NHTSA's New Tool Is a Deep-Dive Into 2022 Recalls
Recalls are a fact of life for automakers and car owners, but some brands tend to rack up more than others. The NHTSA released a useful tool that enables drilling down on recalls from across the industry. In 2022, Ford Motor Company took the cake, with 67 recalls potentially impacting millions of vehicles.
Volkswagen Group and Daimler Trucks round out the top three, followed by Chrysler and Forest River. If you’re not familiar with them, Forest River is a Berkshire Hathaway company that houses brands like Coachmen and Palomino RV. Interestingly, many of the company’s recreational vehicles feature Ford engines.
Beyond having the most recalls in 2022, Ford is also credited with the largest recall of the year. In June, the automaker recalled almost three million vehicles that could roll away due to a detached shift cable. That action wrapped up the Escape, C-Max Fusion, Transit Connect, and Edge.
Many recalls are for dangerous mechanical equipment defects and other problems, but many focus on problems that involve household-sounding items, especially when it comes to recreational vehicles. Many of the RV recalls are for things like built-in griddle cooktops that could cause a fire if put away while hot, bunk bed frame rails that are incorrectly attached, and fold-up dining table collapses.
[Image: Shutterstock]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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GM's "Ignitiongate" started the path. (well recent path) Pinto might have Started. So, are some Manufacture's Lawyers, more worried about litigation than expense to repair than others?
Ford's latest 1.5L 3 cylinder Recall, affecting over 500,000 units, with 20 reported fires (so far)
Or their previous Escape Coolant Leak causing a "Fire Risk", if the Vehicle is driven for a long period of time without coolant, with Warning Lights and reduced performance, could Overheat, causing debris to Combust
According to the NHTSA link, the last recall for Fiat was 07/20/1981. Except that doesn't agree with other data available from NHTSA.
Government: You Get What You Pay For... But Probably Less™
Here's a recall for 1 (one) vehicle: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V414-1333.PDF
What is the administrative cost of this particular recall to Ford and to the U.S. Government?
(Interesting to see how they narrowed it down to only one vehicle -- using video from the vision system)
The reason for so many recalls is that American manufacturers are building cars more cheaply to save money. The result is using cheaper quality parts and materials that don't hold up or have a problem requiring a recall. They build them in Mexico where the quality is poor