A day after ANCAP slammed the Suzuki Fronx after finding a potentially deadly fault during crash testing, the carmaker has recalled the small SUV in Australia – even though it’s without a solution to the problem.
Yesterday, ANCAP – the peak organisation for new-car safety testing in Australia – announced the Fronx had suffered a rear seatbelt tensioner failure in a front-end crash, resulting in its test dummy impacting the back of the front seat.
The organisation called for owners to avoid using the rear seats, though at the time Suzuki Australia said it was investigating the failure with its headquarters in Japan, while also issuing a stop-sale for the Fronx.
Today, Suzuki Australia and Suzuki Queensland – which sells the brand’s vehicles in Queensland and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales – launched a voluntary recall of the Fronx, advising owners to “immediately cease using the rear seats”.
A total of 324 vehicles have been recalled, far below the circa-1300 reported Fronx sales made in Australia this year. Unlike most recalls, Suzuki says it does not yet have a fix for the fault.
“We continue to undertake immediate and urgent investigations of this phenomenon,” Suzuki Australia said in a media release.
“Upon the completion of the investigation Suzuki Motor Corporation and Suzuki Australia will facilitate further activities to ensure the safety of all listed vehicles.”
Suzuki added it will be contacting owners of affected vehicles to inform them of the fault and to not use their vehicles’ rear seats.
It is the third time a vehicle has been recalled in recent months following a failure during testing by ANCAP or its sister organisation Euro NCAP.
In Euro NCAP testing the MG3’s driver’s seat slid forward by 111.5mm on the centre console side in a collision, leading to more than 10,500 examples being recalled in Australia to resolve the fault.
Earlier this month the GWM Haval H7 was recalled after its driver’s seat head restraint dislodged in a full-width frontal crash test. Only vehicles which have had the recall completed are eligible for ANCAP’s five-star safety rating.
The Fronx received a one-star safety rating, which was not affected by the seatbelt tensioner failure.
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