Another VE recall

[PETE_XR6]

Holden issues second Commodore recallBy Tim Dornin
November 10, 2006 02:24pm

HOLDEN has recalled its new VE Commodore for a second time despite the new model only being on the market a matter of months.

After problems with the fuel line on 1300 of its V8 models last month, the company today recalled about 13,000 cars to fix a potential problem with rear seatbelt buckles which could allow them to come undone.

The company said there had been no reports from customers of that happening, but Holden was taking action on advice from the buckle supplier after the issue was detected during routine testing.

"The supplier has advised there is potential for the rear seatbelt buckle's internal spring, which operates the internal latch plate, to be bent during manual assembly of the buckles," Holden said.

"In the unlikely event that this occurs, the tongue latch plate may not fully engage which may allow the belt to unlatch."

Holden said the supplier had since changed the assembly to an automated process.

Most of the cars affected were sold in Australia although almost 1200 had been exported to New Zealand and 47 to South Africa.

All customers affected would be informed in writing and would have all three rear seatbelt buckles replaced at no cost.

GM Holden executive director of engineering Tony Hyde said Holden had erred on the side of safety and recalled the vehicles.

"It's consistently been Holden's approach to quickly respond to any concern," Mr Hyde said.

"We take customer safety very seriously and our customers would expect us to be vigilant."

The recall was a blow for Holden with the VE Commodore, developed at a cost of $1 billion, still seeking to build sales in a market hit by high petrol prices.

In last month's recall Holden said there was a chance of a misalignment occurring during the fuel hose-assembly process at one of its supplier plants that could result in a fuel leak.

"This could potentially result in a tear in the fuel hose of the V8 VE Commodores and WM Statesman and Caprice vehicles," said Holden spokeswoman Maya Donevska.

"There have been no customer reports of this happening. The issue was picked up during routine internal checks."

Holden said the October recall did not affect V6 model Commodores.

http://www.news.com.au/business/stor...-31037,00.html

[colossus]

Originally Posted by PETE_XR6

GM Holden executive director of engineering Tony Hyde said Holden had erred on the side of safety and recalled the vehicles.

If they had erred on the side of safety they would not have released a car to the public that had defective seatbelts. So much for extensive crash testing.

[Focussed]

interesting...i'd be a bit concerned right now if i owned a VE. I wonder what the next recall will be.

[Hawk]

It is a normal occurrence for any new model. All the testing in the world doesn't pick up everything. I think both of these recalls have been due to supplier issues though.

[BF MKII UTE]

Originally Posted by Hawk

It is a normal occurrence for any new model. All the testing in the world doesn't pick up everything. I think both of these recalls have been due to supplier issues though.

Have to agree here. I'm still praying for a recall that is actually a design fault caused by Holdens not one of there suppliers. In saying this i did get to drive my GM's brand new VE SSV 6.0L 6 Speed today, nicest car i've driven although haven't had the pleasure of driveing a top end falcon lately (GT etc.)

[HOON69]

billion dollar baby ay :

2 recalls this would have to be a record wouldnt it (time gaps)
unless toyota has more whom knows :

[Kobayashi]

I would say its better to recall on the side of safety, rather then to cover it up and cause deaths like the ford/firestone thing over in the states a few years back. And if only a small number of vehicles are actually effected, then theres even a smaller chance of a *test vehicle* having the problem.

I guess its why i swore never to buy a first run car ever again, after a nightmare expierience YEARS ago with a commonwhore i bought :p Then again, after helping to make some of the last VZ commodores, i can safely say, i wouldnt buy the last of a production run either, lol.

[MrSparkle]

Will be interesting to see how "Orion" goes on this front... I think any fanboys on here should be careful before sinking in the boot on VE recalls too quickly!

[bob 351]

all i can say to that is god made crap and then holden took it on

[MYV8]

Originally Posted by MrSparkle

Will be interesting to see how "Orion" goes on this front... I think any fanboys on here should be careful before sinking in the boot on VE recalls too quickly!

I agree.
I had the first model Explorer Limited (~$60,000) about 8 or so years ago and that had 15 recalls in the 3 years I had it. Some minor recalls for carpet etc but also some major safety issues.
The car had plenty of good features but the quality was cr@p.
I am definately no Holden fan but I would not go pointing the finger just yet LoL.

[Psycho Chicken]

Hardly Holden's fault. If anything it's probably parts companies trying to cost cut to stay in business.

[Kobayashi]

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

Hardly Holden's fault. If anything it's probably parts companies trying to cost cut to stay in business.

You are right on that count too. One of my more recent jobs was working at a plastics factory that makes parts for holdens VE, Mitsi's 380 and ford too. As the share prices have been dying for that particular company, they have been pushing people and cutting costs all over the shop, and i saw some pretty dodgy things go on, and some shoddy stuff get passed, to save them the cost of reworking the fault.

