Holden recalls 34,000 utes

[csv8]

Holden recalls 34,000 utes
TOBY HAGON
July 10, 2010 - 9:51AM
Holden has announced a massive recall of almost 35,000 of its Commodore Utes to repair a faulty tailgate that can spring open while the car is moving.

The recall of 34,432 Utes adds to four other recalls for General Motors Holden this year, meaning it has recalled almost as many cars as it has sold.

All up it has recalled 65,790 Commodores, Captivas, Cruzes, Combos and Daewoos while for the first six months of the year Holden sold 68,657 vehicles.

A Holden spokesman told Drive that the latest Ute recall comes after two reported failures of the tailgate latch.
The company is recommending Ute owners secure any load until the vehicle can be fixed.

The recall notice for the Holden Ute issued to the Federal Government says “the tailgate may unlatch when impacted rearward”, meaning that whatever was in the tray can fall on to the road while the car is moving, creating a hazard for other road users.

It continues: “A condition can occur under specific operating conditions where the tailgate may unlatch when impacted rearwards with sufficient energy by unsecured objects placed in the rear cargo tray”.

Holden in is the process of contacting the 34,432 ute owners and says the repair will take about half an hour.
Holden Director of Warranty Engineering, Customer Satisfaction & Quality, Craig Porritt said the action was a precautionary measure.

“Until the fix can be made to each vehicle, we ask our customers to continue to secure loose items in the cargo tray as recommended in the owner’s manual and use a Holden tonneau cover where possible to prevent the condition from occurring,” said Craig Porritt, Holden’s director of warranty engineering, customer satisfaction and quality.

“If a vehicle does not have a tonneau cover, we recommend owners do not load items against the tailgate until the fix has been made.”

Holden says the chances of the tailgate opening on its own were slim.

“The results of our investigation tell us that the likelihood of a tailgate becoming unlatched is low, but we will always err on the side of caution and administer a recall to ensure customer satisfaction and safety,” said Porritt.

The recall of the Commodore Utes is the largest vehicle recall in Australia this year, following on from a string of global recalls from Toyota, which have turned the spotlight on vehicle quality and safety problems.

On average there are three vehicle recalls each week, although the one announced today for Holden’s Ute is the largest so far this year.

It is the sixth recall for the VE series Commodore, which is the best-selling vehicle on Australian roads.

[Falc'man]

It's only a show-pony which never has anything in the back anyway, so I can't see what the problem is.

[galaxy xr8]

What's the old saying, People who live in glass houses should not throw stone's...
They all have recall's, aslong as the manufacturer has noticed it and is doing something about it.

[au2000]

let's see some of the motoring medias positive spin on this one,
"announcing holdens new re-call saftey inspection plan, a new added feature not offered by any other australian manufacturer"

[Ghiadude]

ho hum....nothing to see here

[Dr Smith]

So 0.00571% of the 35,000 have reported a failure and as such a recall is undertaken...I would suggest that far more have the problem then two reports, lol.

[deesun]

Who's most likely to have the most recalls on the one model? Holden of course. That is a very small percentage of failures for a recall of such magnitude. Maybe those were only the ones that made significant claims rather than those who had it fall down without any damage to equipment or property.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Falc'man

It's only a show-pony which never has anything in the back anyway, so I can't see what the problem is.

absolutely!! if they are worried, they should just put their hair clippers in the cab!

[Mark^^]

When you own a Territory and know there are some very serious manufacturing/design faults, such as the front ball joint issue, which Ford has not really taken responsibility for fixing all effected cars, you appreciate manufacturers that are proactive in recalling and fixing any issues.

While the company may fear that issuing a recall will damage their brand, to me its them accepting their responsibility and dealing with it responsibly.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Mark^^

When you own a Territory and know there are some very serious manufacturing/design faults, such as the front ball joint issue, which Ford has not really taken responsibility for fixing all effected cars, you appreciate manufacturers that are proactive in recalling and fixing any issues.

