Swedish Test Reveals: BYD Seal AWD Is Not All-Wheel Drive

Look Up on 24/03/2024 - 13:36
Last edited 24/03/2024 - 15:32 by 1 other user

Would be funny if it wasn't so serious

Forget doubts about battery safety, Swedish newspaper Teknikens Värld has found BYD is not even testing fundamental drivetrain capabilities before shipping cars

BYD's fix is a software update that "improves the torque distribution between the front and rear wheels"

BYD's electric model Seal AWD is supposed to have all-wheel drive, but Teknikens Värld's test reveals that the front wheels do not drive. BYD has localized the problem and BYD has located the error and produced an update that will soon be sent out to affected cars.

In our test we revealed that the BYD Seal AWD wasn't all-wheel drive. BYD acted quickly, engineers visiting us looked at the test cars and have come with a solution. BYD Seal AWD will soon receive an updated software.

Video: Our test reveals: BYD Seal AWD is not all-wheel drive [Part 1]

Video: After our test: BYD updates Seal AWD [Part 2]

Article (translated from Swedish): After our test: BYD fixes four-wheel drive Seal

Automotive BYD Auto Electric Vehicle

Comments

  • shxhshzhz on 24/03/2024 - 13:41
    +11

    Too focused on flooding the market with cheap EVs, not maintaining the most basic QC.

    • SnoozeAndLose on 25/03/2024 - 07:46
      +2

      is there a QC that exist from the first place, it is questionable.

  • hth168 on 24/03/2024 - 13:56

    Sounds like it just requires some fine tuning and they are quick to response. Isn’t that worth praising?

    • TheMills on 24/03/2024 - 14:09
      +5

      For a $68,000 car, nops! They only responded quickly because the issue was raised by professionals with wide media coverage.
      Has it been a normal customer, they would not even known it and kept driving believing it's 4WHD.

      • TheMills on 24/03/2024 - 14:12

        Imagine the defect was identified only after the car made it all the way to Sweden for sale.. 😂😄😃

      • hth168 on 24/03/2024 - 14:16

        Any first hand experience to back that up? In my experience so far they have been good with taking feedback and provide fixes and enhancements.

        Obviously would have been better without issues in the first place, but none of the cars I have owned so far are free of issues.

  • Euphemistic on 24/03/2024 - 14:30
    +1

    So is it a one off, some, lots or all of them?

    I guess it goes to show how much AWD isnt required in most situations if you have to get a newspaper to point it out and get it fixed.

  • plmko on 24/03/2024 - 16:51

    Seems inconsistent with reality. Use your head.

    It has 500hp across both motors front and rear. If only the rears (~300hp) were going there's no way you could get a sub 4sec 0-100 sprint on a 2tonne car. Yet the sprint has been verified so many times.

    The truth will be somewhere in between.

    • GordonD on 24/03/2024 - 16:59
      +1

      The truth will be somewhere in between.

      Yep, they've put "intelligent" functionality in the software, and like a lot of software that tries to be intelligent, it turned out there was some situation in which it was dumb. And they didn't notice until someone in some obscure place in the world pointed it out. So they fixed it.

      I can think of a lot dumber things for a car manufacturer to have done. Like removing the standard-on-every-car-on-the-road-except-theirs indicator stalk, despite everyone telling them that that was a stupid idea, doesn't work, and rental companies cancelling orders because of it. But, hey, they'll have to put it back because EuroNCAP has told them the car will be denied a 5 star rating unless they do.

      • rodericb on 25/03/2024 - 08:08

        Yeah, I cancelled my order for a Purosangue because of the indicator stalk.

    • Bigboomboom on 26/03/2024 - 14:56

      Because the AWD is on demand, not constant AWD like Subaru. Just like my RAV4 which is opposite, FWD primary and occasionally AWD with the rear wheel driven by electric motors. Will be damn hard to notice for everyday driving if the AWD didn't activate, because 95% it shouldn't.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/03/2024 - 17:01

    BYD, Burn Your Driveway.

  • coxjon on 25/03/2024 - 21:30

    I’m impressed a newspaper motoring journalist actually took the time to work this out!

    • Euphemistic on 26/03/2024 - 12:24

      It probably doesnt take long to work out AWD isnt working in swedish snow.

  • darshu on 26/03/2024 - 06:53

    Too bad, all they had to add these lines of code.

    if (front_tyres_slipping == TRUE)
    {
    send_more_torque(rear_wheels);
    play_music("titanic_ship_sinking.mp3");
    }

    • Bigboomboom on 26/03/2024 - 14:55

      Actually it's the opposite, these are primary RWD sedans with Front wheels on demand.

      • darshu on 26/03/2024 - 20:22

        Ah, I didn’t know that. Interesting

  • jimbobaus on 26/03/2024 - 23:23

    Been completely debunked.

  • BusMan247 on 04/06/2024 - 13:14

    This is not wntirely capturing the story. The seal is certainly AWD.

    It 2.2t and reaches the 100km/h in under 4 seconds. I drove it in the wet and it was gripping like crazy. Again, very german saloon in its behaviour.

    Maybe its not great on Ice, but id chill on the facts.

    My Golf R i owned for 5 years, i found the haldex had failed only because in the wet it was chopping up the fronts when i floored it. Thankfully in warranty. But i dont think a company this big doesnt have QC. They would however, have failures like every brand does.

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