The Most Unusual Car Recalls of 2022 Were Named

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Automakers that care about their reputation often sound the alarm of a recall campaign in advance, even if the defect seems strange and the probability of its manifestation tilts to zero percent. Let’s discover the most ridiculous and funny malfunctions that some car owners have faced this year.

Porsche Recall Campaign

The company has recalled almost 200,000 cars this year. At the end of the spring, the Porsche manufacturer found out that some vehicles don’t have sealing caps that cover the horizontal adjustment mechanism of the headlights. It’s about 193,259 automobiles of four models, the Cayenne, Cayman S, Macan, and Panamera, assembled from 2002 to 2019. Theoretically, the defect can blind oncoming drivers.

Lamborghini Countach Recall

This new supercar was recently launched, and it has already been recalled. The vehicle’s engine compartment cover can come off while driving. Owners of only nine vehicles have been invited to the service.

The recall reason was detected in the glass panels of the engine cover, which can be removed from their mounts. At the moment, the manufacturer has reported only one such case, which happened in October in Qatar. One of the four panels fell off the car. After a few wrecked cars, the automaker started an investigation. It turned out that a mistake was made in production.

Bugatti Chiron Callback

The company recalled one hypercar due to a single bolt. It turned out that one of the two mounting bolts in the front subframe was tightened to 9 Nm instead of 19 Nm. The manufacturer learned about this during in-house quality control. At its plant in Molsheim, France, the company not only monitors the tightening parameters of the elements but also checks the tools used. As it was stated, the problem concerned a single copy of the 2018 model year.

Lamborghini Recalls

Two new supercar models were subject to a recall campaign almost immediately after release. The reason is that the doors didn’t open. In June, owners of the 21 Huracán Evo and Huracán STO configurations manufactured in May of this year were invited to the service.

On these cars, the driver’s door was assembled incorrectly, and it’s not always possible to open it from the outside. In an extreme situation, it can be dangerous. The issue occurred due to incorrect installation of the safety clip on the door-opening cable.

Kia Optima Withdrawal Campaign

In a manufacturing defect that involved almost 260,000 vehicles produced at the American Georgia plant between 2011 and 2013, a loose roof could fall onto the driver and passengers. The first accidents connected with the issue appeared in the spring. The lawsuit was filed by the owner of a 10-year-old car after the side airbags deployed during a traffic accident and a part of the root structure fell on him.

The manufacturer found out that the root panel was indeed fixed incorrectly, and this isn’t an isolated problem but a mass one. To avoid lawsuits from other drivers, the company recalled all the Kia Optima vehicles assembled at this plant.

Honda and Acura Issues

Since the beginning of this year, owners of some Honda and Acura models have seen the year 2002 displayed on the stock clock. The owners tried to reset the clock on their own, but to no avail. It helped only while the engine was running. However, the defect returned after restarting the motor. The company immediately admitted that it didn’t know how to get rid of the defect. In general, the issues were found on hundreds of cars produced from 2004 to 2012.

GMC Terrain Withdrawal

As a result of a recall campaign, the American brand solved the problem of excessive headlight brightness. However, car owners remained dissatisfied. The manufacturer created a special overlay for the crossovers of the 2010–2017 model years — a small translucent sticker. It allows for the avoidance of blinding oncoming drivers as well as the abandonment of the campaign to completely replace the lighting equipment. At the same time, car owners suggested it looked strange.

Nissan Rogue Callback

The crossover, which is an analogue of the X-Trail, can theoretically catch fire due to wet shoes. The manufacturer recalled around 690,000 cars made between 2014 and 2016. However, the number of defective vehicles is about 1% of the total amount withdrawn.

The problem is that snow and reagents from the owner’s shoes can end up in the footwell in front of the driver’s seat. If enough moisture accumulates, it can enter the connector, soak into the wire harness winding, and damage electronic systems. There may be issues with the electric drive of the driver’s seat or the windows. In addition, a warning about a malfunction of the four-wheel drive may be activated, and the discharge of the battery or even the occurrence of a fire cannot be ruled out.

Hyundai Santa Fe Recall

A funny defect was found in the new crossovers. Owners of the Hyundai Santa Fe have reported that the image on the digital dashboard has been turned upside down. A total of 714 hybrids collected between October and December of the last year may be affected. Fortunately, no accidents or injuries have been reported due to the glitch. One of the resistors in the multimedia system was called the reason. It might not work properly at low temperatures.

The Bottom Line

As a rule, people consider car recalls as something connected with serious issues such as brake pads, engine, or electronic system defects or breakages. However, even one bolt or wrong date on the dashboard display can lead to a withdrawal campaign. We can state that such close attention to the vehicle technical issues from the manufacturers’ side shows how important car safety is. You may check out safety recalls data by using free license plate lookup.