What’s With All the Auto Recalls?
Car recalls have been on the rise, or so it seems. Getting wind of the General Motors scandal and investigation after a recall of 6.3 million vehicles has caused companies like Toyota and Ford to make recalls for even more millions of vehicles.
But why?
The auto industry seems to be in a public relations crisis, scrambling to make sure the public knows that car manufacturers care about safety. According to an article from Mashable, cars have been recalled for a variety of reasons — big and small — including software-related glitches, modular manufacturing processes.
Industry experts say that these recalls are likely to continue to increase, at least for a while, due to mounting fear among automakers that they may be next under scrutiny by federal investigators — they are being proactive to avoid a fate like GM’s.
Toyota recalled 6.4 million vehicles for several different problems. The most common problem was with a spiral cable, which could be damaged if the steering wheel is turned causing the air bag to fail. Toyota said that this issues, and the others that warranted a recall, have not caused any accidents.
Usually, seemingly minor issues such as this would be handled with a Technical Service Bulletin, a more low-key way of communicating with car owners about potential issues with their vehicles.
According to the article, the point of view has changed from “How do we avoid a recall?” to “Let’s just do a recall on this and fix it right, and fix it fast.”
Despite all the recent recalls, experts say that cars aren’t any less safe than in the past. According to a representative from the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: “While recalls are important, defects play a small role in the overall highway safety picture.”
While this may be true, it is important to be aware of recalls and possible issues with your vehicle. If you have been in an accident and believe it is due to a defect of you vehicle, getting in contact with a product liability attorney in your area could be an important next step.
The article’s photo comes courtesy of Flickr contibutor, Nikos Koutoulas
