You’d be pretty happy if you had one of the latest Ferrari 458s, but maybe not quite so happy if you were one of the 9 owners whose cars had caught fire…

Anyone with more than a little petrol in their veins will be saddened by that video. A beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia going up in flames in China. This happening to one car would be terrible, but 9? That’s when people, and the world’s media start to ask questions.

And now finally Ferrari North Europe have stepped up and admitted that there is an issue with their latest Supercar, and have ordered a full recall of every one of the 1,248 458 Italias made.

The issue is that in certain circumstances; namely high ambient temperatures and very high engine bay (exhaust) temperatures; the rear wheelarch liner can deform due to the heat. This deformation can push the wheelarch liner heat shield closer to the exhaust, causing the glue used to fix the heat shield to catch fire. Yes, that’s right, the glue for the heat shield can catch fire. Someone really didn’t think that through very well…

All the cars made since July are to be recalled, and Ferrari will replace the heat shield wheelarch liner with one which is held in using mechanical, not glued methods. Also Ferrari will replace any car found to have been damaged due to this issue, free of charge with a new car as soon as they can. Good job really…

Here are some pics of the offending BBQs, sorry, Ferraris:

Leave a comment below if you want to share in the sorrow of the owners watching their new €200,000 car going up in flames!