Bentley Bentayga recalled over fire risk

Bentley has announced it plans to recall more than 6000 Bentayga SUVs over a potential fuel-leak caused by poor fuel line connectors.

The recall, said to affect Bentayga V8s built between January 2018 and March 2020, has been confirmed will occur globally, although out of the 6000 Bentaygas affected, 783 were sold in Europe and a substantial 1892 vehicles live in the US.

Bentley has not yet announced how many Bentayga V8s are affected in Australia.

As part of the global recall, the luxury car-maker says it will replace hoses, lines, piping and fittings after a fault was identified by a US safety body when an owner reported smelling fuel back in July 2018.

The risk, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is that if a leak occurs fuel vapour could trigger an engine bay fire.

It's thought elevated under-bonnet temperatures had caused material softening of the fittings concerned.

Despite the risk, Bentley says there are no reports of accidents, injuries or fires related to the issue.

Bentley says it will begin notifying customers on July 31 and has authorised its dealers to replace the connectors with new parts made from 'enhanced' materials.

The luxury British car-maker says the work to replace the affected parts takes around one hour.

As part of the job, Bentley says it will upgrade the engine cooling software too.

Of all the cars recalled, Bentley estimates that just 0.2 per cent will be affected by the defect.