LDV's decision to recall more than 21,000 Maxus vans has been praised by VOSA. Jeff Sweeting, who heads up VOSA's Vehicle Safety branch, says: "For 30 years we have had a code of practice in place whereby vehicle manufacturers supply information on safety issues on a voluntary basis. We commend LDV, and indeed other manufacturers, for their transparency."
LDV's aftersales manager Mark Toon explains that the decision to embark on the company's largest-ever recall was a no-brainer. "VOSA encourages complete transparency from vehicle manufacturers, and that's a core part of our business approach anyway," he says. According to Toon, the process began at 7pm one October evening, when a customer called its in-house VANaid breakdown service to report a problem with a recently-registered Maxus.
"By 8pm, the van was with the local LDV dealer, who promptly made contact with us." He explains that there had been a "partial detachment of the rear wheel", and that a closer inspection had revealed that this had been caused by a missing bearing retaining nut split-pin in the rear-axle hub. On discovering this, LDV's first response was to contact axle supplier Dana, and ask it to examine its internal processes and check the quality of the axles online and in stock. This was apparently done within 12 hours of the initial breakdown.
By 6pm that day, LDV's Early Action Group met, and discussed what should happen next. He says the first response was to examine all the vans on site, including the used stock, and then to contact its dealer network and request that they do the same with any vans on their premises. The decision was also made to dispatch engineers to its largest customer HDN, to check its entire fleet.
Within seven days some 2,500 vehicles had been examined - and the same problem had been detected in a further five vans. This, says Toon, was enough to warrant a complete recall of the 21,250 Maxus vans registered. They held a meeting with VOSA, who agreed that the recall should commence in the first week of November.
Having obtained the names and addresses of all 5,277 Maxus owners from the DVLA, letters were sent out advising them to contact their local dealer to have their van(s) inspected. More than three months later and 9,000 vans (42% of all Maxus vans) have been checked over. According to VOSA, this figure is about average for a vehicle recall. The general rule of thumb is 50% after six months, 70% after 12 months and 90% after 18 months.
Although no further instances have been detected, LDV is still keen to reach the remaining Maxus owners as soon as possible. It is about to send out letters by recorded delivery and has issued a recall hotline (0845 602 5233) and email address (ldv@vehiclerecalls.co.uk). VOSA says vehicle manufacturers that obtain contact information from the DVLA are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose other than to inform them about the recall.
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