List of manufacturer recalls for December 2016

Let us look back at the last month of 2016 to know what went wrong with the automobile industry in December. A few automobile manufacturers announced recalls on several models to rectify problems.

A whopping 744,437 units of the 2011-2016 Toyota Sienna are being recalled to work on the sliding doors that reportedly won’t shut properly. The minivan is equipped with a power assisted sliding door mechanism that fails to close the door in a proper manner. This glitch may even cause the door to open on its own, even when the vehicle is moving. This poses a grave safety hazard.

After a spree of recalls made to address the issues with their cars, Tesla has now announced a recall of their NEMA 14-30 charging adapters due to overheating. 2000 units of this charger are found to be affected. The faulty charging adaptors are used to connect the car to a 240V outlet. Two Tesla owners complained about the charger and Tesla responded by initiating the recall. Tesla will also recall the NEMA 10-30 and NEMA 6-50 adaptors not because they were found to be faulty but as they share components with the faulty 14-30 chargers. But the owners of these chargers can keep using them util Tesla makes an official announcement on it.

The Takata airbag-related problems have been creating waves for 2.5 years now and it does not seem like to be in a mood to go down anytime soon. National Highway Safety Transport Administration (NHSTA) has added a bunch of models to the list of affected models, which effectively induced several recalls. Tesla is recalling all its Model S cars made from 2012 to 2016. McLaren has now announced a recall for all the road cars that they made since they started making them, way back in 2012. Even the hypercar P1 has to go back to its crib. While Audi recalls all its 2017 R8 models, Ferrari is recalling its whole 2016-2017 lineup to address the plague. Though the airbag units will take a few years to degrade to a hazardous level, the automakers seem to take early action to prevent massive cock-ups in the future.

News from Ford announces a recall on the F-Series Super Duty trucks to rectify a problem that will lead the fuel tank to fall off. About 8000 trucks lack a reinforcement bracket that fastens the fuel tank to the frame. The lack of this bracket can separate the fuel tank and even though Ford does not say so, will fall off. Almost all of the affected vehicles are sold within the USA, so the owners in the Middle East need not worry about it.

641,302 of Honda’s Odyssey vans are being recalled for issues with the latches that hold the second row of seats in place when they are slid forward. 2011-2016 Odysseys are affected by this recall. Two separate issues are being monitored, one with the outboard seat in the second row of the vans built between 17 Aug 2010 and 1 October 2015 and the other with the center seat of examples built between 23 Sep 2016 and 24 October 2016. The latch that holds the seats properly when they are completely slid forward may not work properly. This can cause the seats to move about, which in the case of an accident, can be dangerous. The owners will be notified by the next month. But sadly, the recall will take a while as the availability of an adequate number of parts is now uncertain.
That’s all for the month of December 2016. If you find your car in anyone of these lists, get in touch with your dealer, who will help you through the recall process. Happy motoring.