Toyota claims a successful recall for models like the Camry involved in the sudden acceleration campaign - but perhaps a million vehicles will still never be repaired.
Perhaps a million or more Toyota owners have ignored a series of recalls due to potential defects that could lead their vehicles to unexpectedly accelerate out of control.
And that’s the good news. Officials with the Japanese automaker brag that they have had one of the most successful recall campaigns ever to repair potentially sticky accelerator pedals and carpets that can become trapped beneath the throttle, convincing upwards of 80% of their owners to bring in vehicles covered by the unintended acceleration recall campaigns. Most of the time, the response rate is significantly lower, often under 50%, according to industry officials.
And that’s a major problem cited by a new Government Accountability Office report that finds serious fault with the way recalls are conducted in the United States. It reveals that many American motorists routinely ignore warnings of safety defects and as a result there are millions of vehicles on the road that have never undergone necessary repairs for problems that can, in many instances, be extremely serious.
Notices of safety campaigns are routinely ignored, said the report, so that, “Many recalled vehicles are never fixed, posing a risk to vehicle operators, other drivers, and pedestrians.”
The GAO investigation was ordered by Congress in the wake of last year’s problems at Toyota, which raised questions about how both the auto industry and government overseers are handling safety problems.
The problem with owners ignoring recalls may actually be getting worse despite – indeed, perhaps because of — industry and government efforts to improve automotive safety. Manufacturers have come under increasing pressure to deal with potential problems – especially in the wake of the recent scandal at Toyota – and that resulted in the recall of more than 20 million vehicles in the U.S. last year. That was the highest figure since 2004. Millions more vehicles have already been recalled this year.
Some of the defects might be considered relatively minor and can be put on hold until an owner has the time to get to the repair shop, like the new recall involving defective Mazda windshield wipers, while others can prove more dangerous and immediate, such as one involving more than 1.2 million Ford F-Series pickups. A wiring problem could cause an airbag to unexpectedly ignite, causing an accident rather than protecting a driver in the event of a collision.
Why would a motorist risk driving around with such a serious defect? While some of the blame might go to the auto industry, the GAO report focused on what industry and, in particular, the Department of Transportation can do to increase recall response rates.
The study says that using the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website to publish recall notices is largely ineffective because few consumers either know of or use the site.
Meanwhile, though makers routinely send out notices to advise owners of new recalls, the GAO wants the message driven home by using “the word ‘urgent’ in large type to obtain readers’ attention.” The agency also recommends that recall notices include the specific VIN number of an owner’s vehicle, rather than a vague statement of what vehicles might be covered by the recall.
NHTSA, meanwhile, should begin to use the data it and the automaker already collect to understand why motorists might ignore recalls and then see how to improve the response rates.
The government watchdog agency also wants to see the law changed to allow NHTSA to notify used car shoppers if the vehicle they’re buying has a defect. Often, cars change hands without the new owners being aware of recalls – or knowing if the vehicles have actually had the necessary repairs completed.
Safety regulators have agreed to study the recommendations and find ways to implement them.
My daughter recently purchased a Chevy Cruze. Wonderful little car. Recently the Cruze became the subject of a recall, something to do with an owner reporting to Chevy the loss of directional control in a parking lot and Chevy determining that a recall needed to be conducted to investigate the problem and fix, if necessary. I read about the problem online in advance of the recall and called my daughter’s Chevy dealer and the service department didn’t have any info, even after checking their computer records and the VIN of the Cruze. It took over a month for my daughter to actually receive notification. I’ll never know how serious the problem was, or how urgent it was, but I do know that Chevy should have never allowed this info to be published that far in advance of notification of owners, or if early publishing of the recall was due to a leak, but one way or the other, this just points to why a lot of consumers don’t take recalls seriously. I am gratified that the auto companies, after the Toyota debacle, are being so diligent and forthcoming in issuing recalls, but I too believe the process should become a matter of more urgency. An idea I have would involve, at least for GM, an auto’s OnStar system. Not only would a GM owner receive written notification of a recall, but a message would also be played through the car’s OnStar system at startup, maybe limited to twice a day, that a recall had been ordered for the vehicle, and why the recall was in effect. Of course, even an old-fashioned phone call, even a robo-call, to owner’s of affected vehicles would be more effective than a card in the mail.