Great Wall Recall in Australia Due to Seatbelt Failure

Some Great Wall ute cars sold in Australia will be recalled due to a seatbelt failure. The defect was spotted during the Australian NCAP tests, where the car barely managed to score two stars. Judging by the pictures, things are not looking very good.

The V240 Great Wall ute is the first Chinese car imported in Australia and was launched in June. The car only costs $23,990 Au but even at that cost, a problem with the belt retracting mechanism is almost unforgivable.

After the testing, the ANCAP engineers reported the seatbelt failure to the transport department. After discussions with the importer, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced the recall on their website. The announcement said that the front seat belt retracting mechanism could fail to correctly restrain occupants under extreme loads.

Ateco, the importer of Great Wall in Australia, said that the company will change the seatbelt retracting mechanism on 115 cars, while 285 more vehicles will be checked for this problem. Owners of the V240 must return their cars to the dealers, so the latter can carry out the work.

Daniel Cotterill, Great Wall Motors spokesman, told GoAuto that there have been no reports of seatbelt failure on any Australian public roads. Further more, he added that they will not recall Great Wall’s other ute, the SA220.

The SA220 ute doesn’t have any airbags or ABS and also scored only two stars at the ANCAP tests. Believe it or not, this is not the most dangerous ute on the Australian roads, as the Proton Jumbuck only scored one star at the safety tests.