A China-based XPeng X9 owner is questioning the vehicle’s airbag system after a crash on October 15 left the electric minivan so badly damaged that the insurer deemed it uneconomical to repair. The owner, identified as Liu, said the vehicle hit a curb, went out of control, struck a tree and a utility pole, then rolled over. No one was injured. Liu bought the X9 about two years ago for nearly 500,000 yuan (around 2.53 million baht) and has requested an independent investigation into why the airbags did not deploy.
XPeng told Jiemian News that its recorded vehicle data and driving video showed the car was in self-driving mode at the time. The company said the driver was still pressing the accelerator and turning the steering wheel rapidly before the collision. According to XPeng, the impact did not meet the sensors’ deployment threshold. It said it would respect Liu’s request for an independent review and cooperate with the process.
The incident follows separate X9 suspension concerns. In June 2026, some owners reported air-suspension failures in hot weather, causing the vehicle to sink on one side or across the whole body. XPeng apologized, began remedial action, and later extended coverage for the front air springs to eight years or 160,000 kilometers, including eligible vehicles that had changed owners.
China’s market regulator announced a recall on July 24 covering 33,473 X9s built from August 8, 2023, to August 11, 2025. Front air springs may slowly leak under hot, humid conditions because of manufacturing variation; XPeng will replace affected front strut assemblies free of charge. The model sold 15,805 units in China from January through September 2026, according to China EV DataTracker.