BYD has issued a recall for the Shark 6 double-cab bakkie in global markets due to a potential safety risk involving the spare wheel, which is mounted to the vehicle’s undercarriage.
The Chinese automaker sent a notice to its Australian division, warning that it had identified a flaw with the pickup’s spare wheel that can cause it to detach in certain circumstances.
It noted that this may occur due to the positioning of the spare wheel tray or insufficient fastening torque, which may lead to increased wear on the spare wheel support cable.
The continued movement and friction created during vehicle operation may cause the cable to fail, resulting in the spare wheel detaching from the car while it’s in motion.
“This may create a hazard to other road users and potentially cause serious injury or death,” said the company.
BYD has issued an urgent recall for owners to bring their Shark models to their nearest dealership, where the spare wheel lifter assembly will be replaced with an updated design.
The carmaker stressed that this service will be carried out at no cost to the consumer. The replacement will take roughly 30 minutes, though BYD said the car may need to spend more time at the dealer.
Owners who are not immediately able to take their cars in for the replacement are urged to remove the spare wheel by following the instructions in their owner’s handbook.
This recall applies to 32,009 Shark models sold in Australia, including both the Premium and Performance specifications.
The Premium units were built between 29 August 2024 and 12 June 2026, while the Performance units were manufactured between 27 January 2026 and 15 June 2026.
Importantly, both of these are also sold in South Africa. Our sister publication MyBroadband asked BYD South Africa whether the models here are also affected by the recall.
The company did not respond by the time of publication. Its response will be added to this article once received.
At the time of writing, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) has also not published a recall notice for the BYD Shark.
While it is currently unconfirmed whether the South African models face the same issue, they are identical to the Australian units in terms of specifications.
Bakkie recalls a common occurrence in South Africa in 2026
Thousands of vehicles have already been recalled in South Africa this year. Most recently, Isuzu put out a notice for 2,586 D-Max bakkies.
“According to the supplier, there is a possibility that the brake pedal pivot pin may be loose,” explained the NCC.
“In this case, the brake pedal may move laterally (sideways) during brake application.”
The Ford Ranger has been recalled multiple times. In April, 438 current-year models were called in due to a problem with the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve, causing it to fail and resulting in a loss of engine power.
In a separate recall, Ford noted that 2017 to 2020 year-model Ranger and Everest units had a problem with their 10R80 transmission.
A third recall affected over 2,000 Ranger units sold in 2026, concerning an issue with the side curtain airbags that may cause them to not deploy properly.
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