Renault, Mercedes recall vans for faulty brake lines

FRANKFURT/PARIS (Reuters) - Renault has recalled almost half a million vehicles for brake problems also affecting Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Citan delivery vans, built in a French plant under the two carmakers’ manufacturing partnership. The Renault recalls, which began in August, cover about 402,000 Clio subcompact cars and 64,000 Kangoo vans built at its Maubeuge plant in northern France, a Renault spokesman said on Wednesday. The Clio recall covers vehicles assembled between February and April that may have a badly installed part that can rub on the brake lines, Renault said. The Kangoo delivery van recall was ordered earlier this month to correct faulty installation of the antilock braking system (ABS) in which some connectors were found to have been reversed. There have been no accidents or personal injuries as a result of this defect, the Renault spokesman said. Daimler separately confirmed it was recalling the Mercedes-Benz Citan small delivery van, which is based on the Kangoo and assembled in the same facility, to check whether brake lines have been incorrectly installed on models built between September 2012 and May 2013. In Germany alone, Mercedes is recalling 6,597 vehicles, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday. Daimler did not provide figures for how many vehicles are being recalled in Europe. The Citan, a derivative of the Renault Kangoo, has proven to be a problematic vehicle for Mercedes. In May last year, Mercedes recalled 3,500 Citan vans in Europe because of faulty airbags, shortly after the Citan scored only three out of five stars in a crash survey conducted by New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). The current recall program has been underway since the end of July, and requires vans to go to a workshop for about an hour, the spokeswoman said. No people have been hurt as a result of this potential fault, she added. The Mercedes Citan is built at Renault's Maubeuge plant, which also makes the Kangoo model. In 2013, Renault made 137,715 vehicles, of which 17,687 were Mercedes Citan models. Renault formed an alliance with Daimler in 2010 to cooperate on commercial vehicles, small cars and powertrains. (Reporting by Edward Taylor, Laurence Frost and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Mark Potter)