Server failure leaves Great Wall Motors car owners stranded

Great Wall Motors car owners faced a frustrating situation on Friday morning when many of them were unable to get into their cars.

There was an issue with GWM's vehicle management software, leaving car owners without mechanical keys stranded outside their vehicles.

According to posts on the social media platform Weibo, users who attempted to unlock or start their cars using the app received a "503 service unavailable" message.

"The app crashed around 9:40am, and it is still not fixed. How am I supposed to get to work on time?" wrote one distressed owner on Weibo.

Another car owner posted a picture as he stood awkwardly next to a locked vehicle.

Many car users admitted to becoming accustomed to leaving mechanical keys at home, only to encounter unanticipated disruptions.

GWM issued an apology later, blaming "sudden cloud server communication failure" for the disruptions.

The automaker urged drivers to carry mechanical keys as a backup, which was again reiterated by its customer support staff.

Services were restored by 10:30am with the company advising customers to restart the app or switch networks.

BYD was also criticized earlier this year for app disruptions caused by servers, which highlighted structural flaws in cloud-dependent car systems.

According to reports, a network glitch in BYD's Dynasty and Ocean apps prevented owners from unlocking their vehicles and performing voice wakeups.

Industry experts have cautioned that the outages are associated with server overloads, maintenance lapses, or configuration errors.

"App-based convenience is a selling point, but automakers must prioritize redundancy and transparent communication," said Li Wei, a smart mobility analyst. "Server maintenance should be planned in advance, and fallback mechanisms, like physical keys, remain essential."