By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
GM Daewoo said Sunday that it will recall over 16,000 units of its new city car due to defective airbags and wipers, adding to its string of recent callbacks.
The South Korean unit of U.S. auto giant General Motors said 16,379 of the Matiz Creative mini-cars sold between July and November this year are subject to the latest recall, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said in a statement.
The malfunction can potentially cause serious injury or death as airbags were found to separate from the vehicle in crashes, and windshield wipers worked improperly in freezing temperature, it said.
Deficiencies in airbags and wipers were found in 14,372 vehicles produced between July 27 and Nov. 7, while 2007 units manufactured from Nov. 8 to 19 have airbag defects, the ministry said.
GM Daewoo plans to provide free repair services to correct the defects, but its continuous recalls are turning some consumers away.
Most recently in November, the car maker recalled some 32,000 units of its compact car Lacetti Premier because of faulty seat belts.
The same model was called back in August due to software glitches that failed to notify drivers when their brake oil was low.
In the same month, GM Daewoo admitted numerous problems with its small van Damas, mid-sized sedans Tosca and Matiz, the predecessor of Matiz Creative, recalling nearly 17,000 vehicles.
``It's good to see that the company is willing to do something about its faults,'' said one industry official, ``but still, recalls are never good for a car maker's image and reputation.''
GM Daewoo's local market share dropped to 8 percent this year from 10.7 percent a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers' Association (KAMA).