Holden Australia has issued its eleventh safety recall notice so far this year, more than any other brand or any other time in Holden’s history.
The latest recall is an expansion of a recall issued in January for the Barina Spark.
Toyota has the second-highest number of recalls with six bulletins issued so far this year, while among the other top brands Mazda and Hyundai have issued two each and Ford has issued one.
In January, Holden recalled 102 Barina Sparks because the transmission mount “may develop a fracture” which could cause the manual gearbox to be unsupported and “lead to a loss of control of the vehicle”.
The latest recall has added 385 Holden Barina Sparks to the number of cars affected, bringing the total to 487 vehicles.
Holden said it is a precautionary measure and there have been no reports of failures in Australia: “However we will always err on the side of caution … to ensure customer satisfaction and safety.”
It is the second recall for a separate issue for the Holden Barina Spark; last month it was recalled because the steering knuckle bolts may not have been tightened correctly and the steering could fail.
The Holden Commodore has also been recalled – five times in three months – the Holden Cruze has been recalled twice, and the regular Holden Barina model has been recalled once.
The recalls.gov.au website has issued 11 Holden safety bulletins this year but, in a move likely to confuse consumers, it has removed the first one issued for the Barina Spark in January and replaced it with the latest one issued in August for the same fault.
The Commodore and Cruze are made at Holden’s factory in Elizabeth on the outskirts of Adelaide, but the Barina models are made in South Korea, where Holden is likely to source more cars from once it closes its Australian factories in 2017.
Holden already sources most of the vehicles in its line-up from South Korea or Thailand, but the company says in the future it will source vehicles from several divisions across the General Motors world.
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