VH_Supra26
01-04-2009, 12:49 PM
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Friday, January 2, 2009
NHTSA finds 10.2M autos affected in '08, a 30% drop from '07 and the lowest total since '94.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Automakers recalled 10.2 million vehicles last year, down nearly 30 percent compared with 2007 and the lowest number of vehicles called back for repairs since 1994, preliminary government statistics show.
The decline came as the total number of recall campaigns jumped more than 9 percent to a record 642 from 588 in 2007, and those linked to investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rose to a record 233, up from 98 in 2007.
The improvement in the number of autos recalled is largely the result of better vehicle quality and a monitoring system that flags problems early, allowing carmakers to catch more problems and fix them sooner while calling back fewer vehicles, safety experts said.
"We're working to get more information from manufacturers and customers earlier," David Kelly, the acting NHTSA administrator, said in an interview Sunday.
Kelly said the early warning system was capturing better information from customer complaints, warranty claims and lawsuits, among other sources.
"We're not going to stop looking at the data" after a recall, he said, noting that NHTSA has often prodded automakers to expand recalls if necessary. "Manufacturers don't want to be labeled as having an unsafe car. They are paying attention."
The database was created as part of a 2000 mandate from Congress after the recall of 14 million Firestone tires that had been linked to the deaths of more than 270 people, mostly in Ford Explorers in rollover crashes.
Final 2008 recall figures won't be available until later this year, but through Wednesday, automakers had recalled 10.2 million vehicles. That compares with 14.5 million vehicles recalled in all of 2007, which was up from 11.2 million in 2006 but still far lower than a record 30.8 million vehicles called back in 2004 in 600 campaigns.
"Early-warning data clearly is something that's affecting everybody's consciousness on monitoring for recalls," said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm. But he also said that automakers are trying to keep costs down by limiting the scope of recalls to the fewest vehicles possible. Among the top six automakers, two of Detroit's Big Three fared well, with Ford Motor Co. sharply reducing its recalls to 1.6 million vehicles from 5.5 million in 2007, and Chrysler LLC dropping to just 360,000 vehicles from 2.2 million recalled in 2007. General Motors Corp. saw a sizeable increase, to 1.9 million vehicles recalled in 2008, up from 538,000 last year.
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. also recalled more vehicles this year than last, while Nissan Motor Co.'s tally dropped. Toyota called back 833,000 vehicles, up from 640,000 last year, but far below its 2005 tally of 2.2 million. Honda issued recalls for 797,000 vehicles this year, up from 550,000 in 2007, but down from 1.2 million in 2006.
Nissan recalled about 581,000 vehicles this year, down from 1.3 million in 2007.
GM's recall total increased mainly because of campaigns involving a large number of vehicles, spokeswoman Carolyn Markey said. The largest was in August and involved about 940,000 vehicles with a possible short circuit in a module that heats windshield-wiper fluid. The problem had not been linked to deaths or injuries.
"These are really small numbers when you compare them to the total number of vehicles recalled," Markey said. "Needless to say, fires are very serious." She said the company opted to conduct a wide recall "to make sure our customers are safe."
Another GM recall of more than 100,000 Pontiac Vibes was prompted when Toyota recalled the Matrix. The cars are built on the same line in a California plant run jointly by the two automakers.
Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said the company and NHTSA disagreed whether an issue involving a power rear liftgate on 196,000 2004-2006 Sienna minivans was a wear and tear issue, or a safety issue, but agreed to replace them anyway. NHTSA said the gates could fail and strike a person.
"We're up a tick," Kwong said. "(But) we're still very focused on quality."
Honda's recall count included two separate campaigns covering the Acura TL, including 273,000 models from 2004-08 because of an engine fire risk. Honda issued a separate recall for 130,000 of the same vehicles from 2004-05 for a windshield wiper motor problem. About 351,000 Honda Accords from the 2003 model year also were recalled for a similar windshield wiper problem.
