Viewed: 40 Years of Auto Recalls in the US
In early February 2023, Honda issued a “Do Not Drive” warning for about 8,200 older cars equipped with the infamous Takata airbags.
These faulty airbags, installed by 19 different car manufacturers, including BMW and Toyota from 2002 to 2015, can explode when deployed and have caused numerous tragic accidents. Its recall affected 67 million airbags (including older Honda vehicles) and has been called the largest safety recall in US history.
Over the past four decades, there have been more than 22,000 auto recalls in the United States.
In this interactive piece, Chimdi Nwosu uses data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to visualize the types of auto recalls over the past 40 years, the companies with the most recalls, the components that were recalled the most, and most importantly, its impacts on people.
Breakdown of US Auto Recalls
Whether a recall affects specific components, equipment or vehicles as a whole, it affects the lives of millions of car users.
When combined, these numbers add up exponentially. The United States alone has seen a total of 22,651 recalls over the past 40 years, affecting more than a billion people.
| Reminder type | No. of US Withdrawals (1983-2022) | Affected Persons |
|---|---|---|
| vehicle | 19,686 | 776.42 M |
| equipment | 2,303 | 207.51 million |
| tire | 442 | 36.53 million |
| car seat | 220 | 60.39 m |
| total | 22,651 | 1.080.84M |
Almost 72% of these people were affected almost 20,000 vehicle recalls, while around 19% were affected by more than 2,000 equipment recalls during this period. By comparison, the 442 tire and 220 child seat recalls affected significantly fewer, but still a total of 96.9 million people.
Although an inconvenience to many, removing these faulty parts from the vehicle saves many more unfortunate incidents that could have occurred if left unchecked.
Minor and major memories
One of the largest recalls in history took place in 2014 when General Motors, the manufacturer with the highest recall total in four decades, recalled millions of vehicles, including the 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, the 2007 Pontiac G5 and the 2006-2007 Chevrolet HHR, among others.
| classification | Top manufacturer for remember |
No. of US Withdrawals (1983-2022) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Motors | 1,237 |
| 2 | Ford | 1,056 |
| 3 | chrysler | 909 |
| 4 | River Forest | 480 |
| 5 | Daimler trucks | 474 |
| 6 | BMW | 463 |
| 7 | volkswagen | 435 |
| 8 | Mercedes-Benz | 378 |
| 9 | honda | 377 |
| 10 | Blue Bird | 359 |
The reason for this recall was a faulty ignition switch that caused the vehicle’s engine to shut off while driving, disabling the safety systems, including the airbags. This fault caused the death of hundreds of people.
However, not all memories are so severe. BMW, for example, recalled just four vehicles in December last year because one of the four screws on the driver’s seatback was not properly connected.
Similarly, in 2020, Ford recalled some of its vehicles due to a faulty door latch. Although this recall inconvenienced more than two million users, it was less likely to have serious consequences if left unchecked.
A more secure future?
The number of car recalls over the past four decades has seen a sharp increase. Just like car safety rules.
While recalls may indicate the risks involved in taking your car out to drive, they also indicate that manufacturers are taking responsibility for their defective products and affect a very small percentage of vehicles on the road.
To improve automobile safety, NHTSA proposed a 2022 New Car Assessment Program, which provides vehicle users with safety ratings for each new vehicle. This five-star safety rating program evaluates vehicles’ safety features, crashworthiness and rollover resistance.
With self-driving cars also entering the mix, we need to be informed about vehicle safety to keep our vehicles, our streets and ourselves going into the future.
