8 automakers to recall over 1 lakh vehicles over faulty parts

Seoul, Sep 28 (IANS) Kia, Toyota Motor and six other companies will voluntarily recall more than 100,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.

The eight firms -- including Ford Sales and Service Korea, Volkswagen Group Korea, Jaguar Land Rover Korea, BMW Korea, Dasan Heavy Industries Co and Motostar Korea -- are recalling a total of 102,169 units of 52 different models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

The problems that prompted the recall include a faulty assistant heating system in Kia's Sorento SUV, a faulty transmission system in Ford's Fusion sedan and software problems in the Audi A6 Premium 45 TFSI quattro sedan imported by Volkswagen Group Korea, reports Yonhap news agency.

Owners of those vehicles can visit designated repair and service centres of the companies to replace the parts free of charge, the ministry said.

South Korean carmakers' global market share slightly fell to 7.7 per cent in the first half from a year earlier amid the extended chip shortage, industry data showed.

From January to June, Korean carmakers sold a total of 2.1 million vehicles in the world's eight major markets, down 9.9 per cent from 2.33 million units during the same period of last year, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) had said in a statement.