Currently reading: Aston Martin recalls more than 17,000 vehicles

British sports car manufacturer recalls several models due to concerns over counterfeit plastic components used in the accelerator pedal assembly

Around three-quarters of all Aston Martins built since late 2007 are being recalled, after a supplier was found to be using a counterfeit plastic material.

In total, 17,590 cars are being recalled, including all left-hand-drive models built since November 2007 and all right-hand-drive models built since May 2012. The latest Vanquish is not affected.

Chinese firm Shenzhen Kexiang Mould Tool Co Limited, which moulded the affected accelerator pedal arms for Aston, was found to be using counterfeit plastic material supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Co Ltd of Dongguan.

Although the plastic part was labelled as being an official DuPont product, subsequent checks revealed it to be counterfeit.

An Aston Martin spokesperson said that there had been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the issue, which had been under investigation since last May.

Owners are being asked to take their cars to a dealer, where a replacement part can be fitted in under an hour.

A replacement UK-based supplier has already been identified, according to the Aston spokesperson.

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Halfabee 6 February 2014

Common sense

I'm guessing the Chinese-made part was a bit cheaper than a UK-made one, but then you have to add in the cost of managing a supplier that far away, and then the damage to the brand when a remote supplier does something dodgy.....
At least common sense has prevailed and Aston have found a UK supplier. Maybe they'll re-source more parts back to the UK to avoid this kind of nonsense.
Chris C 5 February 2014

Aston Martin

The clue might be in the supplier name - the cost of the mould tool may have been substantial, especially when amortised over a relatively small volume. There are loads of Chinese mould tool suppliers offering very low (arguably state subsidised) prices.

It just shows how difficult it is to keep tabs on suppliers especially when they are thousands of miles away in different time zone working in an unfamiliar language. Many big name corporations have caught a cold as a consequence.

When I was at Aston Martin throttle pedal assemblies came from Scunthorpe and were made in metal - I know what I would prefer.... The UK plastic moulding industry is much smaller than it was but many potential expert but low cost suppliers exist much closer to home, eg Portugal and Italy.

Marc 5 February 2014

More surprising is the news

More surprising is the news that they've sold over 17000 of their shit boxes in that time!
kendwilcox47 5 February 2014

Grow up.

Marc;
Please grow up you silly little boy !.