Subaru halted production in Japan in January for two weeks due to a potentially faulty component, and is now facing recall of 2.3 million vehicles.
Just a little more than a month after Subaru Corp. shut down its plants in Japan due to quality issues, the automaker is expected to recall about 2.3 million vehicles globally due to a brake light problem.
Excluding the Takata recall, it would mark the maker’s largest recall ever. The company has been battling quality problems for the past few years as its sales have grown substantially. The two-week shutdown in January came as a result of a defective power-steering component.
The part was used in Forester, Impreza and Crosstrek models. Many of those were shipped to the U.S. to be completed at the company’s plant in Indiana.
Subaru’s new problem, according to Reuters, requires the recall of nearly 2 million of its popular Impreza and Forester models in the United States and other countries. It will recall about 300,000 units in Japan to fix a fault with the brake light switch which can lead to ignition problems.
(Subaru shuts down plant in Japan due to part defect. Click Here for the story.)
The affected vehicles were manufactured from 2008 through 2017. Since late 2017, Subaru has suffered through a slew of issues including faulty components and inspections.
The company can ill afford a major problem as it’s already taken a hit to its reputation due to the part inspection scandal it suffered through recently. Additionally, Subaru cut its earnings forecast for this year due to rising recall costs
(Click Here for our first driving impressions of the new Subaru Ascent.)
Profits for the Japanese automaker have dipped each of the last three years, despite it setting new U.S. sales records each of those years. That said, officials revealed plans to produce 650,000 vehicles in Japan and 1.03 million globally this year, up 1% on the previous year.
It has forecast record global sales of 1.08 million vehicles, of which 700,000 are expected to come from the profitable U.S. market. After its strong results in 2018, it had good reason to expect an uptick.
(To see more about the impact of the inspection scandal on Subaru’s profits, Click Here.)
Subaru of America reported record-breaking sales of 680,135 vehicles for the 2018 calendar year; an increase of 5% over the previous annual record of 647,956 vehicles set in 2017. This marks the 10th consecutive year of record sales for Subaru of America and 11th consecutive year of sales increases.