Rush to expand threatens car safety, warn regulators

China's auto regulators and carmaker executives warned that electrification and intelligent technology must not come at the expense of safety, saying rush-to-market expansion is creating systemic risks, at the 2026 International Forum (TEDA) on Chinese Automotive Industry Development on Saturday in Tianjin.

Xiao Lingyun, director of the industrial products division at the Defective Product Recall Technical Center under the State Administration for Market Regulation, said the regulatory system was being continuously updated, from standards and investigation techniques to oversight models, to address new safety hazards created by new technology.

Defects in intelligent connected vehicles are invisible, digital and difficult to reproduce, Xiao said, adding that recall supervision is also upgrading its technical tools to cope with such new risks.

Nearly 8 million vehicles were recalled in China on Aug 21 alone, mostly due to safety problems arising from new technologies, he said. The recall system is a cornerstone for balancing industry development and vehicle safety.

Half of the vehicles recalled in China in 2025 were recalled voluntarily by automakers, Xiao said, adding that automakers willing to issue voluntary recalls were quality-first companies.

The industry is being swept up by the concept of "innovation", and many so-called innovations threaten consumer safety, he said. The auto industry encourages innovation, but it must be “real innovation” that consumers can afford and that has a safety backstop.

"Only products and brands that are strong in both quality and safety will survive in the market," Xiao said.

Liu Zongcheng, president of Seres Group Technology, said the biggest risk for the auto industry is not slow development but a rush for quick results, or "quick success".

Liu said some automakers, seeking faster launches, have sharply shortened new-car development cycles, relied heavily on AI simulation and cut real-vehicle durability and extreme-condition testing. Validation that should be completed in factory laboratories is effectively being shifted to consumers for on-road testing.

He said China's auto industry needs to shift from scale advantages to quality advantages. It must not shorten validation cycles or relax safety standards in exchange for faster new-model launches, and it should abandon "puffed-up" growth.

Zhang Xiaoyu, chief scientist at Changan Automobile, said the penetration rate of passenger vehicles equipped with Level 2 driving assistance functions has reached 70.5 percent. However, while urban Navigate On Autopilot penetration has reached 20.9 percent, its usage rate is below 6.3 percent.

Consumers' biggest concern about smart-driving technology remains safety and trust, Zhang said. Even as smart-driving penetration continues to rise, it will be difficult to win consumer acceptance without sufficient safety validation, he said.