Chinese carmakers are recalling more vehicles. Guangzhou Toyota and Dongfeng Nissan have recently submitted files to China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ), applying for a recall of defective vehicles.

13 vehicle recall campaigns launched

Guangzhou Toyota called back 260,000 Camry cars to replace vacuum pumps, free of charge, starting April 24. The cars were mainly manufactured between May 2006 and March 2008.

Following Guangzhou Toyota, Nissan Motor Co's passenger car venture in China also filed an application of recall, aiming to call back 153,065 Teana sedans from June 12. An air tube inside the engine of the sedan may become disconnected as it was found to have substandard heat-resistance. If that happens, the engine dies.

In the report submitted to the GAQSIQ, the nation's product-quality watchdog, Dongfeng Nissan promised to repair all defective vehicles and eliminate risks.

According to the latest statistics, Chinese automakers have launched 13 vehicle recall campaigns, involving 465,428 units, from March till now.

Recall on new vehicles commonplace

Although recalls continue to increase throughout the auto industry, consumer attitudes remain positive, according to a study released recently. In fact, more than 50% consumers said recalls on new vehicles are commonplace.

On the contrary, in their opinions, quality, reliability and manufacturer reputation are meeting or exceeding their expectations.

An official from the Defective Products Management Center of AQSIQ indicated that the rise in recalls doesn't mean horrible product quality. "A car's composition consists of thousands of parts and components which are offered by hundreds of suppliers. It is unavoidable that defective components are designed and manufactured," he said.

Voluntary recall helps brand reputation

Recalls were rare in China as some automakers would refuse to call back faulty vehicles in the past. Compared with it, carmakers show more active response to vehicle recalls. The rise in recalls showed that carmakers had become more concerned about consumers' interests.

"With the rapid growth of possession quantity of cars in China, car manufacturers have to upgrade their competition abilities. Consumers pay more attention to service and brand reputation. Voluntary recall may help strengthen brand credibility," said a person working in a joint venture carmaker.

Global auto giants, such as Ford, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, made several large recalls every year, which turned out not to destroy the brand reputation, but make their products and service more reliable.

The latest figures show that carmakers in traditional markets of the United Kingdom and the United States called back 1.25 million vehicles and 2.22 million vehicles respectively in 2008. Especially voluntary recalls accounted for 60% of US recalls.