Toyota sees 100% increase in number of vehicles recalled

[Buick61]

Among Big 3, Ford is only one to report a rise; Toyota's figures more than double through Nov.

Jeff Plungis and Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
Jay LaPrete / Bloomberg News

According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Toyota's recalls jumped to 2.2 million through November, compared with 1.1 million in 2004. Overall, the industry reported fewer recalls.

WASHINGTON -- After a record-breaking year for safety recalls in 2004, the auto industry has improved dramatically in 2005 -- with the notable exception of quality stalwart Toyota Motor Corp., whose recalls more than doubled.

According to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Toyota's recalls jumped to 2.2 million through November, compared with 1.1 million for all of 2004.

The recalls at Toyota, the fourth-leading manufacturer in the U. S. market with a reputation for quality-built cars and trucks, stand in sharp contrast to an overall decline in industry recalls.

Following a record 30.8 million vehicles recalled last year, only 16.6 million have been recalled through November. At this point last year, 27.7 million vehicles had been recalled.

The industry is on pace to recall fewer vehicles than in other recent years as well. The average number of annual recalls during the previous 10 years, 1995 through 2004, is 19.3 million vehicles a year.

Toyota's 2005 recalls were driven up by two recalls in particular:

# A steering-linkage problem covering 978,000 1989-1995 pickups and 1990-1995 4Runner SUVs

# A ball-joint repair for 768,000 4Runner, Tacoma and Sequoia light trucks dating back to 2001.

Toyota officials say the government is more aggressive in requiring companies to report potential safety issues under the TREAD Act, the law Congress passed following the Firestone tire recall. Toyota, like other companies, also has become more proactive about fixing what used to seem like minor problems.

"We're fallible," said Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America. "We take those opportunities to try to find the root causes, get to it and fix it."

Another factor driving up recalls: An increase in common parts used among different car and light truck models. As a result, a problem part that might in the past have had an impact on a few thousand vehicles can now lead to a recall of more than a million vehicles.

Among Detroit manufacturers, only Ford Motor Co. has seen an increase in recalled vehicles this year, 6 million through Nov. 17, up from 5 million for all of 2004.

General Motors Corp. has recalled 4.1 million vehicles through Nov. 17, down significantly from 10.8 million for 2004. DaimlerChrysler AG has recalled 749,000 vehicles in the United States this year, down from 5.8 million in 2004.

The latest comparable data from trade publication Warranty Week shows that GM's warranty costs worldwide stood at 3.2 percent of automotive sales as of March 31 while Ford's costs were around 2.5 percent. DaimlerChrysler's warranty costs were 5.2 percent, while Toyota's were 1.2 percent, according to Warranty Week, which cautions that the figures might not be entirely comparable because of different accounting systems and currencies.

Toyota is grappling to ensure its big expansion plans do not undercut its reputation for quality. Besides the steering linkage and ball-joint problems affecting trucks and SUVs, Toyota suffered an embarrassing recall of its heralded Prius hybrid in October, when consumers complained that a software glitch could leave them stranded on the road.

Toyota Chief Executive Katsuaki Watanabe and Executive Vice President Yoshimi Inaba stressed recently the company wanted to attack weaknesses, not hide them or ignore them.

In an interview with The Detroit News in January, Inaba said his biggest fear was problems might go undetected that could cause injury or worse to consumers, he said. Japanese automakers have been rattled by Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s deep troubles stemming from years-long cover-ups of vehicle defects.

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[ChevroletRevived]

Toyota..you aren't immune and you aren't invincible. Even though some people think that...

[soloyosh]

I guess this can be looked at in two ways...

1. They had more defects

or

2. They had the same amount of defects and were just more pro-active about fixing things.

Cheers
Brett

[Nico Flax]

Couldn't it be seen that they had such an increase in sales that is really didn't jump that much? Or am I just looking at it wrong, heh I kinda just read the first 2 sectences ha ha forgive me

[Ming]

Toyota's 2005 recalls were driven up by two recalls in particular:

# A steering-linkage problem covering 978,000 1989-1995 pickups and 1990-1995 4Runner SUVs

# A ball-joint repair for 768,000 4Runner, Tacoma and Sequoia light trucks dating back to 2001.

This kind of flies in the face of those Indestructible Toyota truck ads we've been seeing lately....or are those ads meant as a PR move to offset any negative image from the recalls....hmmmmmm

[Driveshaft]

Wow, an article that doesn't focus on GM's financial issues.

I think the recalls suck for any company, and is probably explained somewhat by higher production numbers.

Those are amazing numbers for DCX! What a decrease this year.

[Joevette]

why did it take them 15 years to do a recall on a truck? what does that say about toyota, they've probably been hiding the fact all these years so not to get bad press, what junk

[VibenPontiac]

Its rather simple really - Growing pains. Another article on that other GM site was a little more focused on the fact that with strong growth comes a whole host of "unwanted" issues including reduction in quality.

[GM_Fanatic]

oh nice, 100% is a nice clean and shocking number, I will definetly be using that statistic in future discussions with potential or current Toyota owners.

[griswold44]

Did any of you actually READ the whole article?

Originally Posted by Jd Power

Chance Parker, executive director for product research at J.D. Power and Associates, said his firm has not detected any rise in the severity of problems reported by Toyota customers.

Or this?

Originally Posted by someone

In a recent report on Toyota, Ron Tadross, auto analyst at Banc of America Securities, noted Toyota's recalls have increased but said money set aside to cover repairs had not risen. "Toyota's warranty accruals per vehicle are $200, or 40 percent below GM and Ford. Although it appears that Toyota has had more recalls, this is attributable to the sheer number of Toyota vehicles on the road."

[griswold44]

Originally Posted by GM_Fanatic

oh nice, 100% is a nice clean and shocking number, I will definetly be using that statistic in future discussions with potential or current Toyota owners.

Fine, then I'll tell potential or current GM owners that they are still producing junk they had been making since the '80's.

[griswold44]

Originally Posted by Joevette

why did it take them 15 years to do a recall on a truck? what does that say about toyota, they've probably been hiding the fact all these years so not to get bad press, what junk

Hey, at least they still have pride to recognize their older models when they have a problem.

[darndot]

Toyota's problem is that they are building more cars US. They need to blame the US workers making the cars. (Yes, this is sarcasm.)

[56 Starchief]

Originally Posted by Buick61

"We're fallible," said Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America.

no shiit sherlock-you really thought you worked for God's car company?

[GM_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by griswold44

Fine, then I'll tell potential or current GM owners that they are still producing junk they had been making since the '80's.

It would be pointless for me to try and convince you to do otherwise. But at least notice this, there is a difference in our two arguments. Mine has facts to back it up, yours has no basis what-so-ever.