After some incidents with the Zafira and a recall announced earlier this year, Vauxhall founds itself in the same situation with the Corsa D, one of the most popular models in UK, with over 700,000 sold between 2006 and 2014.
Earlier this year Vauxhall identified a potential fire related issue with a specific Corsa D variant equipped with the 1.4 Turbo petrol engine. Nine cases had previously been reported, also investigated. Two of these cases had resulted in a fire. A Safety Recall to address this issue was initiated in April 2016 for the 2,767 vehicles affected.
Following the Zafira B issue, Vauxhall strengthened the processes but even so it is not always possible to arrange an inspection. What’s more, the destructive nature of fire can make the process of identifying a pattern of fires with a common root cause very challenging.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that manufacturers frequently do not get to hear about fires in their vehicles. Vauxhall found with Zafira B, for example, that many cases only emerged after media reports in October 2015. Some of these dated back several years.
