Xiaomi’s First Electric Car SU7 Faces Brake Defects Within a Month of Launch

Xiaomi’s first electric car SU7
Defects appear one after another in less than a month
Brake problems are particularly severe

Xiaomi’s first electric vehicle, SU7, launched in March 2024, has a gorgeous design and better-than-expected performance. However, its price is only about $28,000. It attracted 90,000 reservations in 24 hours. However, various quality controversies arose soon after, and the reservation cancellation rate was reported to be as high as 60%.

Recently, many brake defects in SU7 have been raised, attracting the attention of netizens. A Chinese automobile influencer with over 2 million subscribers rented the model for an extended period and conducted a circuit test. However, during the test, the car crashed into the circuit wall, and this quickly spread through local Chinese media.

Accident due to brake failure: “A vehicle customers “should never buy.”

In a conversation with an acquaintance after the accident, the influencer said, “I stepped on the br”kes, but there was no reaction.” At the time, there”was no particular problem with the force applied when pressing the brake pedal, but the car did not brake. Fortunately, it was reported that the airbag worked adequately, and there were no serious injuries. This has not been the only brake issue with SU7. Other car racers in China also raised problems with the model’s brakes.

Evmodel’s brakes overheat in harsh driving situations, including circuit driving, pedal sensitivity does not change. This means that even if a brake problem occurs, detecting it in time is impossible. In addition, some added that the SU7 was unusual because there was no brake overheating, but it suddenly happened at some point, making it too dangerous to drive for long periods. The car racer in question seriously considered purchasing the SU7, but after test-driving it, he said he thought he should never buy it, causing a growing stir.

Design flaws exposed: The Brembo brand was in name only

Chinese media, with 400 million subscribers, also invited a professional car racer to conduct a circuit test of the SU7. After completing the circuit test, he reported that the SU7 had five major flaws. According to a post on his personal blog, the SU7 has a structure that makes it difficult to dissipate heat due to poor brake ventilation. In addition, the fact that the heat dissipation pad in the center of the brake rotor is too thin and has a poor heat dissipation effect was also cited as a problem.

He also pointed out that heat is concentrated only in a portion of the brake pad area and that although Brembo calipers are used, the parts are low quality. Lastly, it was reported that due to a setting problem with the electric master cylinder mounted on the SU7, it was not possible to detect whether the brakes were overheated in time. This is consistent with what other car racers pointed out earlier.

The brake system is essential when discussing a vehicle’s basics—the atmosphere of anxious reactions from Chinese consumers due to the successive defects of the SU7.