The Road Transport Department (RTD) has suspended vehicle type approval for the Chery Omoda 5 and halted new registrations of the model, following an incident in Johor Bahru last week in which the SUV’s rear axle detached completely, NST reported.
The suspension targets the specific models and variants potentially involved, and stays in place until a technical investigation is finished and any safety risk identified. The axle came off in Tebrau, an area in Johor Bahru, according to Malay Mail. RTD director-general Datuk Aedy Fadly Ramli said the department would not compromise on any non-compliance that could put road users in danger, and that manufacturers remained responsible for building vehicles that met the prescribed safety standards and technical requirements.
Chery Malaysia has been instructed to identify all potentially affected vehicles through part numbers, production batches, vehicle identification numbers and other technical parameters. “A recall must be carried out for all units identified as posing a safety risk for inspection and appropriate corrective action,” the department said. The suspension would be lifted only after all corrective and preventive measures had been fully implemented and RTD had confirmed that the safety risks were addressed.
The department will also run a technical audit of the Omoda 5 production and assembly lines, along with the suppliers of the relevant axle components. That audit covers compliance with good manufacturing practice, quality control systems, weld joint inspection procedures and the safety of the components used.
As Malaysiakini noted, a similar axle problem on the same model surfaced two years ago and prompted Chery Malaysia to recall 600 units. The carmaker traced the fault to a miscalibrated welding tip, identified 60 vehicles built on 15 Aug 2023 with the affected parts, and declared the case closed in June 2024.
Chery Auto Malaysia has since announced its own recall campaign covering the Omoda 5 C and H variants, with inspections and any component replacement carried out free of charge, Carz Automedia Malaysia confirmed. The company did not say how many vehicles the campaign covers, and stated that current-production models are not affected.
The department has given no timeline for the investigation, and no date has been set for lifting the suspension. The technical cause of last week’s incident has not been established either, and any link with the axle fault found two years ago remains unconfirmed while the audit runs.
The suspension reaches the approval and registration of new units, not the cars already on the road, so current owners can continue to drive them. Owners have been told to check their vehicle identification numbers through the company’s official channel to see whether their car falls under the recall, and to have any unusual noise or instability at the rear of the vehicle looked at before the car is driven further.
