Auto Recalls

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 211,432 of its Ford F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT pickup trucks to fix a potentially faulty warning light for anti-lock brakes, U.S. safety regulators said.

The vehicles are from the 2006 model year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its Web site Monday.

Vauxhall is asking owners of some Corsa, Corsavan, Tigra and Combo - built between September 2003 and June 2005 - to visit their Vauxhall Authorised Repairer.

This will enable precautionary checks, and where necessary, modifications to be made to an engine compartment wiring harness.

Reports from the field indicate that in a small number of cases moisture has entered electrical contact points resulting in possible malfunction.

Vauxhall Authorised Repairers will inspect the harness and carry out any rework required free of charge.

Audi is recalling around 70,000 of its A3 cars worldwide because of possible clutch faults, the company said on Friday.

A spokesman for Audi, Volkswagen's premium brand, said the affected vehicles had 2.0 litre TDI engines and were built between June 2003 and the end of 2004.

In some cases, the car would make clearly audible sounds and possibly come to a halt.

In Germany, around 20,000 vehicles would have to be recalled to Audi workshops for examination, he added. The company said owners of the affected cars should bring them to a workshop and leave them there for a day.

Audi said it would compensate the owners for any costs. The spokesman declined to comment on how high the costs could be.

Parent company Volkswagen had the same problem last year with some series of its Tuareg and Golf models, a VW spokesman said. The faults had largely been rectified and new problems were not anticipated, he said.

VW and Audi buy some of their parts jointly.

Nissan Motor Co. said on Friday it would recall 475,400 units of its Primera and X-Trail models globally to fix a faulty fuel filler tube.

Japan's second-biggest auto maker said the recall was related to the fuel inlet to the gasoline tank called the fuel filler tube, which may rust at the mounting bracket. That rust could then form a pinhole in the tube, possibly causing a leak during refuelling, it said in a statement.

Porsche has issued its second recall of 2006, this time involving the Boxster, 911 and Cayman. More than 100 cars are affected by a faulty bearing which could cause the parking brake to fail. Owners of vehicles built from 22 November to 13 December 2005 will be contacted.

Meanwhile, Fiat is recalling 10,284 diesel Multiplas, built between May 1999 and December 2004, due to faulty front suspension which could cause a punctured tyre.

Mercedes recalls cars from China

Daimler Chrysler chief Dieter Zetsche offers an alternative
US-German car giant DaimlerChrysler is recalling 23,700 of its luxury Mercedes Benz cars in China over fears about cracks in fuel tanks.

The move follows the discovery of defects in the evaporator system in S-class sedans built between October 1998 and March 2005.

Last year Mercedes Benz recalled 1.3 million E-class and CLS-class sedans to fix faults with electrics and brakes.

Mercedes is investing nearly $1.8bn (£1.02bn) to produce cars in China.

The booming Chinese economy is creating a growing class of wealthy consumers with the desire to acquire luxury goods.

GM recalls over 900,000 pickup trucks
Cables that support the tailgate have corroded and snapped, causing 84 mostly-minor injuries.
March 10, 2006; Posted: 1:12 p.m. EST (1812 GMT)

By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - General Motors is recalling over 900,000 pickups worldwide due to instances of tailgate cables corroding and snapping, a GM spokesman said Friday.

The recall hits Chevrolet's Silvarado and GMC's Sierra pickup lines for model years 1999 and 2000. Most of those affected, 805,368, are in the U.S.

The spokesman said the galvanized steel cables were protected with a plastic coating. But water has been found to get in the coating and cause the cable to corrode and snap when the tailgate is down.

GM (Research) said there have been 84 injuries, most of them minor scrapes and bumps.

Owners will receive letters in April and the tailgate cable will be replaced with a stainless steel cable.

Friday's announcement comes after a previous GM recall of 4.1 million model year 2000 to 2004 pick-ups and SUVs for the same reason.

LCI Ltd., the Japanese sales agent for Britain's Group Lotus PLC, is recalling 311 Lotus cars for replacement of defective shift levers in Japan, the transport ministry said Friday.

Chrysler announced the recall of about 268,000 vehicles, which include; the Dodge Durango, Dodge Caravan and the Chrysler Town & Country, due to a faulty wiper motor. Chrysler will replace the part at no charge. Chrysler expects only a third of the vehicle wiper motors to be affected, but suggests that all of them be inspected for safety.

Some 4,000 owners of Mazda cars in Singapore will have their car brakes upgraded.

The upgrade to disc brakes from the current drum brakes is only for earlier productions of the Mazda 3 model sold before October last year.

The exercise is expected to cost Mazda some S$4 million.

Nissan North American Inc. said Tuesday that it was recalling about 44,000 Frontier pickup trucks because the fuel cap could come off and allow fuel to spill if the vehicle were involved in a severe side crash.

The recall affects 2005 and 2006 models of the Frontier King Cab pickup. There have been no crashes, injuries or fires linked to the potential problem, the automaker said.

Toyota in the UK has recalled all first-generation Prius hybrids after it was discovered the hybrid battery pack can leak.

The leakage, which Toyota says does not pose a safety threat, can affect all models sold in the period of 2000-03 and affects 1,239 petrol/electric hybrids in the UK.

In a filing with Japan's Transport Ministry, the company said it would recall a total of 565,756 vehicles in Japan, including Wish, Isis, Prius and other cars built between September 2002 and November 2005.
A Toyota spokesman said the recall would also cover about 400,000 units overseas.
The company said it had received no reports of accidents from the defects.
Toyota as a matter of policy does not disclose the cost of recalls.

sa faci recall la masini vechi de ~10 ani e ceva.... cati alti producatori ar fi facut asta, in loc sa ceara proprietarilor sa rezolve problema pe costul lor?