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| The joint ventures of Hyundai and Ford in China
yesterday said that they would recall a total of more than 151,000
faulty vehicles. |
The joint ventures of Hyundai and Ford in China yesterday said
that they would recall a total of more than 151,000 faulty vehicles.
Hyundai Motor Co's venture with Beijing Automotive
Industry Corp said in a statement that it would start recalling 98,559
units of the
Elantra compact sedan and the Sonata mid-sized sedan
from October 26 due to ignition
defects.
The vehicles were made between October 1, 2004 and March 22, 2005.
The company's move is the biggest single auto recall this year in the
country, the world's third-biggest and fastest-growing vehicle market.
Ford Motor Co's venture with Chang'an Motor Corp in Southwest China's
Chongqing Municipality said that it yesterday began to recall 52,838 Focus
compact sedans manufactured between June 17, 2005 and July 30, 2006
because of potential
fuel pump problems.
The two companies' action bring the total number of vehicles recalled
in China this year up to almost 280,000 units, according to figures from
www.qiche365.org.cn, a website tracking automobile recalls under the
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Earlier this year, many other foreign automakers, such as Toyota,
General Motors, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Renault, Mercedes Benz and Porsche,
recalled defective vehicles .
Automakers have been recalling more flawed vehicles after the
government released the first auto recall regulations in October 2004.
Earlier, some refused to recall faulty vehicles citing the absence of
an auto recall system as an excuse. In developed nations, auto recalls are
commonplace.
But the current regulations in China do not go far enough, analysts
said, adding that much stricter rules and even legislation are needed to
force manufacturers to recall faulty vehicles.
Currently, vehicle producers must recall defective vehicles or risk
being put on a "blacklist" open to the public and fined a maximum of
30,000 yuan (US$3,790) if they are found to have tried to cover up
problems.
(Agencies) | 
