VAUXHALL CORSA D / E CUSTOMER ADVICE
The Sun article on Wednesday 7th December and the BBC One TV programme Watchdog, broadcast on the same day, feature allegations of fires in Vauxhall Corsa D / E models related to the Heating and Ventilation system.
Vauxhall has responded that media reports about fire risk in Vauxhall Corsa models may be misleading and unduly alarming. Vauxhall has requested the support of The Sun and Watchdog in sharing information on their investigations so they can be thoroughly examined. In the meantime Corsa owners should continue to drive their vehicles with confidence.
Vauxhall is committed to investigate all cases of vehicle fire where we have permission from the customer and vehicle insurer to do so.
The Sun Corsa D/E investigation
With regard to the customer cases included in The Sun article, Vauxhall were not given an opportunity to investigate those cases prior to publication.
Similarly, despite requests, Vauxhall had been unable to arrange a meeting with The Sun investigator GBB to discuss their findings ahead of publication. Without a thorough professional investigation of each case it is not appropriate to draw conclusions as to the cause of fire.
With regard to the suggestion in The Sun article that the Hummer H3 shares a similar wiring harness and failure mode, Vauxhall confirmed that there is a different vehicle heating and ventilation system configuration in Corsa D/E to the HUMMER H3, inclusive of a different connector. This is why the risk assessment applied to the HUMMER H3 cannot be applied to Corsa D/E.
Vauxhall has no confirmed reports of vehicle fires originating in the vehicle heating and ventilation system of the Vauxhall Corsa D/E.
Watchdog Corsa D investigation
Vauxhall was approached by BBC One TV’s Watchdog programme on 22nd November 2016 to comment on Corsa D fires and provided details of six customer cases for response.
- There were three for which there is no record of the customer contacting Vauxhall.
- In two cases following customer contact, we offered to inspect the vehicle. In one case the offer was not taken up and in the other it was rejected by the insurer.
- In the final case, the customer informed Vauxhall that their insurer would make contact if deemed necessary. The insurer made contact four months later when the vehicle was no longer available for inspection. Vauxhall requested details of the fire investigation but nothing was forthcoming.
- Vauxhall offered to inspect any of the six vehicles that were still available for inspection. Inspections of two vehicles subsequently took place and early indications confirm that they are not related to the Corsa Heating and Ventilation system and no material, manufacturing or design fault was found.
- We have no Safety Recalls related to fire for Corsa D derivatives other than that for the 1.4 Turbo.
Vauxhall Statement
In response to recent inaccurate and misleading media coverage Vauxhall wishes to reassure its customers about the safety of its Corsa D/E model. The safety of our customers is of the utmost importance. Naturally we take any reports of vehicle fires very seriously.
As part of our customer service, upon being alerted to a small number of vehicle fires in the Vauxhall Corsa D 1.4 Turbo, we launched a safety recall campaign in April 2016. This recall affects this engine variant only and addresses a problem with the electric vacuum pump relay which is not a heating and ventilation system component. In total there are 2767 of these vehicles on British roads.
We would like to underline that we have no confirmed cases of vehicle fires in Corsa D/E models that relate to the heating and ventilation system. As always, we will continue to evaluate all information sources and take action where appropriate.
If any Corsa customer still has a concern or question related to this issue, they should contact vauxhall.customerassistance@vauxhall.co.uk.
Vauxhall Communications
December 7th 2016