Suzuki Recalls Grand Vitara, XL-7

Typically, Suzuki typifies the Japanese automaker’s mindset: better reliability through engineering. Anyone that has had the pleasure of owning, operating, or working on one of the small Japanese firm’s automobiles can attest to that. Be it the result of their famous motorcycle division’s attention to detail or a longstanding tradition of engineering excellence, the brand has enjoyed a relatively good reliability rating. But even the best have problems.

And apparently nearly 50,000 XL-7 and Grand Vitara SUVs have problems. According to the NHTSA, 2006 Grand Vitaras and 2005-2006 XL-7s may be fitted with faulty belt tensioners. Made of plastic, the tensioning pulley can deteriorate over time, eventually disintegrating and spitting chunks of plastic into the power steering pump pulley, subsequently dislodging the power steering pump and A/C compressor belt.