While the company may fear that issuing a recall will damage their brand, to me its them accepting their responsibility and dealing with it responsibly.

Bingo! Holden's reaction just further cements how unacceptable Ford's behaivour is in regards to Territory front ends collpasing.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Mark^^

When you own a Territory and know there are some very serious manufacturing/design faults, such as the front ball joint issue, which Ford has not really taken responsibility for fixing all effected cars, you appreciate manufacturers that are proactive in recalling and fixing any issues.

While the company may fear that issuing a recall will damage their brand, to me its them accepting their responsibility and dealing with it responsibly.

Exactly, that is what I was trying to get accross.

[DanielXR8]

We can only hope Ford learns by example and starts recalling Territory's and Falcons in the future, as it is required. I can think of three items that should have been a recall on the Territory alone.

No more cost cutting and nonsense about "inspecting cars on next service". Knowing full well many Ford owners won't go near a Ford dealer for regular servicing. If they aren't sure about that, I am sure Ford Customer Care have a filing cabinet full of letters from ****ed off Ford customers and their experiences with Ford dealers to prove it.

Good on Holden. Everytime I read about them taking responsibility for the product they sell,the better a Commodore looks.

Dan

[jpd80]

“A condition can occur under specific operating conditions where the tailgate may unlatch when impacted rearwards with sufficient energy by unsecured objects placed in the rear cargo tray”.

Holden in is the process of contacting the 34,432 ute owners and says the repair will take about half an hour.
Holden Director of Warranty Engineering, Customer Satisfaction & Quality, Craig Porritt said the action was a precautionary measure.

Meh, storm in a teacup.
Early Territory owners should be so lucky with their (in tension) ball joint wear problem....

[XR Martin]

Wish Toyota would fix the Hilux tailgate latches, they are terrible.

[Resurrection]

Holden's do really go better.

[AussieAV]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

We can only hope Ford learns by example and starts recalling Territory's and Falcons in the future, as it is required. I can think of three items that should have been a recall on the Territory alone.

No more cost cutting and nonsense about "inspecting cars on next service". Knowing full well many Ford owners won't go near a Ford dealer for regular servicing. If they aren't sure about that, I am sure Ford Customer Care have a filing cabinet full of letters from ****ed off Ford customers and their experiences with Ford dealers to prove it.

Good on Holden. Everytime I read about them taking responsibility for the product they sell,the better a Commodore looks.

Dan

Well said!! I think Holden should be applauded for fixing an issue before someone dies on the road. Ford corporate philosophy doesn't seem to have changed much since the "Pinto" days, when they actually decided that a certain number of deaths with accompanying payouts was prefferable to recalling the car and fixing the issue!!!

The biggest worry I had to overcome before buying our FG XR50 was my distrust of the Ford Management philosophy. I was actually in the market over a year ago, didn't like the VE, but had to wait for the FG to be nearly 2 years old before I figured they had probably worked out most of the bugs - sure wasn't going to count on them recalling the car if any issues were found early on.

[Ryan]

I don't see recalls as a laughing matter. It shows the manufacturer in question is willing to rectify the problem before it persists, and either injures, or kills someone.

[FalconXR6]

Fair call regarding those applauding Holden for seemingly doing the right thing in recalling their faulty product.

But on the other hand, why has a five year old car been recalled six times ??? Surely the "bugs" SHOULD have been ironed out by now ???

Particularly on a $1 Billion dollar investment...

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by FalconXR6

Fair call regarding those applauding Holden for seemingly doing the right thing in recalling their faulty product.

But on the other hand, why has a five year old car been recalled six times ??? Surely the "bugs" SHOULD have been ironed out by now ???

Particularly on a $1 Billion dollar investment...

Perhaps a process error or supplier issue?

Also, that often quoted Billion dollars also included $300 million for a new stamping plant.

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Perhaps a process error or supplier issue?

Also, that often quoted Billion dollars also included $300 million for a new stamping plant.

