The Biggest Recalls in 2009

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2010 is starting to be all about the recalls, with Toyota’s very own mamoth recall for the 75,000 Toyota RAV’s getting underway within the next two days, its not all about Toyota though, various other companies have put in some massive recalls in the last few years in China.

1. Toyota Camry – it wouldn’t be right to give Toyota a bit of breathing space on this list, they’ve had recalls before in China, specifically the Toyota Camry which was built by Guangzhou-Toyota, they had to recall an impressive 259,119 vehicles for a breaking issue in April 2009. Later they had to recall another 384,736 Camrys, and also 22,767 Toyota Yaris models due to issues with the electric windows.
2. Toyota Vios and Toyota Corolla – These two models, built by FAW-Toyota in Tianjin had issues with their electric windows too, eventually 280,811 cars had to be recalled, this was spread out to 35,523Vios models and 245,288 Corolla models.
3. Toyota China, the independent importing arm of Toyota had to recall 40,230 Toyota Highlander, Previas, and Lexus models due to issues with the VVT-i
4. Nissan – Nissan has had to recall over 280,000 vehicles in China over the past few years, the biggest being the recall of the Sunny saloon that was built in 2006. Issues with the suspension strut not being strong enough to support the car were enough to recall the car.
5. Nissan also had to recall 153,065 Nissan Teana’s built in 2009 due to their engines having structural issues.
6. Shortly after the launch, Nissan had to recall 51,813 recently built Qashqai’s and X-Trails due to a faulty steering component.
7. If you think that recalls were just limited to the Japanese car companies, you’d be wrong, Chang’an Ford had to recall 3,434 Ford Mondeos, Focus’s, and Mazda 2 and Mazda 3 due to issues with their sunroofs. This recall was later expanded to cover another 11,521 Focus’s and Mondeos, and a further 394 Mazda 3′s
8. Ford also had to recall 7,563 Fiestas due to an issue with the dust caps on specific models.
9. Volvo recalled 125 S40′s due to an issue with driveshaft
10. 11,112 S40′s were later recalled due to the flooring being in contact with the NVH level of paint

Now you’ve got to the tenth and you’re thinking all of these cars are due to poor  American of Japanese engineering, these kind of issues would never effect the Germans! Think again!

11. The FAW built new VW Bora was recalled due to the hood being difficult to open and hard to close, 17,059 cars were recalled in total.

12. VW China, the importing arm of VW had to recall 8,680 models due to the rear protection board on the underside of the car not being strong enough

13. FAW-VW had to recall 2760 Magotan sedans due to an issue with the DSG gearbox

Now you’re probably wondering, if the joint venture manufacturers have such poor quality issues, then what will be the Chinese domestic brands recall situation be like? The answer is, not that bad.

14. Brilliance had to recall 13,502 BS4 and BS6 models due to engine problems, they then had to recall a further 8,984 FRV’s due to poor fuel tanks which would crack, or even split open in some cases.

15. Mitsubishi China had to recall 13,020 Mitsubishi Outlanders due to steering problems which might left the steering wheel stuck in one position after tight cornering. Later they had to recall 3630 SouEast built Mitsubishi Galants engine issues.

16. Honda had to recall 9,464 Accords due to a lack of air in the passenger side airbag, meaning it wouldn’t fully inflate in case of an accident.

17. Buick – Buick recalled 9,037 Excelles due to a sunroof problem.

18. Changfeng recalled 6,515 cars due a problem with a rear axel issue.

19. Chevrolet recalled 4,768 Chevy Sparks because of faulty fuel lines leading to the injectors.

As you can see, recalls in 2009 were a popular event, especially for Toyota. Toyota claim victory in China for their shear no of automotive recalls last year, but for 2010 they appear to be limited to just the 75,000 RAV4′s however this could spread to other models now that the Chinese Ministry for Quality is getting involved and making loud warning sounds about other Toyota models. The lack of Chinese models in the above line up is both a good sign, and a bad sign. Perhaps their quality has improved across the board, perhaps they have put the effort in to building better cars in the past few years. Or perhaps some have just not bothered to instigate a recall on any models yet.