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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"….while the Captiva issue involves steering wheels that can become detached…. "
are they serious?
HAHA
damn it! i really like the cruze and planing to buy it when it come here.
hopefully when it come here, the issue is resolved.
bolehland is still boleh… everything boleh… so no need recall…. hahaha…
just hope relevant(deaf) authorities comes out with a so called "recall-act"…
most makes just deny recall in Msia by saying their part suppliers are different from the problems ones… Does this mean their material specs(in design drawing) are differ? If they're using same grade/equivalent grade material to produce parts, then there should be recalled too… but bolehland are just being borderlined… and in bolehland, nobody cares… just tidak apa attitude…
buy lah imported goods.. better what… still praised imported good…. buy buy
Crapz! No joke wei… steering wheel that detaches by itself while driving?
not to sound skeptical and i'm sure that there's a possibility that it may actually be true, but i predict that since china/s korea/etc markets so far are left-hand drive models, it will turn out that because of the "different parts" and "different sources" used for the right hand models, those in malaysia are not affected at all.
Well, i guess the word of the year for automotive industry
————-"RECALL"————————–
This issue of the intermediate shaft not properly installed is nothing new even in Malaysia. If you guys who drive the 'dugong' Vios remember, the first batch of those were affected with the exact same problem. Some bloke at the local assembly plant did not attach the shaft fully and the the bolt lock was not sitting at the seat of the the steering pinion shaft. This affected thousands of vehicles but there was no recall. It was named a SCS – 'Special Service Campaign'. You guys who drive the first batch 'dugong' Vios can check, whether there is a green round sticker on the side of the glove box facing the door panel with the glove box open. If an established brand in M'sia does not announce a recall even on a serious safety issue, one wonders what Chevrolet now under Naza will do. I will be impressed if the do announce a recall soon. For now, my advise is stay clear from these cars when you see it on the road, you never know when the driver loses control of the direction of the vehicle.
malaysian is so lucky, none of our car needs to be recalled.
you see, we are better than US.
US Ppl are screwed big time. or we are screwed big time.
Major car manufacturers are recalling their cars.
Except……..Proton
Proton cars are damn solid, with untarnished record. ZERO car recall all these while.
This amazing feat should put Proton into the Book of World record worr…..
Read more is all I'm going to say. Read more.
oh why bother. people always think stuff in Malaysia are bad.
"a streering wheel that could be detached" should ring alarm to all the Captiva owners. Once my friend told me in layman's term, the streering of his 4 year-old Chevrolet just "snapped" , I thought he was joking. With the recall, I begin to believe there is some truth in it. I am no expert in car engineering but I am quite sure mechanical faults do exist in every make in the market. With the high accident rate in Malaysia, how many fatal accidents were actually caused by faulty parts?
see… malaysia is so blessed.. no volcano, no earthquake, no recall..
I drive a Diesel AWD Captiva; haven't had any call's or letter from GM or Cergazam informing me about any defects or recall. Need to call some one and find out what going on just to be sure. Any Captiva owners out there received any letters or phone call regarding this issue?
just my opinion, even if the suppliers/vendors are different, is the designs and specs are different too? if the defect is because of the design as the steering wheel in captiva is not fully connected with the steering column (example like the nut are to big for the bolt or the bolt is to short for the nut to fully lock-in), than any vendors that follow the designs and specs will produce the same thing right? except if one vendors want to cut cost and not following the designs and specs, then again where is the chevy QC?
" a steering wheel that could be detached" should ring alarm among the Captiva owners. Once my friend told me in layman's term that the steering wheel of his 4 year-old Chevrolet Optra just "snapped", I thought he was joking. With the recall, I begin to believe there is some truth in it. I am no expert in car engineering but I am quite sure mechanical faults do exist in every make in the market. With the high accident rate in Malaysia, how many fatal accidents were actually caused by faulty parts?
korean cars……
welcome to the club GM and daewoo!!
when is suzuki malaysia going to recall all the swifts on steering rack issue? will they just cover it up? same goes to the windscreen
wed said,
March 23, 2010 @ 1:50 am
Major car manufacturers are recalling their cars.
Except……..Proton
Proton cars are damn solid, with untarnished record. ZERO car recall all these while.
This amazing feat should put Proton into the Book of World record worr…..
————————————————-
if i remember savvy have been re-called a few years back due to faulty rear wheel bearing if not mistaken….(involving some batch number) and that part was replaced during early service interval..
if not pls correct me…
TQ
wed said,
March 23, 2010 @ 1:50 am
Major car manufacturers are recalling their cars.
Except……..Proton
Proton cars are damn solid, with untarnished record. ZERO car recall all these while.
This amazing feat should put Proton into the Book of World record worr….
R u sure? or just stupid?
sooo many recalls now…i tink mostly to do with cost cutting , trying to achieve the same spec with the minumum of cost….wats next , chasis split into half white driving ??
No one's done a Schwarzenegger yet – TOTAL RECALL.
I own a chevrolet captiva, which I bought 2007, brand new. The first problem I had was that the entire molding was rusted and rotten. I took it back to the dealer and they repaired it for me, but later on I noticed that whole chasis was also rusted and eaten away. I didn’t hear or know anything about a recall, until I read it now (eight years later) and that’s because I am busy looking for parts which were also very corroded and did not last long. I live in the caribbean and was never told anything about a recall. I do know that the steering of the car does feel very strange, but I haven’t had any problem with it as yet, The dealer would not even think about doing anything for me now, seeing the time that I have the car. Had I known of this earlier I would have taken back the same month I bought it. The dealer in my area is F.W.Vlaun and sons St.Maarten W.I. Could you tell me what I can do now that I am learning this?