AUDI has completed a recall of all 11,500 A3s sold in the UK in 1998 and 1999 after crash tests showed there was a danger of fire being caused in the rear seatbelt system.

The risk was discovered in the outer rear seatbelt covers during testing in Germany. Audi has now contacted the owners of all A3s, and a spokesman said: 'Only in severe cases would fire have been caused but we replaced the covers as a matter of course.'