Well to coin a phrase ,
"there is no smoke without fire"!
And above :-
I haven’t read anything about it happening in the UK.
And to that I would state that
"you would be the last to know about it ol' mate"!
What I will do is tell you that having worked in technical/engineering service for three manufactures
you keep your trap shut about evolving serious defects.
In fact one manufacturer even today has you sign a confidential no disclosure. restrict comment form upon accepting an employment offer & that applies even to seemingly silly failure problems.
With more than than 20 years in the vehicle manufacturing business you deal with all sorts of what are seen as erroneous problems.
Different territories create different technical problems, sometimes serious issues, many costly to resolve !
A very British comment was
"If it works here it will work in Yankeeland"! Often not
Then there are the debacles ;_ Mixing up manufacturers on such things as a Gleeson machine tool (made in the USA ) for a differential crown wheel (ring gear) and the matching part made on an Oerlikon machine (Swiss) for the pinion !
One makes a US designed involute tooth form the other a Euro spec one , in short no workee --US & Euro don't mix ! Whoops!
Then you have the Sudan export production and the BMC Woofer ! In short a very funny escapade but serious non the less with "legs out of bed" (connecting rods sheering )
And without making this a long novel like post and citing engine short of some profound design features & parts quality issues.
A tricky one that, and it was tantamount to
bamboozling the customer base worldwide !
It prompted a German fleet engineer to state in frustration
"I don't know how you British and those American cousins of yours ever won a war, both of you are SO disorganized".
To that I kept my trap shut and thought --
We are cleverer than you might think! 
Tuercas Viejas
,
www.motor-talk.de
