China Opens Joint Investigation Into Maextro V800 Brake Pedal Bracket Failures

Three Chinese regulators have joined forces to investigate a brake pedal bracket defect on the Maextro V800, the flagship luxury MPV co-developed by Huawei and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC). The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed the move in a Thursday statement, saying it will coordinate with the Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Administration for Market Regulation, building on preliminary inquiries and applying the law as needed. The agencies said more details would be released in due course.

The scrutiny follows a test video published on October 8 by Dongchedi, an automotive information platform, which reported that brake pedal brackets fractured on three V800 units during emergency stops from 100 km/h. According to the testers, the breakage left the brake pedal unusable, and they halted the vehicles via an emergency braking function triggered through the Park control. Maextro responded the same day, noting that no such bracket base failures have surfaced in real-world customer use since deliveries started, and characterizing the video’s conditions as non-standard extreme test conditions.

Even as it defended its record, the brand committed to redesigning the bracket base and providing a free upgrade to existing owners. Maextro also said it would carry out a systematic review of design validation, testing parameters and production quality management. In a Weibo post, the company pledged to cooperate fully with the joint investigation team, framing the effort as a way to protect consumer rights and the broader interests of the new energy vehicle industry. The three agencies did not weigh in on the testing methodology or Maextro’s earlier explanation.

Markets reacted sharply, with JAC (SSE: 600418) closing down 10.01 percent at its daily limit on October 8 and sliding further in later sessions. The episode has renewed public debate over vehicle safety standards and the methods used to assess them, particularly for high-end models.

Maextro sits at the top of Huawei’s HIMA (Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance) lineup, and the V800 launched on August 5 as a flagship MPV priced from 766,000 yuan ($113,900) to 1,016,000 yuan. It is aimed at the premium business travel segment currently served by the Toyota Alphard and Lexus LM, making the outcome of the investigation a closely watched test of the brand’s engineering credibility in that rarefied tier.