The South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport has ordered unrelated recalls of Mercedes-Benz and Ford vehicles in the country over potential defects, according to a report by the Yonhap News Agency. Mercedes-Benz is to recall 1,135 units of its E-Class sedan produced between 8 December 2015 and 10 May 2016, over issues with the powertrain control system. An error in the model's powertrain software may cause failure in transmission of engine power to the automatic transmission. The affected vehicles have not yet hit South Korean showrooms, so the company will update the software and resume sales after 3 June, said the Ministry. Separately, the Ministry also ordered Ford to recall 222 units of Lincoln MKX sedans produced between 22 September 2008 and 12 July 2010, to fix a problem with the fuel tank. No information about the schedule for Ford's recall was available at the time of writing this report.
Significance: Vehicle recalls have been rising in recent years as a result of a more proactive approach from automakers and legislative bodies following a series of industry-wide scandals. Recently, the South Korean transport ministry ordered the recall of 1,751 units of BMW 3-Series and 4-Series sedans over a potential issue with the fuel pump. Earlier this month, Ministry also ordered Mercedes-Benz to recall 26 units of the SLK 200 sedan produced between 29 April 2015 and 23 July 2015 over defective wiring that may cause the parking brake system to malfunction.
