In a surprising and scary situation, a woman in China who was about to give birth had trouble starting her car because of a required software update. The update lasted 51 minutes, and during that time, the woman felt her labor pains getting stronger. With no way to drive, she had to walk to a taxi to get to the hospital, where doctors performed an emergency C-section.
This incident happened on December 5 when a man from Shandong shared a video on Douyin. He said his wife was in labor when their Li Auto SUV asked for an update that he accidentally agreed to. Their car, which costs over 300,000 yuan (around 3.5 lakhs in Indian Rupees), wouldn’t start while the update was happening.
The man called Li Auto’s customer service to try to stop the update, but they said it couldn’t be canceled once it started. Their driveway was blocked by other cars, so an ambulance couldn’t come. That forced them to leave their home on foot and finally catch a taxi to the hospital.
In the video, the wife shared her pain during the walk, saying, “I have a car, but every step is excruciating.” The stressful situation also made the baby’s heartbeat faster. Thankfully, after the surgery, both mother and daughter were fine. The man’s video drew a lot of attention online, getting over 35 million views on Weibo. Some people blamed the husband for agreeing to the update while others criticized the car company for not letting users cancel updates during emergencies.
The man said he didn’t mean to blame Li Auto but wanted to share their tough experience. He also mentioned that the negative comments had added stress for his wife, making him report the case to the police.
Li Auto representatives stated they’re looking into the matter. They explained that customers get a warning about updates and can schedule or delay them, but once the update begins, it can’t be stopped for safety reasons. Although the company hasn’t offered any help yet, a lawyer suggested that the couple might be able to get money back for costs like taxi fares because there could be a design issue with the update system.
This isn’t the first time that updates on electric cars have caused problems. Another person using a different EV brand complained they couldn’t open their car’s trunk or turn on their hazard lights because of a similar update.
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