{"id":2114600,"date":"2026-08-27T14:47:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2114600"},"modified":"2026-08-27T14:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:47:27","slug":"china-pushes-for-recalls-to-keep-car-quality-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2114600","title":{"rendered":"China Pushes For Recalls To Keep Car Quality Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"columns-holder\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-widget\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-heading\">Add Jalopnik on Google:<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-on-google-buttons-row\">\n                        <button type=\"button\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"preferred-source\">Preferred Source<\/button><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXBneTRxX2Zw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"google-discover\">Google Discover<\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Happy Thursday! It&#8217;s August 27, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift \u2014 your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you&#8217;ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.<\/p>\n<p>In this morning&#8217;s edition, we&#8217;re looking at China&#8217;s push for recalls, and Volkswagen&#8217;s push for job cuts. We&#8217;ll also look at Waymo&#8217;s adventure to Munich, and Dutch regulators eyeing Tesla for recalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you&#8217;d like a recap of the latest auto news sent to your inbox each weekday, you can<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jalopnik.kit.com\/morning-shift?utm_source=jalopnik&amp;utm_medium=morningshift_article\" target=\"_blank\">sign up for Jalopnik&#8217;s free Morning Shift newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>China wants the vehicles that come from its shores to be &#8220;good&#8221;\u00a0or whatever, so the nation is now pushing automakers to audit their own processes and issue recalls for any issues they find. Hopefully this goes better than most self-audits. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/litigation\/china-launches-year-long-auto-quality-drive-mandates-defect-recalls-2026-08-27\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) \u2013 Chinese regulators on Thursday ordered automakers to file proactive recall plans for any defects uncovered in self-audits, as part of \u200ba year-long campaign to improve vehicle quality and safety \u200cin the world&#8217;s largest auto market.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla and eight Chinese electric vehicle makers on August 21 announced fixes affecting a combined 4.3 million vehicles in China&#8217;s largest-ever automotive \u200brecall, prompted by safety concerns involving emergency door-release mechanisms.<\/p>\n<p>Under the \u200bcampaign, automakers are required to conduct comprehensive inspections of product \u2060quality, reliability, durability and the testing and validation of new \u200btechnologies across their operations and key suppliers. They must submit reports to \u200blocal authorities by the end of 2026, according to a joint statement issued by the market regulator and the ministries of industry, public security, and environment.<\/p>\n<p>Companies \u200bmust promptly file recall plans with the market regulator and carry \u200bout voluntary recalls of defective products. Local authorities need to tighten oversight and ensure \u200crigorous \u2060safety validation before introducing new vehicle technologies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Usually a self-audit is a way for an organization to check themselves for any wrongdoing and find themselves perfect and flawless. With government oversight in China, though, perhaps self-audits can bring meaningful issues to light.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has been on the warpath recently, trying to cut costs at the automaker anywhere and everywhere possible. He&#8217;s been big on cutting staff, and is now trying to close factories to get all its pesky workers off his payroll. The workers are, as you might imagine, not psyched about the idea. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/world-at-work\/volkswagen-ceo-tells-staff-cost-cutting-journey-is-not-over-2026-08-26\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>OSNABRUECK, Germany, Aug 26 (Reuters) \u2013 Volkswagen&#8217;s management and labour leaders \u200bdug in on Wednesday ahead of a crucial board meeting next week, with CEO Oliver Blume pushing \u200cdeeper cost cuts and unions rejecting layoffs and plant closures in the German group&#8217;s biggest ever restructuring.<\/p>\n<p>Europe&#8217;s largest automaker is considering measures that could double the planned number of job cuts, close factories and carve out parts of the business as it seeks to revive profits and fend off \u200bgrowing competition from Chinese rivals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Daniela Cavallo, head of Volkswagen&#8217;s \u2060powerful works council, told reporters in Osnabrueck that layoffs and site closures would not solve problems caused by tariffs, Chinese competition and weak European demand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A vision for the future must \u200bconsist of many different elements. It cannot &#8230; be solely about sites, labour costs and staff \u200bcuts,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a core issue with putting Business People in charge of your company. Business People understand how to look at a spreadsheet and optimize it, cutting costs where they can in order to boost profits \u2014 but they lack the ability to actually invest in crucial places. Cavallo is right here, that Volkswagen can&#8217;t cost-cut its way out of Chinese automakers offering better vehicles for less money, but Blume can&#8217;t understand that. It&#8217;s the MBA view of the world, one fiscal quarter at a time, maximizing short-term profits at the cost of long-term readiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>The streets of the U.S. are all muddied with a thousand lonely driverless cabs, and the companies behind them are looking to expand. Case in point: Waymo now wants to infect Munich with its robotaxis. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/waymo-begin-testing-autonomous-vehicles-munich-2026-08-25\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Aug 25 (Reuters) \u2013 Self-driving technology company Waymo said on Tuesday it would begin testing its autonomous \u200bvehicles in Munich in the coming \u200cweeks, laying the groundwork for a commercial ride-hailing service in Germany that it aims to launch toward \u200bthe end of 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Here are more \u200bdetails:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Waymo said its vehicles would initially drive \u2060manually across Munich to map local \u200broads and test with trained autonomous specialists behind \u200bthe wheel.<br \/>\n&#8211; The Alphabet-owned company said the testing period will help its autonomous driving system adapt to Munich&#8217;s \u200bdriving conditions before commercial operations begin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m personally anti-Waymo in all places, at all times, for all reasons. It&#8217;s perhaps my most Luddite opinion \u2014 until a person can live on this planet without constantly spending money on food, water, and shelter, we should stop automating all the jobs away. Hot take, I\u00a0know.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>China issued a sweeping recall of cars with electric door handles recently, demanding that companies make their mechanical emergency releases more obvious to occupants. Authorities in the Netherlands have considered the same, but they&#8217;re not yet issuing a recall \u2014 for now. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autonews.com\/tesla\/ane-tesla-no-europe-recall-dutch-regulator-says-0827\/\" target=\"_blank\">Automotive News<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>AMSTERDAM \u2014 The Dutch vehicle regulator RDW said there is currently no recall of Tesla cars in Europe over concerns that doors may be difficult to open in an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>China last week ordered its largest ever car recall, covering 4.3 million vehicles and 2.98 million Teslas, over worries that emergency door-release mechanisms can be difficult to locate or operate after a crash.<\/p>\n<p>The RDW is the key regulator overseeing the safety of Tesla cars in Europe. The agency said it is monitoring the issue but declined to comment on whether it is considering or investigating a recall, only that there is none at present.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The RDW believes that vehicles must be capable of being opened under all circumstances \u2014 including when electrical systems fail \u2014 in an intuitive way, without the use of tools, from both inside and outside,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It sounds like RDW is still weighing its options, so it&#8217;s possible we&#8217;ll still see a recall in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Can y&#8217;all please just allow us to be normal and do normal stuff?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>Gas prices are starting to look like the quality of the tuna at Toretto&#8217;s Market.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p>I&#8217;ve had this track stuck in my head all morning, so I&#8217;m going to get it stuck in yours too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add Jalopnik on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover Happy Thursday! It&#8217;s August 27, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift \u2014 your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you&#8217;ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-2114600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2114600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2114600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2114600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2114600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}