Holden Barina in the clear on safety

HOLDEN has not been caught up in the latest wave of General Motors safety recalls, with none of its models caught up in the massive program now involving millions of vehicles in the United States.

The latest model to be hauled back to dealers for a fix in the US is the previous generation 2004-8 Chevrolet Aveo – sold in Australia as the Holden Barina – which has been recalled to fix daytime running lights that could overheat and set fire to the car.

Luckily for Holden, the same-generation Korean-built Barina was not fitted with the offending lights, which have forced the recall of more than 200,000 Aveos in the US.

Holden corporate communications manager Sean Poppitt said neither the Barina nor any other Holden-badged cars sold here had been involved in the most recent recall programs.

Last month, Holden announced the recall of 2700 1.8-litre manual Cruzes to replace driveshafts in a program related to the American recalls.

Since then, millions more cars have been added to the recall list in the US, but most of them are North American-only models ranging from older Chevy Malibus to the Cadillac Escalade SUV.

Last week, GM recalled 2.7 million cars, and then followed up this week with a further 2.6 million vehicles, including the Aveo.

The company was fined a record $US35 million ($A37.7m) by the US road safety watchdog – the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its handling of a faulty ignition switch that the US government blames for several road deaths in GM cars.

So far this year, recall notices covering 13.8 million vehicles – some more than once – have been issued by GM in a program that is likely to end up costing $1.7 billion.