Infiniti, the premium division of Nissan, will call back about 60,000 vehicles because of a steering system malfunction found in the car's autonomous driving system.
Stefan Weinmann, a spokesman for the carmaker, has informed the media that the recall will encompass all markets where the Infiniti Q50 sedan was distributed. This means that 28,182 Q50s will be called back in the United States, 3,804 in Canada and 6,894 in China.
A notable thing is that the Chinese market has two Q50 models: an imported one and a long-wheel base variant that is manufactured locally. The recall affects both variants.
The Infinity Q50 is the first model from the carmaker that comes with the ability to auto-drive on highways, as it features an adaptive steering system. Keep in mind that the luxury car needs certain conditions to operate safely on its own. As with most new technologies, it is expected for autonomous or semi-autonomous cars to have glitches in the implementation of software solutions.
According to Weinmann, the car's steering system can behave erratically "in certain rare circumstances, just after starting the vehicle." Shortly, a software error might "lead to a lack of steering responsiveness and change in turning radius."
The company aims to communicate with affected car owners about the recall this month and the next. Weinmann assures that the brand makes its customers' safety a paramount preoccupation.
The carmaker has in its plans to expand the semi-autonomous steering system to other models.
Roland Krueger, the helm of Infiniti, explains that the partial autonomous driving allows cars to go beyond 60 kilometers per hour (38 miles per hour) on the highway without needing drivers to have their hands on the wheel.
The Q50 models had been struck by technical problems before, and the irony is that the former problems popped up in the adaptive steering system, as well. The carmaker called back Infinity 2014 Q50 models after complaints surfaced that the electric steering system is vulnerable to freezing, which virtually disables the feature.
Two months ago, the parent company of Infinity, Nissan, joined the platoon of carmakers who called back vehicles because of airbag deployment issues.
Infiniti did not report any accidents related or caused by the steering problem. It is much more likely that the notifications about the issue came directly from customers, leading to an internal investigation.
Seeing how luxury brands such as Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus cater closely to their customers' satisfaction, it seems logical that the reported problem was quickly addressed.
