Chery OMODA 5 Axle Breaks Twice in Two Years, Malaysia Recalls 8,878 Vehicles

Chery OMODA 5 Axle Breaks Twice in Two Years, Malaysia Halts New Car Registration and Recalls 8,878 Vehicles

October 6, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia, a 2023 model OMODA 5 was driving normally. The rear axle trailing arm weld seam tore, the entire rear axle with two rear wheels detached from the car body, the car lay across the road. No one was injured. Three days later, the Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ) put the vehicle type certification and new car registration for this car on hold; that same night, Chery admitted the involved batch had issues with insufficient rear axle trailing arm welding strength, recalling 8,878 vehicles. Sounds like an isolated incident? Two years ago in the same country, this car was already recalled once for the same rear axle.

Weld Seam Tear, Four Words Pressing Down on a Moving Car

Photos and short videos of the scene first circulated on Malaysian social media: A black SUV was slanted parked in the middle of the road, two rear wheels with the entire rear axle lying not far away, the rear of the car collapsed directly onto the ground.

The rear axle trailing arm is a key load-bearing component connecting the rear wheels and the car body. The weld seam tore during driving, support and traction were lost simultaneously, and the car broke down on the spot. Fortunately, the speed was not high at the time, and no one was behind.

The vehicle involved was a 2023 model, the incident occurred on October 6, 2026, in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. It was driving normally throughout, without any collision.

Regulatory Action Three Days Later, This Is Rare in Malaysia

On October 11, the Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ) announced it was suspending OMODA 5 vehicle type certification and new car registration until the technical investigation was completed and safety was confirmed. In other words, before the investigation results were out, this car model could neither be sold nor registered locally.

Local peers spoke plainly: JPJ rarely uses this move for a single passenger car safety incident. This move hurts much more than a fine.

Chery simultaneously released the "Statement on Malaysian OMODA 5 Vehicle Issues": This batch of vehicles may have insufficient welding strength at local welding positions of the rear axle trailing arm, with a risk of weld seam tearing in extreme cases; this structural model had been discontinued prior. The reaction was fast enough, this point must be acknowledged.

Two Years Ago, The Cause Was Almost Identical

This is the part that makes people uneasy.

OMODA 5 entered the Malaysian market only in March 2024. A little over a month after launch, on April 28, a car owner posted a video on social media complaining that the rear axle broke while the new car was driving, and the left rear wheel got stuck into the car body. At that time, Chery Malaysia's conclusion pointed to suppliers: during factory upgrades, the automatic welding machine changed new welding tips, equipment calibration deviations occurred, and the welding of rear axles of some vehicles became substandard as a result. The actual problem found was in the 60 vehicles produced on August 15, 2023. The recall scope was expanded to the 600 vehicles produced between August 14 and 17.

Two years passed, the same rear axle, the same type of welding strength issue, the scope expanded from 600 vehicles to 8,878 vehicles.

The most eye-catching column in the table is not the numbers, but "Fell Twice at the Same Gate".

Changing welding tips is a daily operation at the consumable level. The normal process is to immediately perform first article inspection, destructive sampling, and parameter recalibration after replacement, along with stricter batch traceability. Obviously, one step was missed last time. The fact that another incident happened two years later indicates that the rectification then did not completely plug the loophole.

There is another detail easily overlooked: the involved car was not exported as a complete vehicle from China; it was locally assembled by the Inokom factory in Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia. Local assembly does not equal local parts manufacturing. Where the core structural component like the rear axle comes from, and who supplies it, is exactly what this investigation needs to clarify.

Do Domestic OMODA Owners Need to Panic?

OMODA 5 sold domestically is Chery OMODA. Launched in July 2022, official guide price 79,900 to 107,900 yuan, aimed at youth, currently discontinued.

Chery also wrote a sentence in the statement on October 11: Based on the principle of prudence, a special risk investigation for the same batch of OMODA 5 models in domestic and related markets has been launched, belonging to a proactive preventive arrangement, and results will be announced in time. Domestically, it is currently an investigation, not a recall.

To be frank, the structures of the two versions are not completely consistent. The domestic version distinguishes the rear suspension by power——1.5T models use torsion beam non-independent suspension, 1.6T models use multi-link independent suspension; the Malaysian involved batch has a rear axle structure with trailing arms. Batches, suppliers, and production lines are all different, don't scare yourself, don't pretend not to see, wait for the investigation results.

Local Malaysian car owners can only do one thing now: go to the Chery Malaysia official website, enter the vehicle identification number (VIN), check if their car is on the list, and don't just wait for a phone call.

I do not accept the blanket statement that "domestic cars have poor quality when going global". As of the end of 2025, Chery has cumulatively sold 30,073 vehicles in Malaysia, including 12,930 vehicles delivered in 2025 alone, making it one of the fastest-growing brands locally. A problem with one part batch is involved, not the collapse of the entire system.

But there are three things Chery must answer publicly: For this time and the one in 2024, is it the same supplier, the same production line, the same set of welding parameters? After the rectification last time, was batch traceability and destructive sampling actually implemented on a normalized basis? What traceability method is used to screen problematic vehicles? If the answers to these three questions are not given within a day, this recall is just damage control, not a solution.

For a Chinese brand running wildly overseas, the real test has never been whether the recall is fast enough. Finding the essence of the problem and solving it from the root is the correct solution.