GM Daewoo has announced a recall of the Chevrolet Captiva and the Chevrolet Cruze – we’re talking about a total of nearly 60,000 units. Of that number, 45 957 are Captivas while 12,604 are Cruzes. The Cruze is being recalled to correct defective fuel hoses while the Captiva issue involves steering wheels that can become detached. Apparently the steering column and steering intermediate shaft on some Captivas were not fully connected. Daewoo said no accidents had resulted from any of the problems and the company itself elected to initiate the recall.

The Cruze is not sold here in Malaysia as of yet but we do have many Captivas running around our roads and a pretty healthy owner’s club membership. A Reuters report says the affected Captivas were produced between April 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2007. For the Cruze, it affects cars produced between Sept. 25, 2009 and March 2, 2010.

So far, the company is recalling the affected vehicles in South Korea. There are plans to start recalls in other markets. However what’s troubling is one particular statement given to Reuters, cited in their report. “GM plans to recall the models with the problems in other countries. But every country has different rules and standards and each GM operation will decide the size and timing of recalls of those cars depending on their own situations,” an anonymous GM Daewoo official told Reuters by telephone.

Something like a steering wheel that could detach definitely sounds quite serious and I think recalls should start ASAP instead of deciding the timing according to rules and regulations of respective countries? We don’t have any laws on recalls here in Malaysia and hence recalls are given a positive spin by PR departments with different names such as ‘Product Update’.

Even China has a recall law, and Shanghai General Motors have announced it will recall more than 2,000 imported Captivas. In line with China’s Regulation on Defective Auto Recall, Shanghai GM will recall all Captivas manufactured between September 18, 2007 and December 31, 2007.

Naza is the new distributor for Chevrolet here in Malaysia and it would do them really well if they start off with announcing a swift recall IF and I repeat IF any of our Captivas are affected. It would show that they’re serious about building the brand here in Malaysia and taking care of the existing customers. The Captiva was only launched in Malaysia in end November 2007 so it could be that only the first batch units are affected, as the rest of the CBU units would probably have been built after the 1st April 2006 to 31st of December 2007 affected production time range. UPDATE: According to an email from a GM official to MTM’s Chips Yap, it seems that the Chevrolet Captiva in Malaysia is NOT affected by the recall as it comes from GM Thailand and not GM South Korea.

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