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Recently, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China announced on its official website the supervision and random inspection of imported brake pads. This is the first time that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has expanded the scope of quality supervision and spot checks on brake pad products from domestically produced products to imported products, covering the main circulation areas of goods such as the domestic market, cross-border e-commerce platforms, and import product distribution centers. It involves more than 60 brands and 18 countries or regions of origin, with relatively more imports from Japan, Germany, South Korea, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The results of the spot check showed that 71 times the port was randomly inspected, and 8 batches were found to be unqualified. 388 batches were randomly inspected in the circulation field, and 211 batches were found to be unqualified; 8 batches were randomly inspected on e-commerce platforms, and 7 batches were found to be unqualified after testing. The overall unqualified detection rate of imported brake pads reached 48.4%.
Surprisingly, multiple well-known brands have failed multiple inspections
The so-called brake pads, professionally known as automotive brake linings, are composed of a layer of steel plate (backing plate) and a layer of friction material. It is one of the most critical components in the automotive braking system, and the quality of the brake pads directly affects driving safety. It is understood that the supervision and random inspection of imported brake pads is based on the current national mandatory standard GB 5763-2008 "Automotive Brake Linings" in China for testing. The testing items include: appearance quality, dimensional tolerance, friction performance, shear strength, impact strength, thermal expansion rate, compressive strain, packaging marking, etc. Disappointment: one-third of the core performance test results are unqualified
In the shear strength test, 8 brands of products, Toyota, Hyundai, Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Mercedes Benz, Subaru, and Timington, were found to be unqualified. The shear strength of brake pads is to test whether the backing plate and friction material will fall off when the brake pads encounter sudden external forces. If the backing plate and friction material of the brake pads detach or break or even catch fire during emergency braking, it may pose a safety hazard to driving.
In the core item related to the braking performance of brake pads - friction performance test, 35.4% failed. There are a total of 21 brands with substandard products, including well-known brands such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Kia, Land Rover, Cadillac, Ford, Jeep, Honda, Infiniti, Nissan, etc.
In the list of unqualified products released by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, there are more than 10 batches of products with nominal brands including Land Rover, Hyundai, Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, Tamington, Kia, Volvo, and BMW that have been randomly inspected as unqualified. The specific unqualified items include: signs (174 batches, accounting for 77.0%); Friction performance (80 batches, accounting for 35.4%); Shear strength (8 batches, accounting for 3.5%); Compression strain (3 batches, accounting for 1.3%).
The inspector introduced that although many brake pads can pass the inspection when the temperature is above 200 degrees, the friction coefficient will suddenly decrease or even be lower than the national standard when the temperature reaches 300 degrees, which will bring huge safety hazards to daily driving. For example, when a car is going downhill for a long distance, due to frequent braking, the temperature of the brake pads will be very high. In this case, if the friction coefficient suddenly decreases, it will lead to brake failure and speed loss, which can easily lead to accidents.
In addition, the largest proportion of unqualified items is that the brake pads do not meet the requirements of China's national standards on the markings, and 174 batches of products are unqualified, accounting for 77%. For example, there is no Chinese information at all or the information provided is incomplete. According to national standards, whether domestically produced or imported into China, at least two pieces of information should be printed on the packaging, namely the specified friction coefficient and the current national standard number. The inspector explained that because consumers are not professionals, if the logo is unclear or the information is incomplete, consumers cannot determine whether the purchased product meets national standards and the requirements of their own vehicle model or travel environment, which can also cause driving safety hazards.
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine: Require relevant importers and 4S stores to effectively protect consumer safety
The outstanding quality issues of imported brake pads during this sampling inspection reflect to some extent that relevant brake pad enterprises do not attach importance to China's national standards. Before the announcement of the sampling results, the entry-exit inspection and quarantine department had officially informed the relevant distributors of the testing report and sampling results. Liu Shiyuan, Deputy Director of the Inspection Department of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, stated that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China has conducted interviews with some prominent enterprises and distributors. In response to a manufacturer's suggestion that brake pads are not qualified as individual products and ultimately meet the requirements on the entire vehicle, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine requires relevant manufacturing enterprises to attach importance to the product quality of automotive components and effectively ensure the legitimate interests of consumers.
The risk warning notice and supervision spot check of imported brake linings for automobiles issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine have detailed the unqualified items and the brands involved, clearly requiring all relevant brand manufacturers to strengthen product quality and safety management, take practical measures to ensure that the products meet the standard requirements, and all authorized dealers must stop importing and selling unqualified brake linings for automobiles, And actively implement product quality and safety responsibilities and obligations. Entry exit inspection and quarantine institutions must closely monitor and collect information on the quality and safety risks of brake linings for imported automobiles within their jurisdiction, and strengthen supervision of relevant enterprises within their jurisdiction. For car owners who purchase and use substandard brake pads, they should pay attention to the vehicle's condition when driving. If any problems are found, they should contact authorized dealers in a timely manner and handle them safely.
It is understood that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has once again organized key supervision and spot checks on the quality of imported brake pad products this year. The results of the spot check will be announced recently, and strict punishment measures will be taken in accordance with relevant regulations for products that fail the spot check.
Experts suggest that the brake pads of private cars should be replaced every three to four years of use, and the condition of the brake pads can also be identified by the sound of braking during use. If we hear a "hissing" friction sound during the braking process, it is possible that the friction sound between metals is generated, indicating that the wear has reached the limit position. At this point, we need to promptly inspect the brake discs for wear.
When choosing, we should remember: first, observe the product packaging and spray markings. The packaging and printing of products produced by legitimate enterprises are clear, and the packaging box not only has the product name and production license number, but also has the formulation of friction coefficient and national execution standards. Indicates that this product meets Chinese national standards; Looking at the non friction surface of regular brake pads with the company logo, non regular products do not have or are not clear. Secondly, the quality of the brake pads. Consumers can first observe the surface quality of brake pads and whether the spraying is even with the naked eye when making purchases. Unqualified products may have paint peeling. For brake pads with grooves, the grooves are generally very standard. If the grooves of unqualified products are not conducive to heat dissipation. Because the friction material of brake pads is made by mixing dozens of materials and hot pressing, the quality of the product cannot be judged solely by the naked eye. Therefore, it is best to request the merchant to provide authoritative testing reports for the product when purchasing.
Editor's point of view: The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China has not only announced the issue of brake pad quality once, but this inspection result shows that the problem is still very prominent. This not only reflects the lack of supervision by relevant national departments and the lack of attention paid by production enterprises to China's national standards, but also reflects that the market, driven by profit seeking, has deceived domestic consumers. Therefore, in the future, consumers must be cautious when replacing car parts, try to choose to replace qualified products with legitimate enterprises, and be careful not to be replaced by unscrupulous merchants.