Xpeng Accused of Tricking Consumers by Quietly Cutting Safety Sensors

JAKARTA - Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng is getting into serious trouble. The company is accused of cheating consumers after allegedly removing millimeter wave radar from a number of Xpeng G6 units without official notification to buyers.

This case was revealed through an investigation by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua News, through Economic Information. The controversy began with the confession of a consumer in Beijing named Deng.

While making repairs, Deng found that his 2023-production Xpeng G6 no longer had two millimeter-wave radars in the front corner. In fact, the component was previously advertised as part of an advanced driver assistance system.

According to Deng, Xpeng markets the G6 as a vehicle with 31 intelligent driver sensors that promise super perception capabilities and a bird's-eye view. However, when he questioned the loss of the radar in February 2025, Xpeng was said to have dismissed his concerns.

The company reasoned that it had implemented a concept of hardware simplification without reducing functionality through a pure vision-based driving system called AI Eagle Eye. As reported by Carnewschina, Tuesday, December 30.

Not stopping there, Deng then realized a change in the digital user manual on the Xpeng application. The number of millimeter wave radars that were previously listed as five units, was changed to only three, without an open announcement to consumers.

At least 159 Xpeng owners are said to have signed a collective consumer rights protection letter, voicing similar complaints. Many of them only learned of the loss of the radar when the vehicle underwent routine service or repair.

Responding to Economic Information's question, Xpeng admitted that it had stopped using millimeter wave radars in the front corners as it upgraded to pure vision-based driving solutions. However, Xpeng emphasized that the change in configuration had been communicated through official channels and denied accusations of fraud.

However, the affected owners rejected the claim. They said that the reduction of the sensor had a real impact on vehicle performance, especially in challenging conditions such as driving at night, in tunnels, strong backlighting, rain, snow, and construction areas.

Complaints that have emerged include sudden braking on toll roads, inaccurate distance measurements, and difficulty overtaking large vehicles. Industry observers assess that although the debate on the approach to autonomous driving systems is still ongoing, the majority of global car manufacturers still rely on many sensors for redundancy and safety.

From a legal perspective, a number of experts assess that Xpeng's actions have the potential to violate Article 55 of the Chinese Consumer Rights Protection Law. Where, it is assessed that it hides important facts that can affect the purchase decision.

This controversy also reminds us of a previous report, when Xpeng was said to have secretly replaced the problematic components on the P7+ model without an official recall. The report eventually forced Xpeng to recall nearly 48,000 P7+ units.