Maserati Levante is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV that went on sale in Europe in May 2016 and in North America in September 2016. It is the company’s first SUV and a big competitor to the Cayenne. Maserati worked so hard to come on top of the SUV market, but just after few months after been on sale, they issued a recall for 3,299 examples of the Levante crossover. Vehicles in question are produced between July 1, 2016 and December 13, 2016.
According to Auto Guide, there was a claim filed in China regarding a transmission shift to neutral during low RPM operation that prompted Maserati to open an investigation on October 19, 2016. After the investigation was completed, Maserati decided that a recall was necessary and notes that all 100 percent of the units are affected by this issue.
As reported by Road Show, Maserati tested their vehicles extensively to replicate the bug, and the follow-up tests confirmed it. The issue occurs when Levante is operating at speeds of about 2 miles per hour, which is usually encountered during heavy stop-and-go traffic.
Maserati said the transmission may unintentionally shift into neutral, or it may just stall and conk out completely. Luckily for Maserati, this is a software bug and in order to remedy the issue, Maserati dealers will have to reflash the ECU software in the engine control module. The fix for the issue will be free of charge, and the owners will be notified at the end of March.
It seems that Maserati can’t catch a break with its Levante SUV. So far, this is Levante’s third recall according to the NHTSA. It would be hard for Maserati to proceed with their initial plan to double their annual sales. Despite Levante’s flaws, the car is still a worthy competitor to the likes of Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7, Jaguar F-Pace, Volvo XC-90, and more.
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