Holden Captiva 2008 News

Manufacturers including Hyundai, Holden, Jeep, Peugeot, Citroen and Audi have all issued safety recalls for various models, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) into customer complaints against Holden, the carmaker has re-addressed its obligations to consumer guarantees.

Holden is recalling almost 3000 of its Captiva family SUVs because the car could lurch forward by itself if the keys are left in the ignition of certain models.The car maker is attempting to contact 2951 owners of Captiva 5 and Captiva 7 vehicles made between 22 February 2007 and 25 November 2010.The engine may crank over and the car may move forward half a metre or soThe recall affects only models with manual transmission, the bulletin says."If the key is left in the ignition and the car is still in gear … there is a chance the engine can crank and cause the car to lurch forward," said Holden spokeswoman Kate Lonsdale."The car won't drive off but the engine may crank over and the car may move forward half a metre or so."Holden says it has had seven reported incidents in Australia but no accidents and injuries occurred as a result of the fault.The recall is similar to one on the Holden Barina and Trax models late last year where a faulty ignition led to the same fault.However, the Captiva was not recalled at the same time because the faulty part was made by a different supplier.Holden says the latest ignition recall issue in Australia is unrelated to recalls in the US last year for ignition faults that affected more than 2.6 million vehicles and was linked to 84 deaths.Holden has had three recalls so far this year, the same number as Jeep.Last year both Holden and Jeep set a new record with 14 recalls each in a calendar year.

Just a brief look into any junior sports club shows fewer people now do more to keep such clubs and teams afloat.

The car industry is reeling from the Federal Government's increase in the luxury-car tax.

They are hybrids and the best-known is the Toyota Prius, though there is a range of Lexus hybrids up to the flagship LS600hL.

The all-wheel-drive rival to the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic could be on Australian roads within 18 months if planners at Fishermans Bend can make a successful business case for local customers.General Motors is keen to get the car into Australia as it accelerates a compact hybrid plan built around the Captiva wagon built in Korea and its American clone, the Saturn VUE.There is a mild hybrid VUE, which uses an engine-kill system with an energy recovery system from the brakes, but GM is working flat-out on a two-mode hybrid and then a plug-in model to follow it.The Captiva plan will take precedence over work on a hybrid Commodore, even though Holden began development on its E-Commodore more than five years ago, but there is still work to do before there is a car for showrooms.“It's not definitely coming to Australia, but I would tell you it's something I've been pushing to get done,” the former chairman of GM Holden and now global head of engineering integration in Detroit, Denny Mooney, says.“It shouldn't be that hard to get it done. That's a job for Mark Reuss when he gets to Australia.”Mooney says the plan with the VUE and Captiva is to give GM an advantage over Toyota. The rival group has led the world into the hybrid era with its Prius and petrol-electric versions of the Lexus RX, GS and LS.“It puts us ahead of the Prius on technology,” he says.“The major thing it does do that the Prius does not is to give you a lot more range on electric power. You can drive much further as a pure electric car. The way the electric motors work in tandem gives you more efficiency.”The Captiva-VUE will be the world's first two-mode hybrid with a transverse engine layout, following the larger Tahoe four-wheel drive with an inline powertrain. It has taken more work to package the system into a layout that can also be adapted to GM's front-wheel drive vehicles.“We're in production with the Tahoe right now,” Mooney says.He believes GM is capable of overtaking Toyota with its spread of green hybrids, even though the company has announced a big commitment to ethanol in existing gasoline engines. It has formed a joint venture to produce ethanol from non-feed sources, a breakthrough that could boost the world's petroleum resources and breathe extra life into internal combustion engines.Even so, GM is a convert to hybrid and Mooney is working on a range of plans up to the production version of the futuristic Volt — a pure electric car with a petrol “range extender” engine to charge its onboard batteries — with the emphasis on hybrids.“The volumes might not be that great, yet,” Mooney says.“But we'll get there.”The VUE is a BAS hybrid, that cuts off at idle and gives a boost from standstill. “The two-mode hybrid, which is similar to the Tahoe hybrid, is about a year and a half away,” Mooney says. “That will be big.“Then we're doing a plug-in version of that, with a lithium-ion battery.”Mooney says the production plan could be accelerated and is calling on GM Holden to push for an early introduction of the full hybrid Captiva.“It could be a year away,” he says. “The biggest issue is getting a build program that makes sense. That is probably the biggest rub on getting it to Australia.“We will see it is a Saturn VUE but that is identical to the Captiva and it is built in Mexico for the US.” 

There has been a rash of locally developed high-performance off-roaders such as the Ford Territory FPV F6 and Toyota's HiLux TRD. Now Holden Special Vehicles is looking to get in on the act.