Saki GT

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news...e-under-recall

So, 20% of cars on the road today have open recalls, according to the latest research. Personally I know one of my vehicles has an open recall, but it's not for something I consider necessarily dangerous. Still, I will get it addressed, but it is surprising to think that one of every five cars on the road needs to be brought in for some fix due to manufacturer defect.

So what do you think about the large number of vehicles with open recalls today? Have we gotten too general with recalling things or are cars really that dangerous / poorly assembled?

rob-2

It is crazy to think. Does suggest these more complicated cars are going to need to better control supplier quality!

CMK

Yep, my '15 Fit has an open recall for potentially rusting door handle mounts. Got the notification about a week ago. I'll have it taken in soon. I don't live in the rust belt so I'm not too worried.

devildust

Seems like they are becoming the new norm, and most re-calls don't even seem to hurt the sales or reputation. I can see it being larger volume production issue and the rapid change in many models seems to cause issues for assembly line or forethought on some of these problems.

windhund116

Think a LOT of car recalls is that Takata Air Bag. I need to take my 2007 Element for new bags. Just a pain, to get the time and ride.

Bullwings

When the brake booster recall came out. I checked my VIN number and it said it wasn't part of the recall. I then got a notification from Honda 4-5 weeks later asking me to bring my car in for the brake booster recall.

I haven't... that was 2+ years ago.

freq

Maybe just too many lawyers?

vader1

I think MOST recalls are overblown as far as safety issues go but I understand why they happen. Obviously airbags or faulty ignition switches that kill and disfigure lots of people are very serious issues and require swift action to remedy. On the flip side you have people mistaking their gas pedal for the brake which makes Toyota recall tons of cars to swap floor mats. The reason you have this is lottery mentality juries that award hundreds of millions of dollars for bunk.

We had a case here where a recent immigrant with not a whole lot of driving experience killed a few people. He rear ended someone on a freeway off ramp and estimates of his speed were about 90 miles per hour when he crashed. He was driving a Toyota Camry and sentenced to prison for negligent vehicular homicide. The whole "unintended acceleration" farce came about against Toyota, which our own NTSB found to be nonsense and in many cases found the complaining driver to have been unable to discern the pedals in the car. The man who killed the people was let out of prison, the decision against him vacated and granted a new trial. The jurisdiction declined to prosecute him a second time.

Now I am not sure if this guy was driving like a giant a-hole and going a million miles per hour or he made an honest (and really stupid) mistake and thought he was on the brake but was really on the gas. The strange part about the case was his Camry, was not even one of the cars under false suspicion, it was actually a 1996 Camry which had no drive by wire whatsoever. It was cable throttle. It was not found to be stuck, and his brakes were not found to be faulty or scortched. Whether he was intentionally speeding, or just could not tell the pedals, the reason the car was going so fast was his foot plain and simple. A judge who new very little about cars, sided with his attorneys on a bogus argument.

Under a technicality of our new "innocence project law" the man was compensated $50k for every year he spent in jail, even though the accident was in all actuality his fault. Furthermore, since he did not have any money to pay the victims families, the family and the driver jointly sued Toyota and won millions. The jury, even though faced with evidence that the driver was at fault, felt sorry for the victims family and sided against Toyota due to the fact that this would be the only way to get any compensation to the victims family.

So the man at fault got compensated by the state, and Toyota for negligently killing people and Toyota was out a ton of money for a false claim that one of the most reliable cars in history drove itself to insane speeds AND the brakes failed at the same exact moment. I can not judge the motivation of the driver, maybe he was not speeding and just made a mistake, but I do know it takes quite a bit of doing to get a 1996 Camry to 90 mph. They are not C7 Vettes.

The automakers are damned if they do, damned if they don't, but they have to try like hell to mitigate their circumstances. So even minor stuff will be recall city from here on out. Judges and jurors are stupid, and that won't change.

tiger1964

...and another 75% should off the road due to owner negligence.

sam_spider

Quite a lot of the cars being driven on the roads in Michigan (in winter especially) would never pass any type of inspection.