GM, Ford issue recall totaling about 1.5m vehicles

General Motors, the biggest foreign automaker in China by sales, announced a recall of about 1.46 million cars in China on Friday, one of the largest such actions to be taken in the world's No 1 automobile market.

According to GM's official statement, Shanghai General Motors Co, its passenger vehicle joint venture with China's SAIC Motor Corp, started to recall 1,218,163 Buick Excelle cars and 243,297 Chevrolet Sail compact cars, on Monday.

The Buicks to be recalled are the Excelles produced between Jan 17, 2006, and Dec 2, 2011. The recalled Chevy Sails were manufactured between April 9, 2009, and Oct 8, 2011.

The recall addresses a component that holds the cars' fuel pump, said the statement. The holder could crack after long use and result in a fuel leak under extreme circumstances, it said.

Shanghai-GM hasn't received any reports of such problems actually occurring, General Motors said in an e-mail to China Daily on Monday. Buick and Chevrolet after-sales service centers will contact owners of the car and conduct vehicle checks and repairs, it said.

Also on Friday, another US automaker, Ford Motor Co, filed a statement with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine that it will recall in mid-February 80,857 Ford Kuga SUVs produced between Sept 21, 2012, and Nov 13 of this year due to substandard wheel knuckles. The recall starts on Feb 21.

Ford's Chinese joint venture, Chang'an Ford Automobile Co, will help customers replace the front left and right steering knuckles to clear up any possible safety risks, the statement said.

In November, GM's major rival, Volkswagen Group China, announced along with Volkswagen Group Import Co Ltd and joint ventures Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen a recall of 640,309 vehicles to switch out synthetic oil with conventional oil in cars with seven-speed double-clutch gearboxes.

The synthetic oil may lead to electrical malfunctions in the gearbox power supply and cause safety problems, according to a statement on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.