Ask The Best And Brightest: How Do You Handle Recall And Service Bulletins?
Since arriving at TTAC, I have been continually challenged and impressed by the B&B. The knowledge, wisdom, and rather civil discourse that arrives in response to the so-called journalism I produce is awe inspiring, often. Thank you, B&B. I’ve also been tasked with handling the GM recall story, given my technical background and my familiarity with GM’s processes at the dealer level – but today, I want to turn the floor over to you.
A recent New York Times article, raised the notion of GM’s seemingly nonchalant responses to quality issues with their vehicles. It’s been my goal in covering this matter to be as objective possible and present as many primary sources as possible. Getting carried away with a story like this is easy, and in my opinion, the NYT does just that. There’s little to no context for the reader, and most people are unfamiliar with recall processes for any OEM, let alone GM.
The Times analysis of service bulletins was limited to General Motors.
The article is centered around the letter from the NHTSA’s Frank Borris discussing GM’s responses to various safety recalls over recent years, a letter that apparently that came at GM executive Michael Robinson like a bolt out of the blue. Excluding the Cobalt ignition debacle, was GM truly surprised, rolling with the status quo until caught? Or are they particularly unique in their behavior?
Can we sit and point fingers at GM solely, or is this a common occurrence in daily operations at other manufacturers? My dealer experience ends with GM. Where does your experience begin? Work at a dealership with another automaker? Maybe you work in a similar engineering field, and have fought the wrath of bean counters? How do the other OEMs (Toyota, Ford, Honda…) mitigate product problems in practice, especially in the face of safety vs. costs? And how do they respond to field reports about product flaws?
Anonymous stories and tips can be emailed to Editors at ttac dot com
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When my son bought a CPO Sonata last year (from a Hyundai dealer), I was surprised to find that this dealer hadn't performed ANY of the 4 recall campaigns on the vehicle. They were nice people, but this seemed pretty negligent, and the issue only came up because I asked. Instead, I took it to a dealer closer to me, and was very well treated, with the work done in just a day. It's worth asking the question when you buy a used car.
Being new to the Ford brand, I'm not impressed. My Escape suffered a sudden complete loss of power steering boost from the electric steering. I found this is a well-known, but not "common" problem. Obviously it is a serious matter with safety consequences. It is most common with '08 and '09 Escapes. Ford has known about this for years. Only recently has there been a TSB issued, and for the more minor of the two failures. The TSB covers replacement of a control module, while some instances of this, like mine, require costly replacement of the whole steering column assembly. I'm told Ford has had information about this failure that is on some level less public than TSB's. What bothers me is that Ford continues to be comfortable charging full rates for repairing a design defect that endangers their customers, while being unwilling to repair under extended warranty those that have failed, let alone come to the plate with a full recall. The longer Ford delays dealing with this problem, the worse they're going to look. Expanded recall programs mean manufacturers will be responsible for supporting their products longer and deeper. Inevitably that will require new car price increases, but it means better ownership experiences and greater customer safety. Makers that can design cars that don't fail will enjoy better reputations and lower costs. Maybe development funds will shift from gee-wiz headlight and taillight "art" and toward safety and durability improvements.