GM Daewoo in South Korea is recalling nearly 60 000 vehicles due to potential issues with steering wheels and fuel lines with Captiva and Cruze models. General Motors South Africa is currently investigating whether any of the potentially faulty vehicles have reached South Africa.
GMSA issued this statement: “We are aware that there has been a recall announcement relating to Cruze and Captiva. We have received notification from our source plant of this and are currently investigating whether this has any implications for the South African Market. Once we have established the facts, we will make direct contact with our customers and should repair work be required, we endeavour to do this as quickly as possible.”
Considering the fact that the manufacturing period affected (reportedly April 2006 to December 2007) is a long one, we suspect South African customers will indeed be affected.
Although the exact nature of the problems has not been described yet, we have noted reports of detached steering wheels (Captiva) and fuel lines (Cruze). No accidents have resulted from these faults, and GM Daewoo elected to initiate the recall itself.
While on the subject of GM-related recalls, we have previously reported on an electronic transmission upgrade that is available to South Africa owners of the Cruze 1,8 automatic. While GM has not released an official statement on this software upgrade we encourage owners to get in touch with their local GM dealer to schedule the 15-minute long modification, after which the transmission will be less prone to hunting and better matched to the 1,8-litre engine’s power characteristics. Our long-term Cruze 1,8 goes in for this exact upgrade soon, and we’ll report on its effectiveness soon after.
