[THE INVESTOR] Renault Samsung Motors had the highest recall rate among local automakers over the past five years, according to a lawmaker on Sept. 22.

Citing data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Rep. Yoon Hoo-duk of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea said the local unit of French automaker Renault recalled a total of 765,435 units from 2011 to the first half of this year. 




According to data from Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the automaker sold 436,111 units during the cited period. This means it recalled 1.8 units of vehicles for every car sold.

By units, Hyundai Motor recalled the largest number of vehicles at 1.22 million during the period.

GM Korea followed the list with 629,014 units, Kia Motors with 389,869 and Ssangyong Motor with 161,623.

Breaking down, GM Korea’s recall rate came to 0.8 units for every car sold, followed by Ssangyong with 0.4 units, Hyundai with 0.3 and Kia with 0.1.

For foreign automakers, BMW Korea had recalled the most number of units at 140,867 units.

Mercedes-Benz Korea ranked second with 68,272 units, trailed by Audi Volkswagen Korea with 68,104, Toyota Korea with 56,508 and Honda Korea with 43,152.

On average, Honda had the highest recall rate with 1.9 units, while Toyota stood at 0.7, BMW with 0.7, Mercedes-Benz with 0.4 and Audi Volkswagen with 0.3.

The ranking, however, is subject to change as it does not include the massive recall order of 125,519 cars by Volkswagen. The German automaker has submitted recall plans of the vehicles to the Ministry of Environment, but the authorities rejected the plan for insufficient documents. 

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)