ACCC releases list of 500,000 Mitsubishi car models in Australia recalled for defects

Products recalls over safety issues have been in the news lately. First, there was the IKEA recall of 29 million dressers and chests after six children were killed, and now Mitsubishi is recalling half a million car models.

On the same day that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released the ninth of nine separate alerts involving thousands of vehicles sold by Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi in Australia, Tesla reported its first fatality involving a car on self-driving mode, reports Herald Sun. The issue highlights the importance of vehicle safety features as more automakers experiment with self-driving cars.

Daily Mercury reports that among the Mitsubishi models, sold the past 10 years, being recalled are the Triton, Lancer, Pajero, Colt, Lancer Evolution and Ralliart. For the super-sporting vehicles, the issue was its parking brake cable which could interfere with the fuel tank.

Some drivers have also complained of the electrics in the turn signals wearing out and stopped working for the Pajero, Triton, Outlander, Lancer and Challenger models. Meanwhile, one of the control panels in the i-MiEV has circuit voltage that could become unstable and cause its malfunction lamp to illuminate.

It activates the fail-safe control mode which restricts driving motor power. The motor could lose power and the situation could potentially turn into a vehicular accident.

Toyota also recalled about 324,000 vehicles due to cracks that could develop in its fuel suction plate and cause a leak for vehicles with full tank of petrol. Toyota explains that fuel or fuel vapour in the presence of an ignition source could increase the risk of a vehicle fire.

Tesla identified the fatality as Joshua Brown of Williston, Florida, who died on May 7 when the camera of his vehicle failed to distinguish the white side of a turning truck, driven by Frank Baressi, from a brightly lit sky and failed to automatically activate the brake. Baressi adds that Brown was “playing Harry Potter on the TV screen” when the accident occurred. The Tesla vehicle hit and broke a telephone pole a quarter mile down the road.

VIDEO: Mitsubishi Motors recalls 195,000 of its cars