And $200 million for the blimp.

[04redxr8]

I love how every non ute driver likes to bag the Holdens paylod capacity. Its not much different to XR8 or Pursuit.

How many AU-BFII ute owners have the wonderful non-retracting seatbelt option?

This is a major safety issue and has never been recalled, nor has it been rectified in any upgrades. Funnily enough, they have a specific procedure for the warranty claim. The first time it presents, they clean the seatbelt. The second time, they will replace it.

Both brands have the good points and bad points.

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by csv8

Holden recalls 34,000 utes
TOBY HAGON
July 10, 2010 - 9:51AM

All up it has recalled 65,790 Commodores, Captivas, Cruzes, Combos and Daewoos while for the first six months of the year Holden sold 68,657 vehicles.

Well you have got to give it to Holden, what other company can claim to recycle nearly 100% of the products they make.

[Stoney!]

They say recalled nearly as many as the sold this year, making it sound like every vehicle sold this year was recalled. But these recall span over many years, specially the Daewoo recalls from cars years old.

I agree with the 90% of the people in this thread with their heads screwed on. It's good to see them taking such swift action to a problem, I only hope VW would do the same thing if there was a known problem with the golf.

Not all problems will rear their ugly head in the first 6-12 months, some, like this latch may take time. Or could be a supplier issue.

Stoney!

[AUIIPURSUIT]

yea, im with the level headed bi-occular crew on this one. Good on holden for taking the responsibility and costs involved with a recall they could have dismissed as driver error or one off's.

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by AUIIPURSUIT

yea, im with the level headed bi-occular crew on this one. Good on holden for taking the responsibility and costs involved with a recall they could have dismissed as driver error or one off's.

Agreed

It would be nice to see Ford do the same with some of the issues of late

Jason

[HSVKILLA]

Holden recalls utes
3:47 PM Sunday Jul 11, 2010 Facebook
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Holden has announced a recall of 1000 of its Commodore utes in New Zealand, to repair a faulty tailgate that can spring open while the vehicle is moving.

A Holden spokesman said Commodore owners were expected to receive a letter from their dealer soon, and the work would be carried out for free.

The recall affected Commodore VE ute models produced from 2007.

The ute recall followed two reported failures of the tailgate latch.

Drivers were advised by Holden to secure loose items in the cargo tray until the utes were repaired.

The New Zealand recall was in addition to 34,432 utes been recalled in Australia, The Age in Melbourne reported.

It was the fifth recall for General Motors Holden this year; 65,790 Commodores, Captivas, Cruzes, Combos and Daewoos had been recalled in the first six months of the year compared with 68,657 vehicles sold in that time.

- NZPA

[Stoney!]

Originally Posted by 04redxr8

I love how every non ute driver likes to bag the Holdens paylod capacity. Its not much different to XR8 or Pursuit.

Agreed, it's just another example of a one eyed arguement, and to chuck a cat amongst the pigeons..... It's actually more.

Ute payloads:-
FG ute:775
Omega ute (man/auto):775/794
XR6 ute:585
SV6 ute (man/auto):634/633
XR8 ute:540
SS ute (man/auto):617/597

Stoney!

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Stoney!

Agreed, it's just another example of a one eyed arguement, and to chuck a cat amongst the pigeons..... It's actually more.

Ute payloads:-
FG ute:775
Omega ute (man/auto):775/794
XR6 ute:585
SV6 ute (man/auto):634/633
XR8 ute:540
SS ute (man/auto):617/597

Stoney!

Thats surprising learn something new everyday, I always thought Fords with their leaf springs would have a higher payload... All the jokes at the start of the thread should be directed at the Falcon for being a show pony!

[Sprint XR8]

A 1 tonner optioned XR6 chassis cab has a payload capacity of 1240kg.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by CoupeXB

A 1 tonner optioned XR6 chassis cab has a payload capacity of 1240kg.

Well that trumps Holden then!