Barely a month after launching the latest generation of its BlueChart cartography, Garmin announced a world-wide recall of the new chart cards.

Errors in the depth data on the new cards may have been at least partly to blame for two boats running aground in Sweden and Denmark. So far, the problem seems to be confined to Scandinavian waters, but Garmin says it cannot be certain that other areas are not similarly affected.

As a precautionary measure, all customers who have bought BlueChart g2 and BlueChart g2 Vision chart cards dated March 2009 are being advised not to use them, but to contact Garmin or their dealer for a replacement. When corrected versions of BlueChart g2 and BlueChart g2 Vision are available, they will be issued to affected customers free of charge, but Garmin warn that this may not be until the end of the year.

Until then, Garmin is handing out last year’s cards (dated July 2008) as temporary replacements.