Again, still not as dodgy as some of the stuff i saw when working at the IRS making place, they had a problem with snapping ubolts when they sourced cheaper ubolts. Guess what the solution there was? Just drop the torque on the wrench so they wouldnt snap.

[snailracing]

I agree with anyone else that says that this recall isn't the nail in the coffin that us ford people are hoping for in reguards to the VE Commodore.
Can anyone remember when the EA was first released and the first 1800 or so had to be recalled and distroyed due to the chassis rails not be parallel!
Or what about Mitsi over in Japn and all the faults that got swept under the carpet only to be found out 10 years later, and there large trucks like canter were part of this aswell.
Completely new cars are bound to have little glitches, I hope ford doesn;t get it wrong with the orion cause boy GM will have a feild day with that!

[mik]

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

Hardly Holden's fault. If anything it's probably parts companies trying to cost cut to stay in business.

i think it may well be holdens fault, their accountants have very sharp pencils and would pushing suppliers to lower their prices and take short cuts.

[Psycho Chicken]

Originally Posted by mik

i think it may well be holdens fault, their accountants have very sharp pencils and would pushing suppliers to lower their prices and take short cuts.

I'm sure the suppliers would be doing it themselves to an extent. It's got to be almost impossible to keep up with imported parts.

Tax the hell out of imported parts. Problem is these companies have realised they can run with smaller costs for the same product, so we'll get the same crap. Damage has been done.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

Hardly Holden's fault. If anything it's probably parts companies trying to cost cut to stay in business.

I think the problem starts at Holden (and other car manufacturers including Ford) when they keep pushing suppliers for ever lower pricing. To stay in the loop, the suppliers then look for ways to lower their costs and increasingly source manufacture from China. Having sourced products from there myself over the years I can assure you there is virtually no quality control unless you are prepared to pay extra for it, and even then it is still dodgy.

[Sundeep]

Meh, these things happen with every new car.

I reckon it's doing better than the BA did when it first came out.

/me waits for Orion to be released.

Sundeep

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by Sundeep

Meh, these things happen with every new car.

I reckon it's doing better than the BA did when it first came out.

/me waits for Orion to be released.

Sundeep

What? The new Camry was released one week before the VE Commodore. How many recalls have Toyota made for the new Camry? NONE. That is why GM and Ford are losing ground to Toyota. Everybody agrees that Toyotas are white goods on wheels. But if you ask the average Schmuck who isn't a car fan which manufacturer builds the best quality cars, most will answer TOYOTA! This reputation is built up on years of solid performance.

And by the way, before you shoot you mouth off, check how many recalls Ford did for the BA in the first three months of that models life: click here

FF

[xr8man83]

suck **** to holden i hope it hurts there sales. the way i see it is that they are blaming the parts companies it mite not be the nail in the coffin but it could lead to it they cant keep saying that if there is more recalls or people will start thinking what are these commodoors made out of cheap faulty part???? so in that sense it could be the nail its just not in the coffin yet.

[danv8]

Originally Posted by xr8man83

suck **** to holden i hope it hurts there sales. the way i see it is that they are blaming the parts companies it mite not be the nail in the coffin but it could lead to it they cant keep saying that if there is more recalls or people will start thinking what are these commodoors made out of cheap faulty part???? so in that sense it could be the nail its just not in the coffin yet.

Not to rock the boat but Ford isn't any better either when it comes to quality but we pay the price on it for affordable large cars that has plenty of potential.

[xr8man83]

Originally Posted by danv8

Not to rock the boat but Ford isn't any better either when it comes to quality but we pay the price on it for affordable large cars that has plenty of potential.

and im fairly sure that there would be heaps of people on the holden forums bagging falcons i bag holdens because im a ford guy and this is a ford site get use to it mate :MrT_anim:

is that intellegent enough for you hqv8 :jab:

[BeStRaFe]

the gent down the end of my street has been a commie guy for ages...

under his work agreement he had the choice of a VE or a BF MKI(had been used by a employee that left)
just 4 days ago he threw the keys for the VE to the guys at the hire lease company and took the keys for the BF and he hasnt been happeir.

his complaints were as such

-dodgey trim
-inaccurate speedo
-drinking petrol like a cammel (he has a VY??? SS v8 and it is better the the VE)
-horrible road noise.
-its been towed 3 times to the dealership for issues with no starting, fuel pump issues and the key turning and just doing nothing.
-gearbox was replaced (1 month old car mind you) due to slipping gears..
-the seats are not nearley as comfortable for the passengers in the rear as the falcon.

he has clocked up 2,000 in the falcon and he is more then happy... though he did ask how to disable the speed limiter of 200 :

and did you know with a commi omega AIRCON IS A 2000$ OPTION!!!

