Chinese truck maker and new comer to the Australian market Sitrak or Sinotruck to give them their proper full name, has announced a product recall for a number of its C9 truck range, due to a manufacturing defect, with the recall notice citing the fact that the wiring harness connecting the trailer lighting may not have been assembled to specifications.
The Australian Government’s Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts revealed th recall on its website this week saying the problem was as a result of a faulty connection which it says may generate excessive heat that could lead to a vehicle fire.
The Department said in the recall that a vehicle fire could”increase the risk of an accident causing serious injury or death to vehicle occupants, other road users, bystanders and/or damage to property”.
Owners of affected Sitrak trucks will be contacted by Sitrak Australia and are requested to arrange to have their vehicle inspected and the work carried out, free of charge with their nearest authorised Sitrak dealer.The recall was issued for eight units from the2024 Sinotruk C9 truck models while separately in July this year a recall was announced for 305 Sinotruk T5G trucks from 2021 to 2024 model years due to a software issue, which could cause the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) to not function correctly, potentially causing the truck to exceed 100 km/h.
Sitrak trucks are made by Sinotruk, also known as China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Company (CNHTC), which has developed the Sitrak brand through a partnership with the German truck manufacturer MAN.
This collaboration claims to combine German engineering with Sinotruk’s manufacturing scale to produce a truck designed for both domestic and export markets. The Sitrak brand has been sold in Australiafor about five years.
It claims to be the largest heavy-truck export business in China, and says it has ranked first for heavy truck exports in China for 19 consecutive years.
The company says it has more than 40,000 employees and ‘dozens’ of factories, with a claimed annual production capacity of 300,000 heavy trucks and 200,000 light trucks.
