Holden VE Commodore safety buckle recall

The recall affected the rear seat belt buckles in around 13,000 of the car makers newest line of vehicles, which were developed at a cost of a billion dollars and released in July.

Holden claimed no customer cases had been reported but the company was acting after the buckle supplier became concerned during routine testing.

"The supplier has advised there is potential for the rear seat belt buckles' internal spring, which operates the internal latch plate, to be bent during manual assembly of the buckles," a Holden statement said.

"In the unlikely event that this occurs, the tongue latch plate may not fully engage which may allow the belt to unlatch."

Holden claimed that the supplier had fixed the problem and has taken full responsibility.

The recall involves a total of 12,830 VE and WM vehicles (with tag numbers between L563891 and L859064) sold in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

All customers with vehicles within this range would be informed in writing by Holden and all three rear seat belt buckles would be replaced at no cost to the customer.

Three weeks ago Holden made a similar recall because of faulty hoses that caused fuel leaks in its top of the line V8 Commodore and Statesman models.

More than 32,000 new vehicles have been recalled in Australia since September to fix safety-related faults, according to Government records.

National recalls had been made by Holden, Honda, Jaguar, Chrysler, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Mitsubishi, Ford, Nissan and Subaru.

Any customer with concerns about the Holden recall is urged to call Holden Customer Assistance Centre on 1800 632 826 or the service department of any Holden dealership.