Vauxhall Corsa fires recall: 2,767 UK cars at risk

Vauxhall Corsa fires recall: 2,767 UK cars at risk

The Vauxhall Corsa recall affects 1.4-litre petrol versions, but is a separate issue to previous Zafira fires

Vauxhall is once more facing calls from owners to explain why its cars have caught fire after several Corsa D owners reported their cars had burst into flames unexpectedly. It has issued a Vauxhall Corsa recall for the 2,767 vehicles affected.

Last year, Vauxhall issued a recall to 234,938 Zafira B models in the UK following a widely reported spate of fires. The company eventually recalled the model twice to ensure it would no longer catch fire.

Now owners of the fourth-generation Vauxhall Corsa D, built between 2006 and 2014, have also reported cases of the vehicle catching fire. In April this year, Vauxhall identified a fault with the braking system in some 1.4-litre petrol Corsa D models where water could get in and fry the electronics, causing a fire. The Corsa issue is not related to the Zafira fires.

Vauxhall says nine cases had previously been reported to it, of which two had resulted in a fire. The company issued a safety recall earlier this April for 2,767 vehicles affected.

• Car recalls UK: check if your car is subject to recall

However, seven Vauxhall Corsa D owners have since contacted BBC’s Watchdog about their car catching fire, with three falling under the existing recall criteria, and four outside it. Vauxhall sold over 700,000 Corsa D models between 2006 and 2014 in the UK and the news has left owners asking for more answers from Vauxhall.

Earlier this January, Auto Express reported on a 1.4-litre Corsa D owner finding their car ablaze at 11.30pm. after it had been parked on the driveway for hours. Unfortunately, Vauxhall said it could not investigate the matter as “the car belonged to the insurance company,” and it was up to the insurer to determine whether to launch an investigation.

With fire incidents, insurers will often take ownership of the vehicle and launch their own investigation, leaving manufacturers like Vauxhall unable to analyse the vehicle themselves.

With regards to the other owners reporting fires, Vauxhall says it "takes any report of fire very seriously" and would prefer to conduct a joint investigation with the customer’s insurer, but “for a variety of reasons this is not always possible.”

A spokesman from Vauxhall said: “Customer safety is of the utmost importance and we take any report of fire very seriously. Fires can occur for a wide variety of reasons and it’s worth noting that, on average, there are 18,000 vehicle fires a year across all manufacturers in the UK. It is estimated that there are around 35 million vehicles registered in the UK.”

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