The 2026 auto market has presented a striking contrast. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, domestic auto production and sales in the first three quarters reached 23.246 million and 23.271 million vehicles, respectively, both down 4.5% year on year. Over the same period, 12365auto.com received 79,346 valid complaints, up 41.8% year on year.

According to the 2026 Q3 complaint analysis report recently released by 12365auto.com, nearly half of the complaints involved models launched within the past three years. However, the share of problems occurring more than three years after purchase is rising, as is the share for vehicles driven more than 60,000 kilometers. The range of vehicle ages covered by quality complaints has widened.

▍Complaints Most Concentrated on New Cars Launched Within Three Years

The model-year breakdown in Q3 on 12365auto.com is telling. Complaints for 2024, 2025, and 2026 model-year vehicles totaled 38,188, accounting for 48.3% of all complaints. Among them, 2025 models drew 16,066 complaints, ranking first. 2026 models drew 11,645 complaints, with a single model year exceeding 10,000 complaints and a clear month-on-month increase. Nearly half of the complaints came from cars launched less than three years ago.

The report covered 233 brands and 1,443 vehicle series. By energy type, gasoline vehicles remained the main body with 44,090 complaints; battery electric vehicles had 15,203 complaints, up 15.7% month on month; and plug-in hybrids had 13,880 complaints, up 62.9% month on month.

Problems occurring within one month of purchase accounted for 12.2%; one to three months, 5.4%; three to six months, 4.7%; and six to twelve months, 11%. Together, complaints within one year of purchase accounted for 33.3%. One to three years after purchase accounted for 33.6%, the highest share. More than three years after purchase accounted for 33.1%, up 4.6 percentage points month on month.

Complaints for 0 to 3,000 kilometers accounted for 11%; 3,000 to 10,000 kilometers, 9.8%; 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers, 15.5%; and 20,000 to 30,000 kilometers, 14.7%. Together, the four segments accounted for 51% of complaints within 30,000 kilometers. Half of the complaints occurred within 30,000 kilometers, a distribution that corroborates the purchase-time breakdown. The share for more than three years was also 30%, and complaints for more than 60,000 kilometers reached 26%, also up 4.3 percentage points month on month. Judging by when complaints arise, early problems in new cars are already close in number to problems in older cars.

There is also volume at the tail end of model years. 2024 models had 10,477 complaints, 2023 models 13,429, 2022 models 5,976, and 2021 models 5,162. Complaints about older cars have not disappeared; they simply no longer determine the increment.

▍Problems Concentrated in the "Basics"

The distribution of specific fault points explains the issue more clearly. In Q3, the top quality complaint fault point was tire cracking, with 9,237 complaints, accounting for 12.63% of quality complaint faults. Paint blistering and cracking had 3,438 complaints, accounting for 4.7%, ranking second; steering wheel misalignment had 2,844 complaints, accounting for 3.9%, ranking third; steering abnormal noise had 2,634 complaints, ranking fifth; and the newly listed heavy steering had 1,590 complaints, ranking tenth, with the number of faults doubling month on month.

These faults share one thing in common: they are not complex electronic architecture issues, but basic links in materials, assembly, calibration, and ergonomics. Tire cracking is related to rubber formulation, cord structure, and adaptation to road conditions. Paint blistering is related to the coating process and pre-treatment. Steering wheel misalignment and heavy steering are related to the assembly accuracy and calibration of the steering system.

Differences among brands also illustrate the issue. The number of quality complaint faults for domestic brands rose 22.4% month on month, with the increment mainly from body accessories and electrical equipment, whose share increased by 6 percentage points. The number of quality complaint faults for joint venture brands fell 15.7% month on month. For joint venture brands, the share of tire faults fell 16.1 percentage points, while the share of steering system faults rose 10.9 percentage points. This may be related to differences in validation investment and pace.

The industry background helps explain this pace. A McKinsey report shows that Chinese emerging new energy vehicle companies take an average of about 24 months to push a new car from concept validation to market launch, while traditional automakers usually need 40 to 50 months. Domestic media reports say that about 630 new cars were launched in the first half of 2026, and some companies compressed development cycles to within 20 months, with some projects taking less than 18 months. It should be noted that the 630 figure includes configuration derivative models, and the actual number of all-new models is somewhat lower.

A shortened development cycle directly changes the validation sample size and validation mileage. Complete vehicle validation requires two winters and two summers, taking about three years. When the cycle is compressed to 24 months or even shorter, companies can only substitute bench tests, AI simulation, and limited real-world mileage. This does not mean the product is necessarily unqualified, but it reduces the probability of discovering boundary conditions. The rise in early failure rates is a possible result of this substitution.

At the same time, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced in August this year that nine automakers were recalling multiple models because the in-car emergency mechanical handles were close in color to the interior and difficult to identify and operate, involving more than 4.27 million vehicles. The problem does not involve durability, but rather oversights in ergonomics and validation.

In addition, cost pressure is also at work. Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, estimated that from January to August 2026, the automotive industry's sales profit margin was 3.6%, with profit down 16% year on year. Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, noted that in the first half of 2026, the average profit margin in vehicle manufacturing fell to 1.5%, a near-decade low. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the second quarter of 2026, the capacity utilization rate of the automobile manufacturing industry was 70.8%, up slightly 0.5 percentage points from the first quarter, but down 0.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Policymakers have already responded to this transmission chain. In February 2026, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Guidelines for Compliance of Price Behavior in the Automotive Industry, with five chapters and 28 articles, regulating explicit pricing and promotional behavior. On June 11, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation summoned auto production enterprises suspected of irrational competition, requiring them to strengthen price compliance and product quality control. In September, nine departments issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicle Industry. In the same month, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a document encouraging auto companies to pay small and medium-sized enterprise suppliers within 30 days after goods pass acceptance, with a maximum of no more than 60 days.

Complaint volume does not fully equal failure rate; the vehicle ownership structure and willingness to defend rights will both push it up. However, development cycles are being compressed, and the phenomenon of poor consumer experience in the early stage of vehicle ownership has already appeared in concentrated form. In the already released 2026 China Automotive Product Quality Performance Study (AQR), 12365auto.com and Car Research Consulting recommended that companies respond in six directions:

First, in the design and development stage, establish a model quality database and problem warning mechanism to avoid common problems in advance.

Second, in supplier management, strengthen second-tier supply chain control and establish a dynamic monitoring mechanism for parts batches.

Third, in vehicle testing, update validation standards in light of the increase in extreme weather, covering scenarios such as high temperatures, heavy rain, and severe convection.

Fourth, in software testing, add software experience evaluation centered on user scenarios and complete full-scenario function validation.

Fifth, in the trial production and mass production stages, introduce joint evaluation and research by users and engineers to bridge the gap between engineering and user perspectives, and establish a rapid market quality feedback mechanism.

Sixth, in benchmarking evaluation, form an independent evaluation team to continuously carry out rolling benchmarking evaluations of competitor models, so as to adapt to the environment of rapid model updates and iterations.

Layout 丨 Yang Shuo Image source: Qianku.com