Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) announced the recall of nearly half of its delivered Li Mega MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) following a sudden fire incident a week ago that raised safety concerns about the model.
The company will recall a total of 11,411 units of 2024 Li Mega MPVs manufactured between February 18, 2024, and December 27, 2024, starting November 7, according to an announcement today on China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) website.
This accounts for nearly half of the Li Mega's cumulative deliveries of 25,817 units through the end of September, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
Vehicles in the recall may experience corrosion and leakage in the cooling aluminum plates of the power battery and front motor controller within the cooling circuit due to insufficient corrosion protection in the coolant.
This could trigger malfunction indicators, power limitations, or complete power loss. In extreme cases, it may cause thermal runaway in the power battery, posing safety risks, the announcement stated.
Li Auto will replace the coolant, power battery, and front motor controller free of charge for affected vehicles.
Regarding safety hazards from coolant leaks affecting the power battery, Li Auto's cloud-based early warning system will provide advance alerts, the company said.
If no warning or vehicle fault message is received, it indicates the vehicle is currently in normal condition and can be used with confidence, the company said.
Li Auto subsequently announced on Weibo that this is a proactive recall following last week's Li Mega fire incident and apologized to the vehicle owner.
Accident investigations require time, but the company cannot wait for identified risks, Li Auto founder, chairman, and CEO Li Xiang said on Weibo.
To date, no final technical conclusions have been reached regarding the fire incident, the company said.
Late on October 23 Beijing time, a Li Mega traveling slowly on a Shanghai street caught fire under its chassis as it passed through an intersection with traffic lights. Within seconds, the entire vehicle was engulfed in flames.
Fortunately, the occupants quickly escaped through the front doors after the incident.
