Recalls have hit an all-time high this year, so far totaling nearly 54 million vehicles. But even as daily headlines outline the risks of deadly defects like the General Motors ignition switch problem and Takata’s faulty airbags, millions of those vehicles will never get repaired, according to industry analysts.
With the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stymied – even after pressing automakers to increase contact with owners of vehicles impacted by recalls – federal lawmakers may soon step in. One approach under study would bar motorists from registering vehicles that have not undergone repairs.
Automakers, who have found it difficult to recall compliance rates much beyond 75% to 80% appear to be warming to the idea.
“There could be some support” for legislation that would withhold vehicle registration renewals until repairs are made, said Rick Schostek, an executive vice president with Honda North America.
Honda has been one of the maker’s hardest hit by the Takata airbag problem, which led to an unprecedented recall of 7.8 million vehicles last month, mostly in humid regions of the country where the problem is considered most severe. NHTSA has since ordered the recall be expanded on a national basis.
Honda took heat during Senate hearings last week when Stephanie Erdman told members of the transportation committee that she was “never told about (an earlier) recall” that saw a faulty airbag in her Honda Civic explode and send shrapnel into her eye.
She testified that she only discovered after the crash that the Honda recall notice was returned to the company as undeliverable. But Erdman also noted that her Honda dealer failed to advise her about the problem during the three service appointments she had leading up to the crash.
Automakers don’t deny they often have problems reaching consumers to alert them to problem. It’s an especially big issue when it comes to older vehicles that might have been traded in or sold several times, making it harder to find a current owner.
Even then, manufacturers note that a surprising number of owners simply ignore recall notices. In some cases, it’s because they might consider a problem too insignificant to bother with – such as with several service actions that advised motorists the tire inflation stickers in the driver’s door jam had incorrect numbers.
“But even a minor problem can be deadly,” said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety, who pointed to the use of improperly inflated Goodyear tires on Ford Explorers that led to more than 200 fatalities.
In a bid to increase recall response rates, manufacturers have come up with a number of tactics, including making repeated follow-up calls. GM, which has yet to see nearly half of the vehicles impacted by the ignition switch problem repaired, recently turned to bribery. It mailed out $25 gift cards, offering to activate the cards once repairs were made.
Nonetheless, few expect to see the maker come close to a 100% response rate. In fact, CarFax which tracks the history of most vehicles on U.S. roads, expects more than 7 million vehicles will fail to get the necessary repairs made for the recalls announced in 2014. As many as 37 million vehicles on U.S. roads are subject to at least one uncompleted recall.
Lawmakers and regulators are looking at several ways to deal with the problem.
NHTSA itself recently launched a website where owners can plug their Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, into a database to check for an outstanding recall. All automakers must now maintain a similar database on their own consumer websites.
Service shops, both those run by automaker franchisees, as well as independent garages, may be required to check the federal database and advise motorists who come in for service or repairs.
Going a step further, the federal government may require individual states to confirm a vehicle has had all necessary recall repairs made before an owner could re-register the vehicle.
“It’s a good idea,” said the Center for Auto Safety’s Ditlow said, noting that, “California won’t give you a registration if you have an emissions recall. Why not a safety recall?”
There are some potential problems with such a blanket approach, however. In many cases, owners who do try to get repairs made are told to wait – sometimes for months.
GM announced its ignition switch recall in February but didn’t have enough parts to handle all possible repairs until October. NHTSA officials last week blasted Fiat Chrysler for the long delay in completing repairs linked to possibly fiery crashes in some Jeep models, and Takata has no clear answer as to how long it will take to supply the necessary airbag replacement parts.
Refusing to provide registrations to owners who do seek repairs would be an unnecessary burden, some warn, and could force some motorists off the road, at least temporarily.
As NHTSA and Congress look for answers, however, the death toll linked to recalled vehicles that have not been repaired is certain to keep rising.
Read the article in the Detroit Bureau