Honda spokesman Chris Martin did not identify a specific reason for the automaker's higher recall count, noting that every recall campaign is different.
"Honda is pretty good at identifying potential problems by analyzing warranty and service data in order to catch things and identify affected vehicles," Martin said.
Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said the automaker has been working to improve quality and its vehicles have scored well in recent quality surveys.
Ford's recall numbers in 2008 improved after its 2007 tally was hurt by a nagging issue involving a defective cruise control deactivation switch that's been linked to dozens of fires in various Ford models. The automaker has recalled nearly 10 million vehicles because of the problem and last year NHTSA twice warned owners to get their vehicles fixed.
Early last year, Ford recalled 225,000 vehicles because of the cruise control switch. In May, NHTSA opened a preliminary investigation into whether the automaker should recall another 1.6 million 1995-2003 Ford Windstar minivans with the same switch. That probe was upgraded to an engineering analysis in September after NHTSA reported complaints of 419 fires. An engineering analysis may or may not lead to a recall.
Sherwood said Ford has seen no increased risk of fires in Windstar vehicles and doesn't believe they should be recalled.
Chrysler's largest recall last year was of about 180,000 2007-08 Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger cars to fix an electrical problem on vehicles equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system.
"We believe the decreased number can be attributed to Chrysler's strengthened focus on customer satisfaction, safety and quality at every turn," Chrysler spokesman Todd Goyer said.
Earlier this month, Dill Air Control Products LLC agreed to recall 1.8 million Chinese-made valve stems.
In October, NHTSA said it was investigating more than 1 million Ford vehicles that had Chinese-made valve stems manufactured by the same company. That followed a high profile recall of 255,000 Chinese-made replacement tires in August 2007 by New Jersey importer FTS.
In August, Nissan recalled 3,400 2009 Altima models equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels because some wheels were not manufactured to the company's specification in China.
NHTSA said the lug nuts attaching the wheel to the vehicle could loosen and possibly cause a crash.
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090102/AUTO01/901020337/1148
Friday, January 2, 2009
NHTSA finds 10.2M autos affected in '08, a 30% drop from '07 and the lowest total since '94.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Automakers recalled 10.2 million vehicles last year, down nearly 30 percent compared with 2007 and the lowest number of vehicles called back for repairs since 1994, preliminary government statistics show.
The decline came as the total number of recall campaigns jumped more than 9 percent to a record 642 from 588 in 2007, and those linked to investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rose to a record 233, up from 98 in 2007.
The improvement in the number of autos recalled is largely the result of better vehicle quality and a monitoring system that flags problems early, allowing carmakers to catch more problems and fix them sooner while calling back fewer vehicles, safety experts said.
"We're working to get more information from manufacturers and customers earlier," David Kelly, the acting NHTSA administrator, said in an interview Sunday.
Kelly said the early warning system was capturing better information from customer complaints, warranty claims and lawsuits, among other sources.
"We're not going to stop looking at the data" after a recall, he said, noting that NHTSA has often prodded automakers to expand recalls if necessary. "Manufacturers don't want to be labeled as having an unsafe car. They are paying attention."
The database was created as part of a 2000 mandate from Congress after the recall of 14 million Firestone tires that had been linked to the deaths of more than 270 people, mostly in Ford Explorers in rollover crashes.
Final 2008 recall figures won't be available until later this year, but through Wednesday, automakers had recalled 10.2 million vehicles. That compares with 14.5 million vehicles recalled in all of 2007, which was up from 11.2 million in 2006 but still far lower than a record 30.8 million vehicles called back in 2004 in 600 campaigns.
"Early-warning data clearly is something that's affecting everybody's consciousness on monitoring for recalls," said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm. But he also said that automakers are trying to keep costs down by limiting the scope of recalls to the fewest vehicles possible. Among the top six automakers, two of Detroit's Big Three fared well, with Ford Motor Co. sharply reducing its recalls to 1.6 million vehicles from 5.5 million in 2007, and Chrysler LLC dropping to just 360,000 vehicles from 2.2 million recalled in 2007. General Motors Corp. saw a sizeable increase, to 1.9 million vehicles recalled in 2008, up from 538,000 last year.
