The Figures Are Out: Who Was The Recall King of 2006?

If you troll the web long enough you run across pieces of a larger puzzle that can be assembled to glimpse at the larger picture. Over the holidays, I took a look at the NHTSA Safety recall database online and my curiosity got peaked. Who was the worst, and more importantly who was the best? The results surprised me.

Every time we turn around another recall is announced and due to the current trend of corporate component sharing the numbers can be truly astounding. It seems almost no one is immune to this scourge of the industry. Or are they? Some manufacturers may simply do a better job engineering vehicles that minimize the unexpected recall.

Sorting through the NHTSA database at first glance the numbers are a bit vague. Such as a singular recall can span multiple sister brands over multiple years. So basically you can have a singular recall cover all Chevy and GMC full size trucks from 2000 to 2006. Somewhat of a logistical issue but nothing that simple data manipulation cannot overcome.

So basically if you take all of the safety recalls those occurred in 2006 according to NTHSA, and eliminate the duplicate campaign numbers across the board. Then sort them by manufacturers, you gain an over all recall number for each manufacturer for 2006. Due to the way NTHSA reports, the manufacturer level is as tight as you can run the figures without making guesses as to how many Chevrolets are affected vs. sister GMC models.

Taking the total recall figure and applying it against current 2006 production totals can give you an over all vehicle recall rate compare to new car production. An interesting figure that I will leave up to you to interpret as you see fit. This figure is actually a combination of present and past safety issues that surfaced in 2006 for all current and previous years. The ultimate acid test if you will, with both current and previous defects reflected in the overall figure.

So as you can deduce Toyota for example, maintains an excellent reliability score in other surveys but in the recalls issued fairs about the same as GM. Subaru on the other hand excelled in 2006 with 0 recalls surfacing.

Anyway you look at it a recall is an unscheduled visit to the dealership to address a manufacturer defect. Something that surveys such as JD Power fails to address, probably because the reliability scores must be recalculated year after year as problems surface over time.