This is pretty sad, BYD Rust issue. Atto 3 is having some significant rust issues.
So it’s happened. Unfortunately, it’s out of the bag. You’ve got to know that the Byd Atto 3 has some pretty significant rust problems. Now, I’ve got to be honest with you. Realistically, right now, there has been a bad run of Chinese cars getting rust problems here in Australia. Unfortunately, it looks as though rust could be a significant problem for the Byd Atto 3.
Hello, my friends. Welcome to the channel. I’m the electric Viking. My name is Sam Evans. Thank you for tuning in. Great to see you. Byd Atto 3, as you know, many of you know, I bought one of those. I sold it recently. There are a few reasons for selling it, but anyway, the Byd Atto 3, I think it’s a pretty good car. There are a few little things on it that I don’t like. For the most part, though, it drives really quite nicely. It’s a nice car.
BYD Rust Issues Photos








Above photos are from a FB group participant’s post.
However, somebody was taking one apart recently. It was involved in a crash. So they were going to use all the parts from the car and convert their gasoline-powered car into an EV. And when they were taken apart, they discovered some pretty significant rust issues. Now, the rust that was detected was in areas where you dip the car. Those areas may not be covered by the anti-rust coating that a lot of companies apply to cars. So basically, what you can see in the images is in areas that were underneath other parts of metal, underneath bolts, etc. So there’s rust now.
There’s also, unfortunately, rust in other areas. It’s been seen by other people online, as in the wheel bay, in the door area. There are a few different people finding rust in different areas. We’re talking about a car here that has been out for less than six months now. The Byd distribution in New Zealand is a phenomenal guy. I love what he does by the brand. I mostly love what they do. As you guys know, I actually own Byd stock. But I’ve got to say it how it is. I am definitely, definitely disappointed.
Now, how bad is the rust? Is it just surface rust? Is it really a big problem? Well, that’s the problem. No one knows, in my opinion. How do you know how bad it is? There’s no real way of knowing. It is technically surface rust. That is true. But it is true that surface rust can grow, and we don’t know how fast it’s going to grow. We don’t know where else on the car it’s going to grow.
The cars haven’t been sitting on the beach. They haven’t been cars that have been owned by people who are right on the beach, which you would think maybe it would be fair to have rust like this in a car if you lived right on the beach. But these cars, as far as I can tell, that have been observed with this rust haven’t been owned by people who live on the beach. So this is an issue. It doesn’t matter what you think, whether or not you think this is surface rust or not. There’s no way of knowing just how bad this issue is. And from what I’ve seen, I don’t think cars that are only six months old or even less than that, I don’t think they should have this amount of rust. Regardless, even if you think this rust is not a problem, but you don’t know for sure, I really don’t think that they should.
So I did a quick Google search to try and discover whether or not this is an issue with Byd cars in China.
Turns out it is and it isn’t. In fact, BYD cars in China seem to have not had too many rust issues. There are a few that have turned into rust buckets. I found a couple, but I didn’t find a whole lot. But the thing is, rust is the biggest enemy of an automobile. Cars, of course, aren’t designed to last forever. Sooner or later, they’ll get rusted. And if not properly taken care of, this will happen quicker if you live near the beach, for example. It will happen quicker if you live on roads where they’re covered in salt because that has to be done in your area, they’ll rust quicker. Have you ever wondered how old rusted cars perform, though, in a crash test? Does surface rust potentially affect the crashworthiness of your car? Well, it can. Researchers at a Swedish nonprofit organization, an insurance company, Volks Sam in Sweden, tested used cars that are just over a decade old to find out just how much age and rust affect used cars and whether or not the cars crash with inner degrades over a moderate period of time. Otherwise, in other words, you know, in, say, five years, multiple cars from two groups were tested: the Volkswagen Golf and the Mazda Six, all of which were diagnosed with rust issues. Well, the rust issues, though, in these cars took around about ten years. In fact, a little bit less than that eight to ten years to become significant.
Now, multiple cars were tested, and they were subjected to front and side impacts according to Euro NCAP standards. And the tests were conducted at Thatcham’s British crash laboratory. The Golf and the Mazda Six were specifically chosen because they represent two distinct segments. Both are popular in Europe. However, the duo is relatively sensitive to rust, apparently saying a lot of buyers, some of which have found their way into crash beams. And while there is a BYD plug-in hybrid, which is not very old, it’s about, I think, twelve months old, which was seen in China that had some rust in that same area too.
Unsurprisingly, there was deterioration in the crashworthiness of both cars. In the safety tests, both the Golf and the Mazda Six received a lower rating in comparison to when they were new. When the Mazda Six was tested in the frontal test, the car was deformed so that the driver’s seat ended up leaning against the interior of the car, and the crash test dummy hit its head in the B-pillar, said the organization. At the frontal collision, the crash test dummy was thrown forward towards the airbag, which is released from the steering wheel. Then the crash test dummy rebounded in the B-pillar before going back to the car seat again. If a crash test dummy rebounds into the B-pillar, this is not considered by the Euro NCAP model.
The Volkswagen Golf met the same fate. As well as the Mazda three, it was found to have lost some of its crashworthiness. However, it was only downscored by a single point in comparison to when it was new, so it didn’t make much of a difference for the Golf. For the Volkswagen Golf, the grade was reduced according to Euro NCAP’s five-point rating scale from a weak 533 points when the car was new to a strong 432 points. The researchers said the difference in crash safety was marginal, with only one point of difference. So the most surprising finding here was just how much the Mazda’s crash performance deteriorated due to rust issues.
In the case of the Mazda Six, crash safety was significantly impaired. The rating was lowered from a weak 426 points when the car was new to a weak 318 points, meaning it was close to receiving a two-star rating, according to Fox Sam. For the Mazda Six, there is a 20% higher risk of being killed in a real accident because of the rust. Could this imply a bid at three in a couple of years? There’s no way of knowing at this point, which is worrying. The research group points out that no two cars with rust issues are alike, so it cannot be said with certainty that another Mazda Six with the same rust problems would have fared the same. In these tests, the location of the rust issues matters, but in the case of the Mazda Six, it no longer deformed as designed, thus losing its crush worthiness.
And one of the worst cars for rust degradation or rust problems in China is the BYD F three. They rust badly, but that’s an old car now. So whether or not the auto three will go through the same issues, well, I’d say it’s pretty unlikely. I’d say this is still a really good car, but I don’t really know. I have to admit, I am surprised to see rust in a new car. I don’t think what people are claiming is true. Now, some people are claiming this is normal in all cars. They say it’s very common to have these kinds of rust issues in cars that are within six months old. No, it’s not. I googled around and spent a few hours researching. It’s not normal. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
See my YouTube video on this news: