IM LS8 Crashes into Rock Pile with NOA Engaged; Owner Blames System Failure, Dealership Urges Full Liability Claim

An owner of the IM LS8 reported an accident that occurred just 16 days after taking delivery of the vehicle while using the NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) advanced driver-assistance system. Around 9:13 p.m. on May 15, the vehicle was traveling at a set speed of approximately 40 km/h on a road in Daya Bay, Huizhou, when it suddenly failed to detect an obstacle ahead—without radar sensing, forward collision warning (FCW), evasive maneuvers, or automatic emergency braking (AEB) intervention—and directly collided with a roadside stone pile about 1.5 meters high and roughly 1 meter in length and width, causing front-end damage. The driver manually applied the brakes only after impact, bringing the vehicle to a stop. Afterward, the authorized dealership described the incident as a “minor scrape” and provided a vehicle data analysis report. According to the report, the vehicle’s trajectory drifted rightward at the time of the incident and made contact with the right-side obstacle, triggering an exit from the assisted driving mode. The report attributed the cause to “rainy nighttime conditions with no street lighting” and rainwater obscuring the camera lenses, which degraded perception performance and led to inaccurate recognition of a “special obstacle.” It also emphasized that the driver-assistance system is merely an aid and that drivers must remain ready to take over control at any time. The owner countered that the stone pile was clearly visible and noted that local traffic police indicated the spot had previously been a large ditch recently filled in. The owner questioned why the system failed to detect such an obvious obstacle while operating in NOA mode and criticized the report for failing to directly address core issues—including radar failure, absence of warnings, and lack of automatic braking. The dealership repeatedly characterized the incident as a “one-in-ten-thousand stroke of bad luck,” asserting that consumers and the market must jointly bear the growing pains of new energy vehicle development, and advised the owner to accept full liability and file an insurance claim for repairs. As of now, IM Motors has not issued any public statement regarding this incident. The IM LS8 comes standard across all trims with the IM AD advanced driver-assistance system, equipped with a 520-line LiDAR, 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and millimeter-wave radar, which the company claims delivers “Level 3 perception capability.” Currently, most automakers do not assume repair costs in assisted-driving accidents; however, BYD recently announced it would fully cover repair expenses for urban NOA-related incidents if the fault lies with the system.