Faulty Chinese part forces major Aston Martin recall

The Aston Martin Virage was one of several models the carmaker recalled after a Chinese supplier was found using a counterfeit plastic material. Provided to China Daily

Aston Martin is recalling sports car models built since late 2007 after discovering a Chinese parts supplier was using a counterfeit plastic material in a part supplied to the luxury carmaker.

The British luxury carmaker is recalling 17,590 cars, including all of its left-hand-drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand-drive models built since May 2012, affecting about 75 percent of all vehicles built in that period, a spokeswoman said. The Vanquish model is not affected.

Aston Martin found that Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co, a subcontractor in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, was using a counterfeit plastic material in making accelerator pedal arms for the sports carmaker.

The subpar plastic was supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co of Dongguan, Guangdong province, according to documents filed with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's quality watchdog and top authority for vehicle recalls, had not commented on the recall by press time on Thursday.

Calls to the Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co also went unanswered on Thursday.

The 2008-14 models are being recalled because the accelerator pedal arms may break, increasing the risk of a crash, according to the US traffic safety administration. This recall replaces the recall announced last May and expanded in October.

The automaker first launched an internal investigation into the pedals after it received a report from a US dealer in Connecticut, who claimed the pedal arm broke during a repair for the second recall, according to the US traffic safety watchdog.

It then suspended shipment of the allegedly faulty pedals and later determined that the tier-three supplier, Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co of Dongguan, was manufacturing pedal arms with non-conforming counterfeit material.

The automaker said that going forward, representatives of Aston Martin will supervise the production of all pedal arms in China.

It also plans to resource the manufacture of pedal arms from China to the UK as soon as possible.

A spokeswoman for Aston Martin said there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, and the financial impact to the automaker was small.