Ferrari 458 Italia recall?

Just 1 of at least 10 Ferrari 458 Italia Fires

With the Ferrari 458 Italias seemingly spontaneously combusting on all continents, it’s being reported Ferrari are recalling the 458 to fix a problem which could cause the fires.

Update 1/9/2010: It took Ferrari a while to catch up with our story – well, a couple of days – but they got there. Ferrari say the fires on the 458 Italia are caused by the glue attaching a heat shield catching fire under high temperatures. Which sounds extremely odd, but that’s the explanation.

It seems there are as many as 1200 Ferrari 458 Italias in the wild and they’ll all get a recall to attach the heat shield with rivets instead of glue.

Either that or a packet of rivets and a rivet gun in the post. We’re not sure which.

We haven’t run much on the stories of the burning Ferrari 458 Italias. We always feel rather ghoulish reporting on the demise of a supercar, be it through fire or accident. But there comes a time when we have to report, and that time comes when it seems clear that there is at least a possibility that the incidents are being caused by a problem with the wrecked cars, rather than just an accident per se.

And it does look as if we’re at that place with the Ferrari 458, Maranello’s glorious creation which has recently arrived in customers’ hands. We now have reports of ten (we think) 458s which have gone up in smoke, which with the relatively modest number of 458s currently on the road has to be more than coincidence.

We’ve asked a couple of 458 owners if they’ve had feedback from Ferrari on the spontaneously combusting 458s, but so far none has been informed of any action by Ferrari or any cause for the fires. But this morning Jalopnik are reporting that they’ve spoken to a 458 owner who has heard from Ferrari. Maybe Jalopnik’s 458 owners are higher priority than Cars UK’s?

Anyway, the importance of our respective 458 owners apart, what has Jalopnik got on this that we haven’t? According to their tame owner, he’s received letter from Ferrari saying that ‘…a gas overflow tube and gas vapor system were placed too close to the engine, thus creating the possibility of a fire’.

Which makes sense, even if the fact that one owner in the States has a letter when two owners in Europe we’ve spoken to haven’t heard anything doesn’t.

So it looks probable that Ferrari are doing a recall. But take it as unconfirmed until we can get something from Ferrari. Or at least an owner we know.

Source: Jalopnik