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. also recalled more vehicles this year than last, while Nissan Motor Co.'s tally dropped. Toyota called back 833,000 vehicles, up from 640,000 last year, but far below its 2005 tally of 2.2 million. Honda issued recalls for 797,000 vehicles this year, up from 550,000 in 2007, but down from 1.2 million in 2006.
Nissan recalled about 581,000 vehicles this year, down from 1.3 million in 2007.
GM's recall total increased mainly because of campaigns involving a large number of vehicles, spokeswoman Carolyn Markey said. The largest was in August and involved about 940,000 vehicles with a possible short circuit in a module that heats windshield-wiper fluid. The problem had not been linked to deaths or injuries.
"These are really small numbers when you compare them to the total number of vehicles recalled," Markey said. "Needless to say, fires are very serious." She said the company opted to conduct a wide recall "to make sure our customers are safe."
Another GM recall of more than 100,000 Pontiac Vibes was prompted when Toyota recalled the Matrix. The cars are built on the same line in a California plant run jointly by the two automakers.
Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said the company and NHTSA disagreed whether an issue involving a power rear liftgate on 196,000 2004-2006 Sienna minivans was a wear and tear issue, or a safety issue, but agreed to replace them anyway. NHTSA said the gates could fail and strike a person.
"We're up a tick," Kwong said. "(But) we're still very focused on quality."
Honda's recall count included two separate campaigns covering the Acura TL, including 273,000 models from 2004-08 because of an engine fire risk. Honda issued a separate recall for 130,000 of the same vehicles from 2004-05 for a windshield wiper motor problem. About 351,000 Honda Accords from the 2003 model year also were recalled for a similar windshield wiper problem.
Honda spokesman Chris Martin did not identify a specific reason for the automaker's higher recall count, noting that every recall campaign is different.
"Honda is pretty good at identifying potential problems by analyzing warranty and service data in order to catch things and identify affected vehicles," Martin said.
Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood said the automaker has been working to improve quality and its vehicles have scored well in recent quality surveys.
Ford's recall numbers in 2008 improved after its 2007 tally was hurt by a nagging issue involving a defective cruise control deactivation switch that's been linked to dozens of fires in various Ford models. The automaker has recalled nearly 10 million vehicles because of the problem and last year NHTSA twice warned owners to get their vehicles fixed.
Early last year, Ford recalled 225,000 vehicles because of the cruise control switch. In May, NHTSA opened a preliminary investigation into whether the automaker should recall another 1.6 million 1995-2003 Ford Windstar minivans with the same switch. That probe was upgraded to an engineering analysis in September after NHTSA reported complaints of 419 fires. An engineering analysis may or may not lead to a recall.
Sherwood said Ford has seen no increased risk of fires in Windstar vehicles and doesn't believe they should be recalled.
Chrysler's largest recall last year was of about 180,000 2007-08 Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger cars to fix an electrical problem on vehicles equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system.
"We believe the decreased number can be attributed to Chrysler's strengthened focus on customer satisfaction, safety and quality at every turn," Chrysler spokesman Todd Goyer said.
Earlier this month, Dill Air Control Products LLC agreed to recall 1.8 million Chinese-made valve stems.
In October, NHTSA said it was investigating more than 1 million Ford vehicles that had Chinese-made valve stems manufactured by the same company. That followed a high profile recall of 255,000 Chinese-made replacement tires in August 2007 by New Jersey importer FTS.
In August, Nissan recalled 3,400 2009 Altima models equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels because some wheels were not manufactured to the company's specification in China.
NHTSA said the lug nuts attaching the wheel to the vehicle could loosen and possibly cause a crash.
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090102/AUTO01/901020337/1148