Stellantis carries out a new recall in France, 68,000 cars affected

The figure is less significant than last week but still significant. The Stellantis group recalled 68,000 vehicles across France on Monday morning due to a "problem with the oil jet cooling nozzle". In detail, 57,000 Citroën C3s, 8,000 Opel Corsas and 2,500 Peugeot 208s are affected. The cars, manufactured between 2022 and 2024, share the other common feature of being equipped with the 1.2 PureTech engine , a three-cylinder petrol model.

"We are issuing a recall because we consider that safety is a priority, it is the precautionary principle," the car manufacturer group told BFM Business, referring to "a problem with a supplier."

Stellantis believes the problem identified poses a fire risk: if the engine stalls, the part can break and spray oil onto the exhaust. Motorists will be informed by mail and will then be able to go to their dealership to benefit from a free half-hour repair that will include replacing the engine oil and the oil filter.

Last Monday, some 236,900 Citroën C3 and DS 3 owners in northern France were told to stop driving while their airbags were changed , as part of a new wave of groundings linked to the Takata scandal. These airbags are likely to cause serious injuries and have already caused at least one death in mainland France and eleven overseas, where the climate degrades one of their components more quickly, according to the Ministry of Transport.

After several fatal accidents, a first immobilization campaign — called "stop drive" — had already been launched by Citroën and DS in early 2024 in southern Europe and the Maghreb, immobilizing thousands of motorists for weeks. In France, it concerned the south of the country and especially overseas. The decision to begin recalls in these regions was taken "on the basis of criteria of heat and humidity of climates over the long term", the two factors that damage these airbags, according to Stellantis, the parent company of Citroën and DS.

The vehicles affected by last Monday's recall are located north of a Lyon-Clermont-Ferrand line and were registered between 2008 and 2013. Citroën had already called on them to go to the garage since January 2025 but without immobilizing them. New tests carried out on a car in Loire-Atlantique, north of this line, showed a "degradation of the properties" of ammonium nitrate, the product used to inflate the cushion in the event of an accident, according to a spokesperson for the Stellantis group to AFP. The Stellantis group has therefore decided to extend the immobilization measure to the rest of France "as a precaution", he said. Owners of these vehicles are asked to make an appointment on the Citroën website.