Recall of Forester, Impreza and XV being considered.
Subaru, maker of tougher-than-granite family cars and balls-to-the-wall performance vehicles, has resumed production in its Gunma plant in Japan following a nearly two-week shutdown. The production halt was triggered after it was revealed that there could be a flaw in its power steering systems, fitted to its highest-volume models.
A defective electrical board, supplied to Subaru by Hitachi Automotive Systems (a subsidiary of the Hitachi conglomerate), had the potential to trigger a warning light if faulty, with worst-affected cars also suffering from what would feel to drivers like power steering failure.
Due to the lengthy closure, production could not resume until the afternoon of January 16th, as the machines had to be operated from morning to be brought up to temperature, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.
Subaru is now investigating to see whether a recall notice needs to be issued, given that the Gunma plant accounts for some 60% of global production. They have ascertained that the faulty electrical boards were fitted to vehicles made between late-December and January 16th, and so the firm will now crunch the numbers to see if it’s necessary to get owners to come back into dealerships soonest, or if they can wait until their next service.
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