Volkswagen has announced a recall of 15,902 of its Routan minivans in the United States to correct a defective wiring harness that could potentially spark a fire within the vehicles' door. The minivans, built between June 2008 - July 2009, were assembled by Chrysler in its Ontario plant. Chrysler recently recalled its Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans due to the same problem.
An improper routed wiring harness may allow the vehicles' lower sliding door hinge bracket to make contact and wear through the wire insulation. Contact with a 12V power feed circuit within the harness could result in a high-resistive short circuit within the latching mechanism located inside minivans' the sliding door. An overheated latch and fire within the vehicles' rear sliding door might then occur.
To fix the defect, Volkswagen said it will inspect the minivans' sliding door wire track wire assembly and the sliding door's power drive unit wire assembly for damage. The manufacturer said it will repair and replace necessary parts, tie strapping the two harnesses together and routing them under the sliding door's weather strip.
