Snappy seats sparks Commodore Sportwagon recall

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Snappy seats sparks Commodore Sportwagon recall
Barry Park
December 27, 2010 - 2:55PM
Car maker Holden will recall almost 1500 recently facelifted Sportswagons after discovering that the pivots on rear seats could start breaking.

The company has built versatility into its Sportwagon that allows owners to fold the rear seats forward and turn the wagon from a family load-lugger into a large load-carrying shell.

According to Holden, the rear seat’s locking mechanism in the Series II family wagon may have been misaligned while being fitted, and could fail during emergency braking or in a collision with another vehicle, potentially causing injury to passengers.

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‘‘In the event of emergency braking or vehicle collision, the rear-seat assembly may not remain in the locked position and may move forward with the motion of the vehicle,’’ an advisory issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which manages the national vehicle recall process, says.

Holden says the defect was discovered ‘‘internally’’ within the company, with the recall only affecting about 260 vehicles that are already in customers’ hands. Most customers had already contacted dealerships, a spokeswoman for the car maker said today.

According to Holden, the timing of the recall — it was released just before Christmas — could have been better.

‘‘We absolutely recognise that the timing of this issue is unfortunate, but safety is our number one priority, and although this is very much a precautionary measure, it is our duty of care to inform customers as soon as an issue comes to light,’’ the car maker said in a statement released today.

Holden’s VE Series II Commodore range was released in late August, featuring a range of cosmetic changes to the exterior and the introduction of an advanced multimedia system to the interior.

The new model also introduced ethanol-friendly engines to the 3.0-litre V6 and 6.0-litre V8 powerplants, with the 3.6-litre V6 expected to add the same flexibility late in 2011.