Chery Tiggo 8 CSH Stalled After Battery Died, CSI Blames Dealer

KatadataOTO – Some time ago, PT CSI (Chery Sales Indonesia) gave a number of media crews the opportunity to test their PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), the Chery Tiggo 8 CSH, on the PIK 2-Bandung-PIK 2 route.

However, one of the cars then experienced a problem and could not be operated again. It was known that the vehicle was using Force hybrid mode and had run out of battery power.

At that time, the battery was at 10 percent. It turned out that the remaining range was zero kilometers, so it needed to be recharged for the car to start and switch its power source to gasoline.

In response to this, PT CSI confirmed that this happened because the Tiggo 8 CSH used by the participant was an early batch unit from the dealer.

Photo : KatadataOTO

“Its software had not been updated, so it was a problem from the dealer. For the ones customers are using (now), the software has been (updated),” said Zeng Shuo, Vice President of PT CSI to KatadataOTO, Wednesday (25/06).

Zeng Shuo continued, there have been no similar cases experienced by consumers. According to him, consumers will not use the vehicle until the battery is completely drained.

Then with the Chery Tiggo 8 CSH software update, according to Zeng Shuo, the battery percentage limit before it stops supplying power is no longer 10 percent but 5 percent.

The company asserted that a similar case will not happen again, especially for consumers. They have made improvements so that the car stalling due to a dead battery can be avoided.

When using Force mode, consumers will still receive a warning notification when the battery power starts to run low. So they can manually switch the power source to gasoline.

Furthermore, dealers are ensured to perform software updates on the Chery Tiggo 8 CSH. This allows consumers to freely use any hybrid mode without worry.

Photo : KatadataOTO

“(The car) will not stall, so even if consumers want to try, they can't,” Zeng Shuo emphasized.

For your information, there are three hybrid modes on the Chery Tiggo 8 CSH: Smart, Initial, and Force. When Force mode is activated, the battery can take over as the vehicle's main power source.

In Initial mode, battery usage is maximized, and the gasoline engine will only start working if the battery power begins to run out. However, during the test drive, participants were required to use Smart mode, which automatically switches power sources alternately.