British luxury sports car maker, Aston Martin is recalling 17,590 vehicles from around the world, after discovering that a Chinese sub-supplier allegedly used counterfeit cheap plastic in production of a part of the cars’ gas pedal.
This recall affects around 75 percent of the Aston Martin cars including all the right-hand drive models built since May 2012 and all the left-hand drive models built since November 2007. The popular Vanquish model remains unaffected.
Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co. Limited, the manufacturer in question, has been using counterfeit plastic supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co. Ltd., of China, instead of the DuPont PA6 material generally used for the accelerator pedal arm of Aston Martin cars. This results in gas pedals breaking off, increasing the risk of crash as the driver will be unable to maintain or increase the speed.
To be even more specific, the Chinese supplier is a subcontractor that supplies materials to Fast Forward Tooling, Hong Kong. Fast Forward Tooling is the pedal arm manufacturer for Precision Varionic International of Swindon, which is the direct supplier of Aston Martin’s accelerator pedals.
Aston Martin spokeswoman Sarah Calam said: “Although there has been no report of any accidents or injuries involving the throttle pedal, Aston Martin’s commitment to customer safety is paramount which is why the company is taking this action. The recall work takes up to an hour to complete and will be carried out with no charge to the customer.”
Aston Martin, after this recall, is planning to shift the pedal arms manufacturing process from China back to the United Kingdom ‘as soon as possible’ this year.
The affected models are listed here.
