BYD Seal — Common Problems by Pattern

Written and edited by Ethan Cole, Editor-in-Chief · ✓ Technically reviewed by Daniel Wei Chen — Senior Chinese Automotive Diagnostics & Repair Specialist, Sydney · 24 October 2026.
BYD Seal guides: Overview Service schedule Oil & fluids Problems Recalls (BYD)

When we searched the Australian Government recall register for BYD on 6 October 2026 (a browser reading, not an archived copy), it listed no Seal recall. This page describes three items, each an unverified owner report: a shudder described in one owner forum thread, which this page has called a rear-driveshaft shudder with a known dealer fix, though no document we hold supports that; lost driver profiles and silent audio; and fast tyre wear on the Performance. It also quotes what the owner’s manual says about the 12V battery. Know the speed bands and the diagnostic order, and you won’t pay for three balances before someone inspects the driveshafts.

1. A reported driveshaft shudder (2023–25) — know the speed bands

Unverified owner report: from owner posts of 24 November 2025 in one Whirlpool forum thread on the BYD Seal, which we read on 15 October 2026 in Internet Archive copies of the thread; we have not verified the report. One owner of a 2023 Seal Performance wrote of “a constant shudder between 55-60km/h”, and a second owner replied “My car does that”. The first owner wrote that his dealer told him it was “a known issue” and needed BYD’s approval to replace the driveshaft; that is his account of what the dealer said. This page has also said that Premium and Performance owners report the shudder under hard acceleration in two bands, 55–70 km/h and 100–120 km/h; that its cause is a manufacturing defect in the rear driveshafts, imbalance or insufficient rigidity against the motor’s torque, which in some cars also shredded the rear motor unit’s rubber seals; that reports reference a Technical Service Bulletin; and that the fix is both rear driveshafts replaced, not one. No document we hold supports any of this. If a shudder survives a Road Force Balance test of the tyres, ask for a driveshaft inspection: a shop that stops at “wheels balanced, try now” hasn’t finished. If your Seal shudders, tell a BYD dealer the speed and how you were accelerating, and check your VIN on the Australian recall register.

2. The 12V battery (2023) — read the manual’s two passages together

The owner’s manual for the 2023 Australian Seal is specific about its 12V battery. Page 94 describes a “starter iron battery” with a built-in power manager and says: “Do not disassemble or repair the battery without permission to avoid damaging the battery or causing personal injury.” The same page says: “Do not jump-start the vehicle with another fuel vehicle, as this may damage the starter iron battery.” Pages 198–199, “If the Low-Voltage Battery Is Exhausted”, name the connection points in the front compartment and say: “If the vehicle being rescued cannot be started after several attempts, contact a BYD authorized dealer or service provider.” Read page 94 before you turn to pages 198–199, and leave the battery itself to BYD service.

3. DiLink memory loss and silent audio

Unverified owner report: from australiancar.reviews, an Australian compendium of owner-reported faults, as our research notes recorded the report on 22 August 2026; we have not verified the report, and we hold no copy of that source. That source reports driver profiles forgetting mirrors, seats and climate, and audio, safety beeps included, occasionally dying entirely. In the one Whirlpool forum thread on the BYD Seal that we read, on 15 October 2026 in Internet Archive copies, we found no first-hand post of either. Our notes give DiLink 5.0 software faults, with Australian cars getting updates later than cars in China and Europe, as the cause, and as the fix, holding the volume roller for 10–15 seconds, or asking the service centre for a manual flash to R46 or later.

4. Reported fast tyre wear on the Performance

Unverified owner report: from australiancar.reviews, an Australian compendium of owner-reported faults, as our research notes recorded the report on 22 August 2026; we have not verified the report, and we hold no copy of that source. That source reports that on the Seal Performance the factory Continental EcoContact 6Q tyres wear fast at the inner shoulders, within 10,000–15,000 km. Our notes give the car’s weight, over 2.1 tonnes, its torque and its factory alignment as the cause, and rotation and alignment every 5,000 km to slow the wear, then a harder EV tyre at replacement, as the fix. This page has also called these cars Performance AWD and named the Michelin Pilot Sport EV and the Hankook iON evo as the harder tyres owners move to; our notes record neither. Budget for it: by our reading, this is a running cost, not a defect, but it surprises people at the first service. Check the inner shoulders at each service.

Buying used — 5-minute checklist

Correction note: Each owner-reported pattern on this page is now labelled as an unverified owner report: we have not verified these patterns, and for every section but the shudder we hold no copy of their sources. Causes and fixes are given as our notes record them, and what this page said beyond our notes is kept and marked as such. The shudder section now quotes the owner posts it rests on, and marks the speed bands, the cause, the service bulletin and the fix it used to state as what this page has said, which no document we hold supports. The source line no longer says the patterns were triangulated. We also dated what we found on the recall register.

Pattern sources: the shudder section rests on owner posts in one Whirlpool forum thread, read on 15 October 2026 in Internet Archive copies; this line has also named repair-marketplace listings, which our research record no longer counts as a source; the tyre-wear section rests on australiancar.reviews alone, as our research notes recorded it on 22 August 2026, and we hold no copy of that source. Each is labelled as an unverified owner report where it appears. The 12V section quotes the owner’s manual for the 2023 Australian Seal, pages 94 and 198–199. One widely-copied spec claim (“390 kW of torque”) is a units error — we don’t reproduce it.

Disclaimer: Information on this page is general guidance only and does not replace the manufacturer’s official documentation or the judgement of a qualified technician. Issue patterns vary between markets and production years. Last verified: 22 August 2026.