Renault has recalled around 500,000 Clio cars and Kangoo vans to check for potential brake problems. Mercedes-Benz Citan vans built by the French automaker are also being recalled.
Mercedes’ Citan van is a variant of Renault’s Kangoo, built in a French plant under a manufacturing partnership.
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The Renault recalls, which began in August, cover about 402,000 Clio small cars and 64,000 Kangoo vans built at the Maubeuge plant in northern France, a Renault spokesman told Reuters.
The Clio recall covers vehicles assembled between February and April that may have a badly installed part that can rub on the brake lines, Renault said.
The Kangoo recall was ordered earlier this month to correct faulty installation of the antilock braking system (ABS) in which some connectors were found to have been reversed.
There have been no accidents or personal injuries as a result of this defect, the Renault spokesman told the news agency.
Daimler confirmed separately to Reuters it was recalling the Citan to check whether brake lines were incorrectly installed on models built between September 2012 and May 2013.
In Germany alone, Mercedes is recalling 6,597 vehicles, a spokeswoman said. Daimler did not provide the news agency figures for how many vehicles were being recalled in Europe.
According to Reuters, the Citan has proven to be problematic for Mercedes. In May last year, the German automaker recalled 3,500 units in Europe because of faulty airbags, shortly after the model scored only three out of five stars in a crash survey conducted by the Euro New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP).
The current recall has been under way since the end of July and requires vans to go to a workshop for about an hour, the spokeswoman said. No people have been hurt as a result of this potential fault, she added.
The Citan and Kangoo are built at Renault’s Maubeuge plant. In 2013, Renault made 137,715 in total of which 17,687 were for Mercedes.
Renault formed an alliance with Daimler in 2010 to cooperate on commercial vehicles, small cars and powertrains.
