Nio’s Firefly brand is recalling 686 units of its debut model in China due to a wiring harness inside the steering column may rub against a sensor rotor and knock out power steering, according to a filing published by the State Administration for Market Regulation.
The recall, numbered S2026M0114V, covers Firefly vehicles built between March 20 and April 2 this year and takes effect immediately, the regulator said.
It was filed by Nio Automobile Technology (Anhui) Co., the Hefei entity that builds the car, under China’s rules on recalls of defective automotive products.
On some of the vehicles, abnormal fluctuation in the manufacturing process means the torque sensor harness on the steering column may interfere with the sensor rotor, the notice says.
In extreme cases that produces an abnormal sensor signal, illuminates the electronic steering system warning light and causes a loss of steering assistance, a safety risk.
The Remedy
Nio will inspect the cars free of charge to see whether the harness is interfering with the rotor and will replace the harness where it is.
The notice adds that cars that have already had the repair do not need to be brought in again, which indicates some of the work was carried out before the recall was filed.
Owners will be contacted through the phone app, by text message and by telephone. The filing gives the Firefly customer service line as 400-666-5566.
The notice does not say how many cars have shown the fault, whether any steering failures occurred on the road, or what caused the variation in the production process.
A Voluntary Filing
The final letter of the recall number marks the type.
Under the national standard on recall numbering, GB/T 39061-2020, V denotes a recall the manufacturer initiates itself, I a recall prompted by a regulatory defect investigation and O one ordered by the authorities, according to the China National Institute of Standardization.
That distinguishes this filing from Nio’s last one.
In February, Shanghai Nio Automobile, a separate entity within the group, recalled 246,229 ES8, ES6 and EC6 units under number S2026M0017I, the investigation-influenced category, over a software fault that could black out the instrument and centre screens.
That fix was delivered over the air via a software update.
Complaints Came First
Firefly owners described the steering fault months before the filing.
A report by Chinese outlet ‘车友公社’, carried by Tencent News on April 7, said owners were called into service centres within days of delivery for steering assist checks, in one case with the car partly disassembled and the harness under the steering wheel replaced even after a technician said it was undamaged.
One owner was told the visit was a market survey.
The report said no recall covering the problem was on file with the regulator at that point, and cited data from complaints platform ‘车质网’ putting the 2025-model Firefly’s complaint-to-sales ratio at 12.9 per 10,000 for 2025 as a whole, rising to 24.2 per 10,000 in January and February this year.
As of Friday, the current ratio is 10.5.
Small Slice of Output
The recall window spans 14 days of production.
Firefly delivered 6,078 cars in China in March and 4,973 in April, according to China Passenger Car Association data, though cars built in the window were not necessarily registered in those months.
Domestic registrations have run between 5,600 and 6,900 a month since May.
The regulator posted four recall notices on Friday. The others covered BYD and Stellantis cars and BMW motorcycles.
