Government prodding used to be the driving force behind major automotive recalls. But after Toyota’s massive recalls in connection with reports of sudden acceleration, car companies increasingly are taking the initiative, The New York Times reports.
The automakers say they would rather issue a recall than face damaging publicity for failing to handle safety defects quickly.
“If you handle a recall properly with a customer, the chances are greater that you gain customer loyalty than lose it,” General Motors spokesman Alan Adler told The Times. “You will have things that go wrong, and some of those will be safety issues. The important thing is how you take care of it.”
Over the last 12 months, consumers received more than 22.4 million recall notices from car companies. In 2010, the auto industry is on pace to recall more vehicles than in any year since 2004, when a record 30.8 million vehicles were found to have defects.
Regulators, for their part, have stepped up oversight since the initial Toyota recalls. They currently are investigating whether the company, which recalled 6 million vehicles in the United States from November through January, should recall another 1.2 million because of complaints about stalling.
In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Toyota a record $16.4 million for waiting too long to initiate a recall for flawed gas pedals.