[HQ2VY]

Originally Posted by xr8man83

and im fairly sure that there would be heaps of people on the holden forums bagging falcons i bag holdens because im a ford guy and this is a ford site get use to it mate :MrT_anim:

is that intellegent enough for you hqv8 :jab:

Fairies Nuts!! :

[HQ2VY]

Originally Posted by xr8man83

suck **** to holden i hope it hurts there sales. the way i see it is that they are blaming the parts companies it mite not be the nail in the coffin but it could lead to it they cant keep saying that if there is more recalls or people will start thinking what are these commodoors made out of cheap faulty part???? so in that sense it could be the nail its just not in the coffin yet.

Hmm.that's a intelligent comment not!! ing_sm

[danv8]

All brands have recalls remember when the BA was released had a few recalls and they rectified them promptly.

Point and laugh at a brand when it recalls when the same recall or similar could happen to the brand you like.

Recalls nature of the automotive beast.

[Sundeep]

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

What? The new Camry was released one week before the VE Commodore. How many recalls have Toyota made for the new Camry? NONE. That is why GM and Ford are losing ground to Toyota.

We weren't comparing the VE to any Toyotas. A majority of the posts so far in this thread are just VE bashing.

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

Everybody agrees that Toyotas are white goods on wheels. But if you ask the average Schmuck who isn't a car fan which manufacturer builds the best quality cars, most will answer TOYOTA! This reputation is built up on years of solid performance.

True, and I don't disagree. But still, this thread is about the VE.

As for your link, I don't have that much time, sorry.

Sundeep

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by Sundeep

As for your link, I don't have that much time, sorry.

Sundeep

Yes it takes time to research the facts and verify them to confirm statements. Whereas throw away lines which cannot be substantiated are so easy to do. :

I never made any claims that the BA was free of faults. Whereas you said that the BA was worse then the VE when it was released (i.e. had more recalls). As you are SO lazy (or are a troll), I researched the recall website and found that there were two product recalls for the BA from time of release of that model (September 2002) to the end of 2002. Hence it wasn't worse.

Click here for all vehicle recalls announced in 2nd half of 2002

So get your facts straight.

FF

[FLYXR6]

I've just been over to LS1 and had a read of some of the problems people are having with the new VE... I must admit there does seem to be quite a few that are disgruntled to the point were one guy wants to trade down his new VE SS back to his VZ...

I only hope it gets better for them, must be sad having to worship a billion dollar piece of scrap metal.

[havoc19]

id say suck **** to holden and ford for using dodgy parts from mexico and china i cant buy a good pair of shoes from china that last 2 months y would i want car parts from there? hahaha

[Full Spectrum]

Originally Posted by colossus

If they had erred on the side of safety they would not have released a car to the public that had defective seatbelts. So much for extensive crash testing.

Your always into the bad side of the conversation and ignore anything else, Try reading it all. Your like a little rat in the alley way looking for scraps too fall your way into your lap.

Originally Posted by Focussed

interesting...i'd be a bit concerned right now if i owned a VE. I wonder what the next recall will be.

Until they start recalling them for faulty IRS and steering problems then i wouldn't worry too much.

Originally Posted by HOON69

billion dollar baby ay :

2 recalls this would have to be a record wouldnt it (time gaps)
unless toyota has more whom knows :

Only read the headline did we :

Originally Posted by MrSparkle

Will be interesting to see how "Orion" goes on this front... I think any fanboys on here should be careful before sinking in the boot on VE recalls too quickly!

Thats good advice :dr_Evil: But i think with it's familiar theme it shouldn't have too many issues at all.

Originally Posted by snailracing

I agree with anyone else that says that this recall isn't the nail in the coffin that us ford people are hoping for in reguards to the VE Commodore.
Can anyone remember when the EA was first released and the first 1800 or so had to be recalled and distroyed due to the chassis rails not be parallel!
Or what about Mitsi over in Japn and all the faults that got swept under the carpet only to be found out 10 years later, and there large trucks like canter were part of this aswell.
Completely new cars are bound to have little glitches, I hope ford doesn;t get it wrong with the orion cause boy GMH will have a feild day with that!

I'm glad we have come a long way since

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

What? The new Camry was released one week before the VE Commodore. How many recalls have Toyota made for the new Camry? NONE. That is why GM and Ford are losing ground to Toyota. Everybody agrees that Toyotas are white goods on wheels. But if you ask the average Schmuck who isn't a car fan which manufacturer builds the best quality cars, most will answer TOYOTA! This reputation is built up on years of solid performance.

And by the way, before you shoot you mouth off, check how many recalls Ford did for the BA in the first three months of that models life: click here

FF

But But But... Think about it this way;) The new camry has been out overseas far longer then it's been here;) And it's hardly all new. Any problem found would have been fixed before it went on sale here.
And also the BA wasnt a clean sheet.