Holden recalls nearly 3000 Captivas

GM Holden has recalled 2951 examples of its popular Captiva to eliminate the possibility of their engines cranking over and moving the car without a driver onboard.

The safety recall affects all MY2007 to MY2010 versions of the Series I CG Captiva 5 and 7 manual produced between February 22, 2007 and November 25, 2010 with a VIN range of KL3CG26RJ7B075395 to KL3DF26FJAB116292.

"A wear condition in the ignition key cylinder actuator trigger may allow the vehicle starter motor to crank the engine if the key is left inside the ignition key cylinder and in the 'OFF' position, while the vehicle is parked," said Holden's recall statement.

"If, when the vehicle is parked, the ignition key is left in the ignition cylinder, the manual transmission is left in gear and the park brake is insufficiently applied, the vehicle may move unintentionally when the starter motor cranks the engine."

GM Holden's senior product communications manager, Kate Lonsdale, said seven cases of unintentional cranking have been reported in Australia, but none involving vehicles moving by themselves or injuring people.

She said such a scenario could only occur if the key was left in the ignition and the vehicle was left in gear without the handbrake properly applied.

Holden's latest recall – its third this year following a Malibu recall involving seatbelts and a Barina Spark manual recall involving the clutch pedal – is not related to the faulty ignition switch recall that has affected 2.6 million vehicles and been linked to 84 deaths and 157 serious injuries.

A US bankruptcy judge yesterday ruled GM will not have to face dozens of lawsuits accusing it of concealing defective ignition switches that could disable power to the brakes, steering and airbags in older vehicles because the problem pre-dated its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009.

So far no GM vehicles have been affected in Australia, where Holden says it has cleared all of its vehicles, including the top-selling VE Commodore that's mechanically similar to the Chevrolet Camaro, which was affected in the US.

"The part in question is associated with the ignition switch, but this recall is completely unrelated to the unintended key rotation issue in the US, which involves people bumping the key with their knees and the like," said Lonsdale.

"This recall is completely separate and involves people leaving their keys in the ignition when parked, with the vehicle in gear and the hand brake not fully applied."

Lonsdale stressed the vast majority of Captivas sold in the four-year period were automatic vehicles, which are not affected. Last year Holden sold around 5500 upgraded Series II Captiva 5 vehicles and more than 10,000 examples of the Captiva 7, which was Australia's fourth best selling large SUV.

Also this week, Jeep recalled its 11th safety recall for the fourth-generation WK Grand Cherokee SUV released here in February 2011, this time to fix a potentially faulty fuel pump relay.

Last year Jeep's Fiat Chrysler parent company topped the Australian recalls list with 16 actions, followed by GM Holden with 14.