Stellantis recalls 68,000 Citroën C3, Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa over 'fire risk'

It never ends. Already entangled in the affair of defective airbags , Stellantis is now facing a "possible damage to the cooling nozzle of the oil jet" of the 1.2 PureTech engines of some of its vehicles. Nearly 68,000 cars of the Citroën C3, Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa brands sold between October 2022 and 2024 are affected by a recall campaign, according to information from La Provence Monday February 24.

In detail, it is precisely 57,000 Citroën C3s, 2,500 Peugeot 208s, and 8,700 Opel Corsas that need to be repaired. These cars "may be faced with premature deterioration of the oil jet cooling nozzle. The internal parts of the nozzle (piston) can reach the crankshaft, (an essential component of an engine that converts the movement of the pistons into rotation, editor's note) damaging them and causing the engine to stall. In rare cases, a fire may break out," the group explained to Libération .

A defect of this type causes a “popping noise” or “loss of propulsion” . The sudden stopping of the engine or even "a burning smell" should also alert drivers, Stellantis explains, without specifying whether cases of fire have already been reported.

Decryption

"This is not a problem with the engine design but with the supplier, who has deviated from the manufacturing quality of these nozzles" , justifies the car manufacturer. A failure which is therefore not linked to the problems already known by these 1.2 PureTech engines and which does not concern the Turbo models either.

Stellantis had indeed experienced several setbacks with this type of engine developed by PSA (Peugeot-Citroën). Excessive oil consumption and/or premature degradation of the timing belt was the main cause of anomalies. At the beginning of January, the group launched a retroactive compensation platform for customers who had problems with this engine between 2022 and 2024.

The group is currently contacting affected users by mail. Therefore, "we ask our customers to immediately contact the dealer network to set up an appointment," explains the manufacturer. The repair, which is free, only takes half an hour and consists of replacing the engine oil and the oil filter.

An additional malfunction for Stellantis, already in the midst of a recall campaign of 236,000 vehicles in northern France due to the failure of Takata airbags. In France, 14 people have died as a result.