During the CCTV 315 gala, the auto industry will always have a lively "I guess I guess I guess I guess". Guess which brand will "success"? As everyone knows, Ford and Infiniti were the ones who "recruited" this year. It is worth mentioning that Ford and Infiniti were exposed for the same reason-the gearbox. In fact, as the “Pearl” with the highest technical content in the entire automotive industry, the failure rate of gearboxes has always been relatively high. From the early Volkswagen DSG dual-clutch gearbox storm to Baojun at the 315 party last year, gearboxes have become many car owners. The most troublesome problem. So, from a technical perspective, where is the "cause" of Ford and Infiniti transmissions? Why are automobile gearboxes prone to problems, and how should consumers respond? In this regard, the reporter specially invited experts from the automobile industry in Daocheng to repair gearboxes to talk in detail.
■News background
Ford and Infiniti are planted on the gearbox
At the 315 party, Ford took the lead. According to the owner of Yibo, Mr. Wang, the car that he had driven for six years and had been in normal use suddenly suffered from start-up difficulties and serious setbacks. Sometimes the gearbox could not be added or subtracted during use. block. After inspecting the vehicle, it was learned that the problem with the vehicle was due to water ingress causing the transmission to rust. Mr. Wang has some doubts about this issue, because he has not been in deep water when driving in the urban area. How could the gearbox rust because of water ingress? Another complaint was that the owner of the car owner Mr. Chen's Yibo had spent 7,200 yuan to repair the gearbox. What he did not expect was that the same failure occurred again in just one year, the gearbox rusted again, and he needed to repair it at his own expense. In addition to Ford Yibo, many Ford Focus owners also reported that their vehicles had problems with transmission abnormal noise and loss of power, all of which were caused by water and rust in the transmission.
Mr. Wang's Ford Yibo gearbox caused water to rust due to design reasons
This year, 315 exposure also has Infiniti. The owner Mr. Liu spent 500,000 yuan to buy an Infiniti QX60. Within two years, due to abnormal gearbox noise and gearbox failure, the gearbox was replaced three times in the 4S shop for free. Similar to Mr. Liu, Mr. Sui's Infiniti QX60 also replaced the gearbox for free for three consecutive times due to abnormal noise and jitter within three years, but the fault remained. One day in July last year, my husband drove an Infiniti QX60 and stalled at a high speed. The steering wheel suddenly lost power and the brakes suddenly became very hard. After 4S shop inspection, it is found that the gearbox is still faulty, but the difference is that Mr. Sui needs to bear the replacement cost of 145,000 yuan.
■In-depth exploration
Gearbox: Why is it always me who is the problem?
Regarding CCTV’s exposure, Ford and Infiniti’s feedback was very rapid. On the evening of March 15, both Changan Ford and Infiniti issued statements on their official websites, expressing their apologies to the owners and saying that they would take immediate and effective measures and promptly report to the owners. The public and the media report the progress.
Ford and Infiniti apologized, but objectively speaking, there are still many car brands that need to apologize to car owners about the gearbox issue, and there is a deep technical problem behind this. Why is the probability of gearbox problems so high? Which gearboxes are less reliable?
The transmission problem of Infiniti QX60 is no secret in the industry
When the reporter threw this question to Master Yan, who has 15 years of experience in gearboxes in Qingdao, he pondered, "The overall failure rate of automatic gearboxes is indeed higher. The gearboxes of individual car brands are unreasonable because of their unreasonable structure. The failure rate is particularly high. Like the familiar dry dual-clutch and wet dual-clutch, sometimes it is not so worry-free." Master Yan said, automatic transmission is the most "high-precision" part of the automotive industry chain, involving traditional With the mechanical structure and the most advanced computer control system nowadays, the control and matching of each component must be "to the point", and a little error may cause "out of gear". Therefore, its "low fault tolerance rate" is naturally prone to problems.
For example, the Ford Wing Bo problem mentioned at the 315 party, during the car wash process, water will flow along the windshield into the rain collector under the windshield, and flow out of the car along the rain collector. However, since the gap of the rain catcher is not completely sealed, a large amount of water will flow into the engine compartment along the gap. However, the clutch of Yibo's dual-clutch transmission is external and does not have good protection measures. , It will slowly cause the parts of the gearbox to rust.
Another reason for gearbox problems is "cost reduction." As we all know, today's automatic gearboxes are divided into AT, dual-clutch, CVT and other major categories. Relatively speaking, the failure rate of AT is much lower, but the corresponding , AT gearboxes have high technology content, difficult research and development, and high prices for finished products. The familiar ZF and Aisin belong to this category. However, automakers will not stop pursuing "low cost and high profit". CVT gearboxes and dual clutch gearboxes have relatively simple structures and low costs, but correspondingly, there are problems such as insufficient rigor in structure. The probability of problems is naturally high.
Automatic gearboxes are the "high-precision" technology in automobiles, but the failure rate is also high
This reason is reflected in the problem of Infiniti QX60. In fact, the problem of the CVT gearbox carried by Infiniti is no longer a secret in the industry, and many car owners are troubled by this. Specifically, the Infiniti QX60 is equipped with a 2.5T four-cylinder engine with a maximum torque of 330 Nm, and also includes a Hybrid light-mix system. The matched CVT gearbox can withstand a maximum torque of 380 N·m, and the key is that the power of the QX60 (with the intervention of the rapid acceleration motor) can output a torque of 490 N·m under extreme conditions, which obviously exceeds the CVT's endurance. range. Although it is difficult for vehicles to reach the limit torque state under daily conditions, because of the mechanical structure of the CVT, as long as it is flat or close to the maximum torque of the CVT gearbox, the gearbox chain and torque converter may have problems.
"The CVT gearbox chain is prone to wear and tear, which is really a headache. In addition to Infiniti, there are also two hot-selling cars under a Japanese brand that also have this problem. It even happened that the car was not covered by the warranty, so it has been replaced. The situation of the CVT gearbox," Master Yan told reporters.
■Special reminder
How should consumers deal with gearbox problems
Gearbox technology is very professional and complicated. It is difficult for ordinary consumers to fully understand the "small nine-nine" in it. Then, how to deal with such a "gearbox" puzzle?
"Compared with CVT and dual-clutch transmission, the failure rate of AT automatic transmission is still lower. For the sake of safety, consumers can consider more models equipped with AT automatic transmission when buying a car." Manager Wang, who has repair experience, said that the technical situation and quality reliability of the new car when it was launched are actually not clear to everyone. Therefore, consumers can choose the models with better quality reputation among the models that have been on the market for two years, which is also helpful. Hedging".
In addition, if your car does encounter a gearbox problem, then you have to look at the situation separately, "If it is still within the warranty period, then do not make the second choice, go directly to the 4S shop to repair or replace the transmission. After the warranty period, take a look at the 4S shop’s quotation. If the 4S shop’s quotation is too high and beyond your tolerance, then you can also choose a professional repair organization with a good reputation on the market. Of course, the gearbox is a large one. In this regard, we must be cautious," Manager Wang told reporters.
