At around 8.5 million units, Toyota’s current three-part global recall is one of the auto industry’s largest ever. However, it is not the largest automotive recall on record: this dubious accolade goes to Ford.
In October 2009, Ford added 4.5 million customers to an existing 10 million unit ignition/cruise control switch recall which had been linked to engine fires. Ford’s history includes several other high-volume recalls:
- 1971: 4.1 million unit seatbelt recall.
- 1987: 3.6 million vehicles, of almost every model line, recalled for a fuel-line connector fault.
- Early 2000s: Ford and Firestone argued responsibility for numerous accidents involving Ford SUVs and pickups – in the end, vehicles wearing almost seven million Firestone tyres were recalled.
- February 2008: an airbag software recall involved 470,000 Ford Mustangs.
- January 2010: the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) upgraded and widened an investigation into Ford F-150 airbags.
GM, too has a history of multi-million unit recall programmes:
- 1971: 6.7 million vehicles recalled over an engine-mount problem.
- 1973: 3.7 million vehicles recalled for new steering assembly shielding.
- 1981: 5.8 million units recalled for a suspension-related issue.
- 2003: 3.6 million pick-ups recalled for replacement tailgate cables.
- December 2007: 313,000 Cadillac, Pontiac and Saturn models recalled.
- 2008: two recalls of the Chevrolet HHR totalled 481,500 units, and a recall of the Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal totalled 208,000 units.
- February 2010: the NHTSA launched an investigation into a possible steering fault in the Chevrolet Cobalt, covering around 905,000, although no recall has been issued.
Meanwhile, Honda’s 646,000 unit Jazz/Fit and City recall, in the midst of the Toyota recall crisis, went almost unnoticed in January 2010. It had previously recalled a total of 440,000 units in November 2008 and August 2009 for an airbag issue. Honda became one of the leading multi-million unit “recallers” in 1995, when it was involved in a 3.7 million-vehicle seatbelt-related recall.
What sets this Toyota recall crisis apart from those of its competitors in the past is, put simply, down to the company’s emphasis on quality
Volkswagen is also acutely aware of the impact a recall can have on a brand. Reports of sudden unintended acceleration in the Audi 5000, later proven to be unfounded, almost killed that brand in North America.
The Volkswagen brand itself is no stranger to high-volume recalls. In 1972, 3.7 million Volkswagen Beetles were recalled over a windscreen wiper problem. More recently, in December 2006, it recalled 300,000 Passats worldwide over potentially faulty brake and diesel systems and windshield-wiper motors. 410,000 units of that same model were again recalled in April 2008 in the US, this time over a heatshield issue.
What sets this Toyota recall crisis apart from those of its competitors in the past is, put simply, down to the company’s emphasis on quality, the involvement of the US and Japanese governments in a problem affecting the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer, and the revelations regarding alleged prior knowledge of some of the faults.
Remember that Toyota, whilst promoting quality in its advertising, had issued millions of recall letters in the years leading up to the current floor mat/accelerator pedal/Prius brake crisis. In 2008 alone, Toyota recalled 110,000 units of the Tundra, 539,500 units of Corolla and Matrix in the US and 630,000 Voxy and Noah minivans in Japan.
Short term, the almost universal public awareness of this recall will affect Toyota’s new car sales and resale values.
Recovery from such crises is possible and Toyota would do well to learn from its peers. Ford recovered from the “Ford Pinto memo” scandal of the late 1960s/early 1970s. In 1997, Mercedes-Benz recalled and redesigned its A-Class after it failed to pass the so-called elk-test. The success of the A-Class speaks for itself. Mitsubishi, although now much weakened, has shaken off its recall-reputation of the early 2000s. Firestone, not Ford, took the hit in the Ford-Firestone incident of the early 2000s. In 2005, the fact that Bosch fuel pumps were at fault enabled BMW and Mercedes-Benz to limit damage to their brands after they recalled around 51,000 cars.
Short term, the almost universal public awareness of this recall will affect Toyota’s new car sales and resale values. However, many potential future buyers will remain unaware of the technical aspect of Toyota’s recalls, and see only a problem identified and dealt with.
To date, however, this crisis has been handled confusingly rather than skilfully, and at present, recovery from this crisis seems a long way off. Despite a profit forecast for the current fiscal year, Toyota’s senior management needs to step up its game to secure its position as the world’s largest vehicle manufacturer. Volkswagen’s plan, to overtake Toyota by 2018, looks ever more realistic.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
