The Amarok recall affects 239,000 Amarok models globally (12,359 in Germany) built between its launch and June of this year. In the UK, the recall applies to 4,279 models.

VW Commercial Vehicles said that the issue had been identified by its quality assurance team, with the 2.0-litre TDI engine possibly being affected by leaks to the fuel pipe within the engine compartment. In order to avoid any accidental damage to the fuel lines a chafe protector is being fitted at the affected points as part of a global recall programme.

UK vehicle owners will be informed in the coming weeks.

In addition, around 800,000 Tiguan models, built between the beginning of 2008 and the middle of 2011, are being recalled due to a possible issue with one of the vehicle lights failing.

The carmaker said the fault was again identified by its quality assurance teams, which found that, in isolated cases, a fuse may trip in the Tiguan, thus resulting in the failure of one of the two vehicle light circuits. This in turn causes individual light functions to fail. However, the vehicle’s electric circuitry ensures that some lights remain on all around the vehicle. The driver is immediately informed of this on the instrument cluster.

The firm added that replacing the fuse with one with a tougher surface coating only takes a few minutes.

According to a VW spokesperson, a number of vehicles are affected in the UK with action to be taken but a full recall won’t be undertaken.

Last year saw the BVRLA launch a free-to-use electronic vehicle safety recall system, ReCare, developed by online solutions provider Ebbon-Dacs to help fleets with recalls.

The system identifies subscribers’ individual vehicles that are subject to safety recall notices and delivers regular reports to manufacturers on which registered keepers have been notified. The information is made available from a single online source, cutting the time and cost involved in processing recalls.