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Aston Martin is recalling more than 17,000 cars built with throttle pedals moulded in counterfeit DuPont resins by a Chinese supplier
Aston Martin hit by fake DuPont PA
UK-based high performance car maker Aston Martin has recalled some 17,590 vehicles manufactured since as far back as 2007 after discovering that counterfeit polyamide resins have been used to manufacture throttle pedal components by a Chinese sub-supplier. The car maker had specified a DuPont glass reinforced Zytel PA6 grade for the component but discovered that it was instead being moulded in alternative PA6 and PA6,6 resins sourced from suppliers said to be using fake DuPont PA6 packaging. The recall is a lesson in the difficulty of ensuring traceabil- ity and conformity through the complex multi-tiered supply chains used across the modern automotive sector. Aston Martin had identified a
potential problem with the throttle pedal on certain models early last year and had initiated a limited recall to replace those parts last autumn. It was the failure of one of these replacement pedals during installation at a
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North American dealership that prompted further investigation and lead to this year’s much wider recall, which involves the DBS, Rapide, Virage and Vantage models. In a letter to the Recall Management Division of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in January, the company said it had been unable to replicate the failure of the pedal and that tests on recently manu- factured parts showed they all exceeded the 600N design failure load. However, its investigation also showed the pedals were not being manufactured using the specified DuPont Zytel PA6 grade. Aston Martin’s letter to the NHTSA said the throttle pedal assemblies are manufactured by UK-based Precision Varionic International. It sub-contracted supply of the pedal arm to Hong Kong- based Fast Forward Tooling, which appointed moulding of the pedal component to Shenzen Kexiang Mould Tool in China. The counterfeit resin
INJECTION WORLD | March 2014
was said to be supplied by Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Company of Dongguan. The car maker said it is now
working with DuPont to ensure that the correct material is used by its Chinese suppliers. It says representatives of both companies will be “physically present” in China to directly supervise the production of all pedal arms. “DuPont validates the material used to manufac- ture the pedals as being DuPont material. Aston Martin validates that all moulding process controls are correct,” the company said. However, attempts by a number of media organisations to find out more about the car maker’s lower tier suppliers have proved challenging. Reuters, for instance, said last month that it was unable to locate either Fast Forward Tooling or Synthetic Plastic Raw Material Company and reported a spokesperson for Shenzen Kexiang Mould Tool denying that it produced any parts for Aston Martin. Aston Martin has said it
plans to relocate production of
the throttle pedal to the UK “as soon as possible.” The company declined to say whether it had defined the timescale for this move or whether it would be handled directly or by Precision Varionic International. Corporate communications manager Sarah Calam told Injection World: “We do not discuss the details of our supply chain or supplier agreements.” However, she added that the recall process and replacement of the pedals is progressing well. According to Reuters,
counterfeit versions of DuPont’s resins can be sourced from traders in China at 20-40% below genuine prices. DuPont told Injection World
“The best protection that customers and end-users have against counterfeit products and the potential consequenc- es of their use in highly engineered systems is to ensure that they and their supply chains buy only from DuPont and their authorised distributors.” ❙
http://bit.ly/AMrecall
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