Malaysia suspends Chery Omoda 5 approval after a second rear-axle detachment

On 11 October 2026 Malaysia's Road Transport Department announced it was temporarily suspending the Vehicle Type Approval for the Chery Omoda 5 after another incident in which the SUV's rear axle detached — the second reported case in Malaysia, following one in April 2024. The suspension also puts new registrations of the model on hold until JPJ's technical investigation is complete and the safety risks are identified. Chery Malaysia must identify all potentially affected vehicles by component part numbers, production batches and VINs, then recall them for inspection and corrective measures.

JPJ is going beyond the recall: it will run a technical audit of the Omoda 5's production and assembly processes and of the relevant rear-axle component suppliers, covering good manufacturing practice, quality control systems, welding inspection procedures and component safety standards. The department said there would be no compromise on non-compliance that jeopardises road-user safety, and the suspension lifts only once corrective and preventive measures are fully implemented and technically confirmed.

The 2024 precedent explains the hard line. That April, an owner reported the rear axle breaking while driving; Chery Malaysia ran a precautionary safety campaign covering 600 vehicles. The company traced the failure to an equipment calibration problem at its component supplier — a worn-out welding tip was replaced, but the welding equipment was never properly recalibrated. Sixty Malaysian vehicles carried components produced on 15 August 2023, and the inspection was expanded to 600 vehicles with rear-axle components built between 14 and 17 August 2023.

Type approval suspended and new registrations frozen pending investigation; a fresh recall ordered, plus a technical audit of production, assembly and axle suppliers.

The distinguishing fact is repetition: the axle separated again after a recall that had already isolated the production days and named the root cause.

The 2024 fix was a calibration correction at one supplier — narrow enough that the 2026 failure suggests the containment never covered the real population.

JPJ escalated beyond its usual tools, suspending type approval itself, which halts sales of the entire model, not just a production window.

The audit reaches Chery's own assembly and its supplier's welding and QC processes — an implicit verdict that the company's answers no longer suffice.

A precautionary recall is a reprieve, not a fix: when the same part fails again, a quality escape becomes a market-level trust problem regulators answer with market exit.

As of the 11 October statement the VTA suspension stands while JPJ's investigation and audit run; Chery Malaysia must recall and inspect the at-risk population before registrations can resume. The material records no injuries in either axle incident.