How did this happen? Chery admits 2023 Omoda 5 was faulty just days before going on sale to public | Opinion

Months after scathing reviews of the new Chery Omoda 5, the Chinese brand admits the model was faulty at the time of its Australian launch earlier this year but tells us the problem has now been fixed.

The startling admission came only as a result of CarsGuide reaching out to Chery for an explanation about how a safety system could be signed off yet feel so dangerous during the motoring media’s testing just days before it was sold to the public.    

The fault relates to the Omoda 5’s lane keeping assistance feature which CarsGuide found to be so intrusive that we felt it was dangerous. We found the feature sporadically and vigorously changed the direction of travel in the car despite being driven well within its lane at the time. 

The same situation with the lane keeping assistance feature was widely reported by Australian motoring media proving the fault wasn’t a one-off problem with a single test car, but widespread.

Chery has now responded to CarsGuide with an explanation saying the overzealous lane keeping system was the result of a software issue.

“In certain driving conditions in Australia the ADAS software in the MY2023 OMODA 5 may activate causing a false alarm,” Chery’s statement reads.

“To improve the driving experience, we have developed a software update which enhances the logic to be better adapted to Australian conditions.”

CarsGuide asked Chery if any Omoda 5s had been sold to the public with the fault.

“None of these cars were sold to the market,” a spokesperson for Chery told CarsGuide.

 “Regarding the false alarms, I can assure you that this was a recalibration issue that has since been addressed. Updates were made across all vehicles before hitting the market to further enhance the software logic to be better adapted to Australian conditions.”

After having left our shores more than a decade ago following poor crash test results and recalls, this wasn’t the return to Australia Chery was hoping for with the Omoda 5.

It raises the question of how this fault could have ever occurred in the first place. Surely Chery’s engineers picked up on this obvious problem long before the cars were given to the media. Or are journalists the only line of defence between a manufacturer and the public? 

What makes this even more concerning is the dangerous nature of the fault. As the author of CarsGuide’s Omoda 5 launch review I can tell you the system almost made me veer into oncoming traffic - the exact opposite of what lane keeping technology should be preventing.

I’m yet to drive the Omoda 5 with the updated software and I’m not about to take Chery’s word for it that the system has been fixed. 

Faulty driving software also raises the issue of just how far away the industry is from producing autonomous cars. Only five years ago, carmakers from Tesla to Ford were promising fully autonomous driving, only to back down from the claims or readjust the timeline.

While the Omoda 5 doesn’t claim to offer fully autonomous driving, advanced safety technology such as AEB and lane keeping assistance are the very first level of autonomy. 

That’s no excuse for handing out cars for review to journalists that are potentially dangerous or life threatening. AEB and lane keeping assistance aren’t new features, the technology has been standard on most cars for at least a decade. 

Suggesting that the system wasn’t set-up for Australian conditions seems to be shifting the blame, as well. I tested the vehicle on all types of roads and the system performed badly even on new world-standard motorways.

The Omoda 5 received the maximum five-star rating from the European NCAP crash safety body, but it has yet to be tested by Australian equivalent ANCAP. I would implore ANCAP to not just carry over the European five-star rating as it often does and look into the Omoda 5 more closely, especially the functioning of the advanced safety tech systems such as lane keeping assistance.       

So, is there anything good to be said about the Omoda 5? Absolutely, when I tested the car at its launch, I found the Omoda 5 to excel in areas of practicality, value and styling.

An entry-grade list price of $29,900 before on-road costs means the Omoda 5 undercuts its Toyota Corolla Cross rival by $10,000. Fellow Chinese car makers, however, are able to beat Chery on price with the MG ZS and Haval Jolion offering even more affordable driveaway deals.

The Omoda 5 has spearheaded Chery’s campaign to win back Aussies with a sporty 1.6-litre turbo-petrol Omoda 5 joining the existing 1.5-litre turbo-petrol variant later this year, along with the arrival of the Tiggo Pro 7 mid-sized SUV and Tiggo Pro 8 large SUV. An all-electric Omoda 5 is expected to arrive in Australia in 2024 to do battle with MG ZS EV and the BYD Atto 3.

CarsGuide also reported recently that images of Chery new eQ7 have surfaced. This mid-sized electric SUV is expected to launch in China later this year, but it’s unclear if the model will make it to Australia at this time.