Volkswagen Brazil issues 200,000 vehicle recall

By Tim Beissmann | February 12th, 2010

Volkswagen is the latest manufacturer to issue a substantial safety recall with almost 200,000 Brazilian-made vehicles requiring a fix for a problem that in extreme cases could cause the rear wheels to fall off.

VW Brazil said 193,620 Novo Gol and Voyage models sold domestically and exported throughout Latin America could be affected by a lack of lubrication on the rear wheels causing them to become noisy, lock up and even detach completely.

The recall affects vehicles made in Brazil before July 2009 and marks the third major recall by VW in Brazil since April 2008.

The first involved 477,000 Fox small cars after 22 owners suffered hand and finger injuries and mutilations when they tried to fold down the rear seat.

The second, in December 2008, covered 120,000 Fox, Novo Gol and Voyage models that had a brake fault.

Volkswagen is the second largest automotive manufacturer in Brazil after Fiat and has sold more than 17 million vehicles in the country since opening there 50 years ago.

It currently employs 22,000 workers and produced around 700,000 vehicles across four factories in 2009.

Late last year VW committed US$3.5 billion (AUD$3.9 billion) over four years to increase production and market share in Brazil.

(with AFP)

Jonno

Rear wheels to fall off? That can’t be good!
Hung Low

Bah hah hah! Golfschwein and Realist……..just another minor hiccupp for VW hey?
Did your cars come with a roll of emergency duct tape and glue “just in case”?

Great article CA….dig deeper into VW please!

noj

TOOL!

Hung Low

Caveman learns a word!

noj

Ugh TOOL

Golfschwein

They’re in good company.

Dlr1

I wouldn’t feel too bad, Holden have had recall campaigns on the Commodore (and variants) on 10 occasions on the last 5 years. VW has managed a measly 2 on its entire range in that time.

Frenchie

Ahh…… but the wheels have never fallen off the commodore!
Matthew

Dlr1, maths is obviously not your strong point. This is the THIRD major recall for VW, in just one market, since July 2008. Lets not even begin counting the rest of the world, let alone the whole last five years.

Dlr1

not according to recalls dot gov dot au
Matthew

OK Dlr1, so now we’ll add reading comprehension, geography as well as basic internet skills to the list of your weak points.

David

Makes those early VE recalls look quite innocuous. Hand and finger injuries and mutilations – sheesh!
Will

and let those without sin cast the first stone…
James007

I actually wouldn’t mind the Volkswagen Voyage (silver sedan) they have pictured, would make a great replacement for one of our cars at home, our 98′ SEAT Cordoba SXE, which we’re looking at selling at the end of this financial year. It’s done 177,000km and hasn’t skipped a beat.
ABMPSV

Toyota, Honda, now VW. All car companies had some recalls from Betley to Ferrari…etc
check this website out
http://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/952855/fromItemId/952839
Andronicus

I agree this was a real good laugh.
Rear wheels falling off, digit mutilation… champagne comedy!
lazybones

Do you ever get the feeling that all manufactures/supplies have been cutting corners during the GFC. And now its coming back to bite them.
Golfschwein

It’s not such a problem on a front drive car, surely. In my youth, I drove a Camira wagon around a dirt track with a locked hand brake. It was like the rear wheels weren’t there. Same difference, yeah?
Mad Max

The one thing that stands out in all these recalls is that the manufacturers are actualy fixing the problems. Ok that should never happen in the first place and Toyota tried to dodge it for a while, but the faults are being fixed. This shows the slack attitude of Ford Australia with the ball joint issues on the Territory and brake hose issues on the Falcon. Both are safety related problems with the potential for accidents but did Ford recall and fix the problems? No they diden’t. Imagine owning a Territory and knowing that every 60 to 70’000 kms you have to shell out $600 to $800 for new ball joints. And if you drive on rough roads that could be $600 to $800 every 40’000 kms. The Australian Government also has some blame in this. In the US, Toyota were forced to cease production and recall the affected cars. Here our Government does nothing. In the US they have lemon laws that protectcar buyers from having to live with dodgy cars. Here we have no such laws and so we have to live with problematic cars.

noj

They never recalled the Falcon either for its paint problems either. Ford might give you 3yrs warranty in writing but they try and give you the run around when it comes to honouring it.

