners will be contacted directly and notified of this recall. Additionally, the Chinese NEV giant has also set up a customer service hotline for owners of the vehicles affected by this recall.

As of now, neither Sime Darby Motors (SDM) nor BYD Malaysia have put up an official statement of whether this recall might affect BYD units sold in Malaysia. However, given the fact that these affected units were specifically manufactured in and for the Chinese domestic market, and the Malaysian market models are right-hand-drive (RHD), we’re certain that no Malaysian BYD units are affected by this massive product recall.