Car, SUV, and tire recalls

There have been a few significant recalls announced in the past few weeks affecting Dodge, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, plus a Toyota safety enhancement and a recall on tire valve stems. If your vehicle is listed here, you will be contacted by the manufacturer with the information on what you need to do or we provide a number to contact yourself. However, the valve stem recall requires action on the owner’s part.

2009 Dodge Journey

Chrysler is recalling almost 6,700 Dodge Journey SUVs equipped with a 3.5-liter engine due to a problem with the engine wiring harness that could contact the left transaxle mount and cause an engine fire.

Dealers will inspect the engine wiring harness for damage and repair to secure the harness away from the left transaxle mount.

Chrysler has yet to announce when owners will be notified. In the meantime, owners can call Chrysler at 1-800-853-1403.

2005-2006 Land Rover LR3 and Range Rover Sport

Land Rover is recalling over 37,000 LR3 and Range Rover Sport vehicles. The relative motion between the steering wheel hub and/or steering column cowl with the clockspring, which contains air bag circuitry, could cause a fracture in the driver-side air bag wiring connection. The SRS warning light will illuminate to alert the driver that a repair is necessary, but if a driver ignores the light and gets into a crash, the air bag may not deploy properly.

Dealers will make the necessary repairs to fix the alignment. The recall is expected to begin around July 21st. Owners may contact Land Rover at 1-800-637-6837.

2006-2008 Mercedes-Benz GL & ML class

Mercedes-Benz is recalling over 52,000 GL and ML class vehicles equipped with the Flex-N-Gate trailer hitch. Some of the seams connecting the hitch to the attachment bar used to connect it to the body frame do not meet specifications and may result in the hitch separating from the attachment bar.

Dealers will repair the trailer hitch and owners are urged not to use the hitch until it is repaired. Owners may contact Mercedes-Benz at 1-800-367-6372.

2008 Volkswagen Passat & 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan

Volkswagen is recalling over 4,000 Volkswagen Passat and 2,500 Tiguan vehicles equipped with 2.0T FSI ULEV II engines. The problem occurs when the engine is in idle and the air conditioning is turned on, the software may not control engine idle. As a result, the engine could surge unexpectedly.

Dealers will inspect and update the engine control module that contains the software, free of charge.

The recall began at the end of May. Owners may contact Volkswagen at 1-800-893-5298.

2004-2006 Toyota Sienna

Toyota is conducting a safety improvement campaign on over 196,000 Toyota Sienna minivans equipped with power rear liftgate struts. The gas struts used to help lift the rear power liftgate could wear out earlier than expected and could eventually cause the liftgate to fall a few inches or completely close.

Dealers will replace the gas struts with new ones that have a longer life. Owners can contact Toyota at 1-888-270-9371.

Tech International tire valve stems

Tech International is recalling 6 million snap-in valve stems manufactured between July and November 2006. The rubber portion of the stem could crack and cause a loss of tire pressure, potentially leading to a crash.

Tech International will replace the valve systems and the tire if necessary. Owners may contact Tech International at 1-740-967-9015.

For more information about this recall, read the Safety blog’s report: "Warning issued on faulty tire valve stems following rollover death."

—Liza Barth

Comments

[Ron]

I own a 2006 Toyota Camry XLE V6. From the time we purchased the vehicle we have had problems with its performance. There is a lag between the pressure applied to the accelerator and the engine/transmission response. We have to press down harder than should be necessary on the accelerator to get the car to move.

In stop and go traffic and when merging onto the highway this problem creates a dangerous and unsafe situation for my wife, myself, and other drivers. It is a very uncomfortable feeling to not know when the car will actually speed up. We commute in stop and go traffic and whenever the car does speed up we then have to adjust quickly to stop.

This performance problem does not allow the driver to anticipant the proper speed and distance to operate the vehicle smoothly or safely. We have taken the car to the Toyota Dealership three times to no avail. Does anyone else have this problem?

[G. Payne]

2 have problems with my 2005 Nissan Pathfinder SE/Offroad addition (dealer will not help and will not give me a Nissan rep # to call.
-1- drivers seat fabric has prematurely worn through (less then 3 years and at 32000 miles) on the edge of the seat near the door. Because of the height of the vehicle, you can't not slide over this edge. Dearer is saying wear is not a defect, but my 12 year old Jeeps drivers fabric never wore through in over 110,000

-2- Nissan has greatly exaggerated the mileage for this vehicle. Marketed at 18/21(using premium fuel) we are only seeing 13.5/16 (using premium fuel) this lie by Nissan is costing us $700 extra a year in fuel. (10,000 mile a year @ $4 per gallon - price per mile @ 18mpg=$0.22 and price per mile at 13.5mpg=$0.29. That is a $0.07 per mile discrepancy. Multiply that x10,000 miles = $700.00 in extra fuel because they lied.

[nour sherif]

I have a 1999 Passat, there was a spark plug that split and fell into the engine and it cost me over $4,000
it was taken care of in the Volkswagen dealership in garland TX
do I get reumbersed?
Nour

[T. Cartwright]

Message for Ron: 2006 Camry XLE V6

Toyota had problems with the engine mapping software that was installed on 4 cylinder models in 2007. New software maps were made available to those who complained about the lag time between pushing the accelerator and engine response to move the car forward. There was no recall, only an answer for those who complained. This new engine mapping became standard for 2008 models. Perhaps there is a similar new software download availabe for your model, or perhaps your throttle position sensor is not working properly. Good luck, and I hope this information is helpful.