Andrew M

Paint problems???
Never heard that one.
My Falcons probably cop the worst conditions available, and I have people try and tell me I must polish my car all the time.
Not just the current FG, but previous models too

Reckless1

Haven’t heard of the Ford paint problems – where ya been at, dude??

Seriously, the Ford trademark blue paint fell off every car it was used on, and probably a few other colours as well.

Andrew M

Trade mark blue paint????
I assume you mean the “blue print” colour which was the colour that kicked off the metallic blues????

Nah, never heard of it. Couldnt have fell off every car as I see “Blue print” cars around in pretty good knick. Perhaps a bad batch of paint if the problem did infact exist.

And “probably” a few other colours aswell…..as in you are just assuming/guessing
noj

It wasn`t only Blueprint it was also Acid Rush. I actually was working at a Mechanic for a Ford dealership yesterday. He was telling me they have sent quite a number of cars off for total resprays due to the poor paint.

Andrew M

The brake hose replacement was issued, dont know where you have been living.

Ive never seen any actual complaint of the ball joints, but if you did have to replace them often, it would still be cheaper to service a major on a Terry than many other makes that need things like timing belts replaced at those sort of intervals

Stoney!

Man the fronts are falling out of the territory left right and centre, a couple have even caused large accidents. Go to http://www.fordforums.com.au and look in ‘the pub’ section. It won’t take you long to find it I assure you.

Lets not forget all the rust issues ford have had also.

Stoney!
Reckless1

The brake hose replacement was only done by Ford after it was dragged kicking and screaming that here wasn’t a problem for a very long time.

Ford scored a large number of negative points with that oen, and didn’t score any positive points on the ball joint and blue paint fiascos either.

Andrew M

Brake hoses were replaced no probs in vehicles where pedal pressure had been proven to have faded away.
Even in those instances it was said stopping distances were still within ADR’s.

Hoses were infact being replaced in vehicles as part of servicing before an actual recall notice was issued.

Hardly like the sort of cover up that is being implied, and certtainly nothing like the Toyota cover up.

Have a look around and you will see Ford is actually faring better than most in the quality stakes at the moment.

Michael

The one thing you say is that these manufacturers are fixing things then you add because the government told them to get of your high horse… all manufacturers are as bad as every other when comes to these things and all manufacturers have problems with their processes they can only try to minimise faults nothing is perfect – why must ford always be pointed at as the bad guy when every manufacturer in the last 3 years has had some type of recall (except perhaps the low volume ones)

Save it for the track

There’s many more ‘covered up’ and not talked about issues with Fords and Holdens, current and not so recent past. I’ve lost count how many times my work xr6 turbo has had the suspension replaced, as did our other Ba and Bf’s when we had them, and while it is a Police vehicle, the suspension just does not seem to last. Seems to be a weakness with the BA-BFII, interested to see how FG goes. Back in VT-VY Commodore days there were many issues, not all with the widely reported LS2 engine either. Holden dealers used to have diffs on the shelf in stock ready for replacement, as they tended to break. Toyota and Nissan haven’y missed out either, with many problems in the early days of the 3.0L diesel turbo motor failing, and much talked about on the ‘net sludging problems with Toyota diesels, and even Camry’s of not too many years ago.
HyundaiSmoke

Stupid VW haters!!!
UMWAHT

most VW cars are FWD anyway so even if the rear wheels fall off you still have the fronts to drive you around
o

i would love to see a vid with the wheels falling off lol
nick

Is it just me or are there a lot more major recalls around than usual at the moment???

Reality

It could be manufacturers are taking advantage of the fact that any recall thay do now will be overshadowed by Toyota’s. Might as well plead mea culpa now where the public focus will be diffused as opposed to doing it later and standing alone in the spotlight.

