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Holden says that until the fix can be made to each vehicle, customers are encouraged to secure loose items in the cargo tray.
A Carsguide investigation has led to a major safety recall for the Holden VE Commodore ute.
The utes are subject to the recall over a latching problem with their tailgate first flagged by a Carsguide reader. A total of 34,379 vehicles are involved and will have their vehicle's tailgate latches replaced, a job which Holden says should take less than 30 minutes.
Carsguide was alerted to the drama by Brendan Wilson, the owner of a VE ute, who reported tailgate on his car and the identical vehicle of his business partner were coming unlatched. Even a loan vehicle from his Holden dealership had the same problem. He first noticed the problem after loading a ute with his tools, when the tailgate sprung open. But there was no help from his dealership, "just excuses", he says.
"The best excuse of all was if I was going to load the ute up I should put a rope around the tailgate," Wilson says. He was also concerned that Holden was not aware of the problem or the potential danger of an unlatched tailgate.
"Obviously Holden Australia are unaware of the problem as I believe, given the nature and possible dangers, they would have done a recall."
Carsguide reported his experience to Holden, which began an investigation and now admits a shortcoming in the VE ute.
"The results of our investigation tell us that the likelihood of a tailgate becoming unlatched is low, but we will always err on the side of caution and administer a recall to ensure customer satisfaction and safety," says Holden's director of warranty engineer, customer satisfaction and quality, Craig Porritt. He says the unlatching can occur because of pressure against the tailgate and Holden advises owners to be careful when loading their utes. Holden says that using one of its tonneau covers, either hard or soft, prevents the 'condition' from occuring on the ute.
"If a vehicle does not have a tonneau cover, we reccommend owners do not load items against the tailgate until the fix has been made," Porritt says. "Until the fix can be made to each vehicle, we ask our customers to continue to secure loose items in the cargo tray as recommended in the owner's manual and use a Holden tonneau cover where possible."
The ute recall is the latest in a number of successes by the Carsguide investigative team, stretching back to engine problems with Holden's Gen III V8. The engines used excessive amounts of oil, leading to failures, and Holden was forced to repair or replace many V8s fitted to VT Commodores.
