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Statistical Change Skews Auto Recall Figures – 2/27/13
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
A recent article in USA Today discussed a small but important change made by federal regulators who are in charge of issuing and keeping track of crucial auto safety recalls. The data reveals that a change in how they count recalls has cut into their supposed triumph of having a smaller number of investigations lead to a bigger number of recalls.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that last year was a record setting year in terms of the number of recalls issued per safety investigation conducted by the NHTSA. The Center for Auto Safety, however, showed that last year would not have been a record had it been counted using previous standards. The same problems were seen in other supposedly record-breaking years.
For instance, in 2008, the NHTSA’s investigations led to a record 191 recalls. The Center for Auto Safety says that of those, 126 recalls were due to wheelchair lifts made by a single company. In 2012, 19 of the 134 recalls were for sunroofs manufactured by only one company.