As to the Today onight program last night, the story claimed that Ford is now willing to pay for inspection and replacement of the ball joint in question. I’m not sure if they are actually announcing a recall as such.

nick

Yeah that’s what i was hinting at…

http://www.zestar.com Zestar Corp

Alot of the paint problems occurring are due to the automakers
outsourcing the process and quality responsibilities to the
paint suppliers. The automakers, retained the in-house paint
facilities. The suppliers are responsible for suppling paint
to a specified thickness which have not been occuring since the
mid 1990′s. The automakers, auto dealers and consumers have all
not been receiving what they paid for: a vehicle painted to a
specified thickness.
ET

Told you so NIEL didn’t i european cars are only trouble & cost plenty to be fixed in Australia i just cant believe there wheels fall off
Fast Car

As a mechanic at Holden dealers for many years I know there was many many problems with Commodores suspension, brakes that should have resulted in recalls. I remember seeing many Commodores that had the rear suspension mountings pull away from the body and have to be re-welded, this was never a recall but it may explain why there are so so many Commodores wrapped around trees and power poles.

Lets not forget the most re-called car in australian motoring history IS the Commodore…….well done GM !!

Shak

Thats because its the most prominent car on the road at the moment

Trith

Junk
Jo

This is awesome. Kia/Hyundai must be sitting by the sidelines cracking up…

Golfschwein

No, they won’t. It’s too soon after Kia’s Carnival V6s universally expired at 70,000 kms. Do a search on this very site to read the whole sorry truth.

Vince

When will VW Australia do a recall on the DGS gearbox similar to the USA and offer a 10 year warranty on them?!
http://caradvice Nelson Rodrigues Reis

Estou muito chatiado com os problemas do meu gol g5, Ele veio com alguns recal(s) para fazer ,fiz um de rolamento do tambor traseiro, eu fiz sò de freio foran 3 , e mesmo assim o ultimo foi feito apos um acidente q sofri por falta de freio .A minha sorte foi que estava devagar (isso é com minha filha de 9 meses dentro do carro e minha esposa ), apenas amaçou a placa e o parachoque, O para brisa trincou sozinho na garagen ,meu carro e vidro eletrico nas quatro portas , o vidro de tras lado esquerdo da algumas panes ,e me deixa constrangido, pôs as veses estou atendendo alguns clientes e ele tem q ficar esperando eu dar um jeito , fora o motor que quando eu ligo o carro pela manhã faz hum barulho como se estivesse batendo motor. O banco do carona quebrou a peça que levanta e abaixa o banco isso é, esse carro tem baixa quilometragen ,uso pouco meu carro tem 18,000 km e é 2008/2009.Bom queria muito respostas para meu problema.ele tamben esta emferrujando a coluna da frente q segur o parabrisa. (obs : carro de garagem)
leonardo

O Gol G5 é dos automóveis mais bonitos que tenho visto na internet e nas avenidas, porem o motor 1.0 creio que é muito fraquinho “prô” uso cotidiano familiar, pois em viagens nas ultrapassagens é necessário muito cuidado. Mas eu sou admirador da VW na questão dos automóveis de aerodinamica e altura “prá” um perfornance esportivo e seguro (estabilidade). Eu estava esperando o Gol R 2.0 16 v (turbo) tem muito tempo, porem…Por ser aficcionado pelo VW gol G5, sugiro que a VW se “aprume” a faça uma serie de Gols com motor 2.5 dupla embreagem (motor do Getta). Iria vender muito, pois é o que falta na VW “prá” cobrir esta fatia do mercado na Américas, Europa, Oceania, etc. (Poderia ser biocombustivel). “Poxa”, quando queria o 2.0 16 v (turbo) “prô” Gol, pegaram esta “joia” de motor, tecnologia futuristica, a melhor do mundo e botaram no Tiguam. (?). Agora eu não canso de dar idéias boas (cromados, linhas Scirocco (lindo) nos VW), turbos etc… É sou persistente, na ideia, Gol RR 2.5 (motor Getta) na galera, será a revolução industrial no mundo automotivo! Sorte “proces” VW. (Acho que agora convenci a VW).