Malaysia’s Road Transport Department has halted new registrations of the Chery Omoda 5, a Chinese-built SUV, after a rear axle detached from one on the road in Johor Bahru and the video spread across social media. The department, known as JPJ, announced on Oct. 11 that it had temporarily suspended the model’s Vehicle Type Approval.
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Chery Malaysia followed within hours with a recall, saying its investigation found that welds on the rear axle trailing arms may lack sufficient strength. CnEVPost put the recall at 8,878 SUVs. The episode has become a test of how quickly a regulator can act on a defect that first reached the public as a clip on a phone.
What the Road Transport Department suspended
JPJ Director-General Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli said the department “views seriously” the viral incident, which happened the previous week in Tebrau, Johor Bahru, according to Malay Mail’s report. The suspension of the Vehicle Type Approval, the certificate that lets a model be registered for road use, covers the Omoda 5 and its variants and stops new registrations until technical investigations are complete. Aedy said it targets only the models and variants potentially involved, and he said the suspension “will only be lifted once all corrective and preventive measures have been fully implemented.”
Dealers cannot register or deliver new units while the approval is suspended, Autoblog reported, a halt that stays in place until a technical audit clears the manufacturing process. The restriction applies to new units; the notices describe no ban on vehicles already registered.
The sequence ran quickly. The detached axle was photographed on Oct. 6, JPJ announced the suspension on Oct. 11, and Chery issued its statement on the weekend that followed. Autoblog’s own report ran on Oct. 16, five days after the regulator acted.
The axle failure and the audit of Chery
Social media photos and videos of an Omoda 5 with its rear suspension assembly detached first appeared on Oct. 6, according to Carscoops, which said the fault allegedly affects only the pre-facelift C and H variants with a torsion-beam rear suspension. Autoblog described the viral clip as showing a relatively new SUV stranded on a busy road, its rear wheels completely detached from the chassis without any prior collision.
The department told Chery Malaysia to identify potentially affected vehicles through component numbers, production batches and VINs, and said a recall must be carried out on every vehicle found at risk, the Borneo Post reported from Bernama. JPJ is also auditing the Omoda 5 production and assembly lines and the supplier of the relevant axle components, covering good manufacturing practices, quality control, weld joint inspection procedures and component safety standards. In the Director-General’s words, as quoted by Bernama, there will be “no compromise on any non-compliance that could jeopardise road users’ safety.”
Chery’s recall of 8,878 Omoda 5 vehicles
Chery said it “immediately launched an investigation” and found that “welds on the rear axle trailing arms may lack sufficient strength,” according to CnEVPost, which put the recall at 8,878 Omoda 5 vehicles in the C and H variants. The company said it had also started precautionary checks on the same batch in China and other markets. The remedy is an inspection and, where needed, replacement of components at no cost, and the recall does not affect models currently on sale.
Owners can check whether a car is included by entering its VIN on Chery’s product update page, Malay Mail reported. The VIN is on a label at the top left of the instrument cluster, on the bonnet label, and stamped under the driver’s seat and at the back door. Chery’s careline is 03-9388 0888.
It is not the first axle problem for the model in Malaysia. In 2024 Chery recalled 600 Omoda 5 vehicles after a rear axle detached, and the investigation blamed improperly calibrated welding equipment and identified 60 cars built on Aug. 15, 2023 that needed rear axle replacement. Chery Malaysia has not said whether the latest incident involves the same defect.
Singapore’s transport authorities checked their local Omoda 5 fleet and found it unaffected, Autoblog reported, because the cars there come from a different regional supply chain. Singapore’s result matters because it points toward batch or supply-chain differences and away from a flaw in every Omoda 5 everywhere, although no regulator has published findings on the cause and Chery has said only that welds may lack strength.
Malaysia is a significant market for the brand: Carscoops said Chery has ranked fifth among Malaysia’s carmakers by new-car registrations since 2024, and priced the Omoda 5 at about RM16,800 ($28,600) before the stop-sale. A suspension of the type approval therefore halts sales of one of the company’s more visible products in a market where it has built a large share, and the department has said it will not lift the order until corrective and preventive measures are fully in place and it has confirmed technically that the safety risks are addressed.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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