Complaint from Chelyabinsk: why trucks from China were recognized as dangerous
The reason for the suspension of vehicle type approvals for Shacman trucks was the anti-rollback rear and side bars, which collapsed during a strength test conducted two years ago at the initiative of a dump truck buyer from Chelyabinsk. The distributor of the Chinese brand is ready to eliminate the shortcomings as part of the recall campaign. Dealers who have almost 2.2 thousand of these trucks "stuck" estimate their costs at 20 billion rubles and intend to return the cars back to China. At the same time, the Chinese automaker plans to launch production of trucks in our country. The details are in the Izvestia article.
The defense failed
In early February, the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart) suspended the OTTS for Shacman SX3258 trucks. The reason was a complaint from a buyer from Chelyabinsk, Vladimir Pichugin, legal adviser at Shacman Motors, told a press conference. The truck owner, suspecting that the car did not meet the established requirements, tested the car at the Dmitrov proving ground at his own expense in the spring of 2023.
— At the same time, it was not a new car that was presented for testing, but a car that was already in operation. In particular, the truck made its way from Chelyabinsk to Dmitrov near Moscow on its own, which is more than 1.8 thousand km. It was based on the test results of this machine that the conclusion was made about its non—compliance with the OTS," Vladimir Pichugin emphasized.
Thus, according to the test reports (copies are available to Izvestia), when checking the rear rollback bar of a truck with a load of already 60 kN (equivalent to about 6 tons) at one point, the protection was deformed by 482 mm. At the same time, according to the requirements for these elements of the passive safety of the car, its deformation should not exceed 400 mm at a load of 100 kN (approximately 10 tons). Moreover, at another point, to which the force was applied, the fastening of the rolling bar simply broke. The inspection also revealed inconsistencies in the geometric parameters of the vehicle's side protection.
The inspectors' claims were also caused by the increased noise of the car. According to the test report, the noise level of the truck exceeded the standard value by 6.6 dB.
"Inconsistencies in the rear rollback protection and side protective devices pose a direct threat to the life and health of drivers and passengers of passenger vehicles, who will suffer significant damage in the event of an accident involving such trucks," Rosstandart said in a statement.
Exceeding the noise level, according to the agency, is "a factor of industrial stress, directly affects the well-being and health of the driver of such a cargo vehicle, contributes to his fatigue, which may eventually cause an accident."
The Spanish trail
It is noteworthy that, according to the annex to the OTS for Shacman trucks, the documents issued in other countries became the basis for certification of problematic units. For example, test reports issued by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism were adopted for rollback bars.
Certification of cars based on tests and checks of compliance with the established requirements of certain elements of the vehicle design conducted in foreign testing laboratories is a common practice, says Anton Shaparin, Vice President of the National Automobile Union (NAS). At the same time, in the case of models from China, these tests often take place not in the parent organization, but in its Chinese branch, although the protocols themselves are issued on behalf of the headquarters.
— I strongly doubt that Shacman trucks, which are not represented on the European market at all, were specially transported to Spain for certification. Most likely, the tests of those same protective bars took place in China itself, in a laboratory operating in China under the auspices of the Spanish department. There are many such branches of well—known certification companies in China," he told Izvestia.
According to the NAS Vice President, in order to avoid problems with such "paper" certification, it is necessary that all inspections be carried out in our country by Russian specialists and engineers.
Frozen billions
Vadim Fedorov, CEO of the Shacman brand, said at a press conference that the OTC recall concerns 2,171 trucks in dealers' warehouses. It does not affect cars that have already been sold and are in service. However, the "freezing" of such a large number of cars leads to significant costs for sellers, said the vice president of the Association of Russian Automobile Dealers (ROAD). Vitaly Kiselyov.
— These cars are now just standing on dealers' sites, they cannot be sold. Taking into account the cost of one truck of about 10 million rubles, it turns out that in total about 20 billion rubles have actually been frozen," he said.
According to Vladimir Pichugin, a number of dealers are considering the possibility of re-exporting these cars to China. However, this will require a refund from the budget of the payments paid, he stressed.
"If we evaluate all trucks for which the OTS has been suspended, then we are talking about the return of about 7 billion rubles in the form of customs duties, as well as about 4.5 billion rubles in the form of scrap and 3 billion rubles in the form of VAT," said Vladimir Pichugin.
Shacman, please respond!
Experts interviewed by Izvestia doubt the possibility of re-exporting Shacman trucks and refunding the payments paid for them. According to Igor Morzharetto, a partner at the Autostat analytical agency, the probability of such a scenario is zero.
— This does not meet the interests of the state. I'm pretty sure that no one will do that. The most realistic option may be to announce an official recall campaign for these machines with the elimination of deficiencies. Moreover, it is not at all necessary that these shortcomings will still be discovered: after all, the problems were identified only on one specific machine, " he told Izvestia.
According to him, the recall campaign will allow checking all potentially problematic trucks and, if necessary, eliminating these shortcomings.
Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem magazine, also believes that the most realistic scenario is to conduct an official recall campaign, after which the OTTS can be resumed.
Shacman Motors has prepared a plan to eliminate claims from Rosstandart and is ready to launch a recall campaign that will involve both new and operated trucks, Vadim Fedorov said. He stressed that the company has already sent its proposals to the supervisory authority for this review and is awaiting an appropriate decision from Rosstandart. Rosstandart could not promptly respond to a request from Izvestia regarding the prospects of announcing a recall campaign against Shacman trucks.
Assemble in Russia
Despite claims from the supervisory authorities and a decrease in demand for trucks, Shacman does not intend to leave the Russian market. Moreover, according to Wang Xulin, a representative of Shaanxi, together with the Chinese Shaanxi Heavy Duty plant, the company is preparing a project to localize the production of commercial vehicles in Russia. He noted that this issue has been under development since last year.
The information was confirmed by Vitaly Kiselyov, Vice-president of the ROAD, who is familiar with the situation, and noted that "a dialogue on this topic is underway, including with the Russian governors, while a final decision has not yet been made."
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