About 15,000 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport units are being recalled by Land Rover for a seatbelt issue.
The recall affects 9,259 examples of the Range Rover Sport and 5,553 examples of the Range Rover registered in the United States, making the total number of affected SUVs 14,812. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), these are models built between April 29 and October 17, 2016.
The company states that the emergency locking retractor (ELR) in the driver’s seatbelt assembly “is not to specification,” a problem it blames on a supplier. Therefore, the car-sensitive sensor mechanism will not lock when it’s supposed to if the SUV brakes before a collision, which increases the risk of an injury. In 2019, a campaign to address this problem was launched, but the service instructions provided to dealers contained an error, so some vehicles were inspected and released with faulty seatbelt mechanisms.
In June 2022, owners of affected SUVs will receive a letter from Land Rover asking them to have the driver’s seatbelt assembly inspected by an authorized Land Rover dealer. If a technician finds a problem with the part, it will be replaced without charge. Land Rover says that drivers who paid for this repair before the recall was announced will be eligible for a refund.