The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport discovers damaged ball joints…orders the recall of Rexton, etc.
Ssangyong Motor is scheduled to recall about 110,000 key models, including Rexton, due to some defective parts of the suspension system. The size of the recall is so big that the auto maker cannot but suffer a big blow in terms of its corporate image and costs with the launch of a new car planned for January 2015.
According to related industries on December 18, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recently finished investigation of defects and is planning to order Ssangyong Motor to recall sooner or later. Ssangyong Motor is known to be adjusting parts supply schedules in preparation for a large-scale recall. The recall is slated for as early as this month.
The defective part was the ball joint. The rear wheel or front wheel may collapse due to this defective part. Originally it was known that the ball joint was damaged in some cars only and caused problems with safe driving, but the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport`s investigation found that the part itself was defective. So far the defect is known not to have occurred in both the rear wheels and front wheels at the same time.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport received a complaint about this defect in the Rexton earlier this year, and has conducted investigation for about a year since then, and confirmed that other models using the same part have the same defects. The affected models are known to be Rexton 2, Kyron and Actyon and derivative models.
As all cars sold until now and discontinued models are included in the recall program, the scope is estimated to be about 110,000 cars. This figure is far more than the annual domestic sales of Ssangyong Motor. Ssangyong Motor sold a total of 63,970 cars in Korea last year.
Accordingly, with the launch of its new car Tivoli, the first new car in 4 years, scheduled for January 2015, the auto maker cannot but be hit by it in terms of damaged corporate image and repair cost.
Ssangyong Motor says the company is considering a recall, but the scope of the recall can be adjusted. As it has been inspecting and repairing the part free of charge since April 2014, the number of cars to be recalled can be reduced.
“As we are already inspecting and repairing the part free of charge, the scope of the recall is not determined,” said a Ssangyong Motor insider. “If the recall is decided, we will begin to fix the targets of the recall.”
Song Joon-yeong | songjy@etnews.com