http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10286388/

WASHINGTON - Toyota Motor Corp., which is challenging General Motors Co. to become the world's largest automaker, saw its number of recalled vehicles in the United States double in 2005, according to government records.

Overall, the number of autos ordered to be returned to dealerships for repairs was down considerably in 2005 — totaling about 16.6 million through mid-November, compared with a record 30.8 million the previous year.

Vehicles have been recalled in larger quantities since the mid-1990s and have fluctuated from year to year. Automakers and analysts say that with more automobiles using shared parts or platforms, recall data does not always reflect a vehicle's quality or safety attributes.

In Toyota's case, analysts said it could be a function of the company's rapid development.

"It's really a factor of the rate of expansion, the speed at which they're growing right now," said Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based automotive consulting firm. Anytime an auto manufacturer opens new plants and ramps up production, "you open yourself up for some quality issues."

Ford Motor Co. is on pace to have the most recalled vehicles of any automaker this year, with more than 6 million, fueled by the September recall of 3.8 million trucks and sport utility vehicles. Recalls for DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors have declined this year.

Records compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show Toyota with 2.2 million vehicles recalled through Nov. 17, compared with 1.1 million in 2004. Toyota said its records show 2.4 million vehicles recalled this year.

The recalls are the most for Toyota in the U.S. in a single year. The Japanese automaker recalled about 210,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2003.

Toyota, frequently lauded in customer satisfaction and dependability surveys, is closing in on replacing GM as the world's biggest automaker. Recent data by CSM Worldwide, an automotive forecasting firm, estimated GM's global production at 8.65 million vehicles in 2005, followed by Toyota at 8.44 million.

Toyota is scheduled to open a new pickup truck plant in San Antonio next year that will produce an additional 200,000 vehicles that could close the gap or help them surpass GM.

Martha Voss, a Toyota spokeswoman, said that with the increased volume, "it would be normal to expect that recalls would increase." She noted the federal TREAD Act, enacted in 2000 in response to the recall of more than 10 million Firestone tires, redefined what constitutes a recall, making minor issues part of the reported data.

She noted that one of the recalls dealt with older pickups and SUVs that involved a rod linking the steering wheel and the tires, and did not reflect current production. Toyota also recalled about 75,000 models of its popular Prius gas-electric hybrid from the 2004-05 model years because of stalling engines.

Ford saw its recalled vehicles grow by about 1 million over the 5 million of 2004. The bulk of the recalls came when Ford called back 3.8 million trucks and SUVs because of a cruise control switch suspected of causing engine fires. It was the fifth-largest recall in history.

Kristen Kinley, a Ford spokeswoman, said that in some cases, the automaker issued a recall notice based on early testing before the vehicles were shipped to dealerships.

"Automakers are becoming more aggressive about doing recalls and doing them much quicker," Kinley said.

Recalls have become more common in the aftermath of the TREAD Act and have also been driven by fear of litigation and the launching of new vehicles, said Chance Parker of J.D. Power and Associates, which tracks vehicle quality and dependability.

Parker said his firm has not seen a direct link between increased recalls and reduced vehicle quality by a manufacturer.

"In some cases, if a recall is handled really well, we've had some customers becoming more satisfied because of the way the recall was handled," Parker said.

GM has recalled about 4 million vehicles this year, down from 10.7 million in 2004. Daimler-Chrysler saw a major drop — about 750,000 vehicles in 2005 compared with 5.8 million in 2004.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

This is an interesting article. . . but it is written very poorly. . . it's hard to organize the data, and it isn't quite clear what they are trying to say. I don't know if they are trying to quantify Toyota recalls as large, and exaggerate them with poor writing, or if they are just bad writers.

I'm sure what they are saying isn't invalid, but it's damn hard to really get a picture of the numbers. . . or maybe I'm just tired because I havn't slept in awhile.

In the second paragraph they mention a certain number of autos being recalled, but they don't say if it is ALL vehicles, or just Toyota's. . . they just say "a number." I believe they are referring to the total number of vehicles recalled, period. I doubt Toyota recalled 16+ million vehicles. But in the previous paragraph they were mentioning the increase in Toyota's recalls. That is just plain poor writing.

 

It seems clear enough to me. Of the majors, Toyota showed a marked increase - double - in the total number of vehicles recalled, while the others showed smaller increases (20% in Ford's case) or declines. It's also notable for Toyota because it's a new high-water mark for them.

The article justly points out that recalls don't necessarily equate with overall reliability or safety, and that (in Toypta's case) increased sales volume could account for some of the increase in recalled cars.

Personally, I agree that recalls alone aren't a very good indicator of anything, in particular. There are too many different reasons for them, and if a recall affects a very popular car the numbers swell inordinately.

RichC

 

I agree. Toyota sells 400,000+ Camrys per year....every year, and that's just one model, in one country. One small recall on this car could make the numbers look much larger than what they really are.

Bottom line? Toyota is building more cars than ever. Therefore, it's only logical that there may be more recalls. It's just a simple numbers game.

Also, as the article mentioned, manufactures are much quicker to recall vehicles these days due to potential litigation. Given Toyota's concern for customer safety, they are very proactive when it comes to anything that could be (or could be percieved as) a safety related issue. They will quickly recall vehicles even when just a few complaints have been recorded, just to err on the side of caution.

 

Seems to make sense. You make more stuff you have more problems. It doesnt mean they are making bad products though. Also with platform sharing 1 problem can affect many different vehicles. If something on the 2.4 engine got recalled it would be huge, cause they use it in everything. Also recalls come out more openly and frequently now in the days of people suing when things go wrong.

 

Hmm... you need to remember to count in The Scion cars also because our cars is being sold pretty dark quickly not just the camery. One of the cars that got recall is the tC. It was just a voluntary recall also. Toyota is just trying to avoid any lawsuits that might come their way. They are taking a active approach to this instead of being reactive.

 

Have you guys ever heard of dppm, or dpmo? Defective parts per million and defective per million opportunities. With the major increase in production, it is a known fact that there will be an increase in defective parts per million, simple math.

For example, say out of 728,000 Scion tC's that they have produced, there have been 42 of those that had a defective part(Recall).

You divide the number of defects by the number produced and multiply it by 1 million (dppm).

Then yo get.

42 / 728,000 = .0000576 x 1,000,000 = 57.6 DPM

So by producing more cars, there will always be an increase in defective parts per million, until the production levels out a bit and they are used to the amount of vehicles that are being produced. Toyota is very big on Six Sigma Management, and I'm very certain they will utilize these skills to further decrease the amount of recalls in which they have done in the past. The thing I see the most entertaining about this article is that the person writing the story not once gave the numbers of how many vehicles Toyota has produced without a hitch, or much market share they have 46% just the other day, with GM losing 26% of the market share right under there asses. When you are becoming big dog, of course there will be speculation of how you achieved that position.

 

I've seen this before in the past concerning Toyota. When the Big-3 have recalls, it's barely mentioned by the media......I guess because it happens so much. But when the Big-T as one, it's everywhere.....because it doesn't happen very often. That's what happens when you're the big dog in the yard when it comes to quailty. You'll always be a target when you don't get it just right.

 

I don't listen to or read anything in the news/media because they are completely biased just to appeal to the fact that we are all attracted to hear about anything negative in nature. How is it possible for anyone to have a positive outlook of the future when all the negativity in the world is constantly dwelled on.

 

sorry, by the way, for my first comment, it was off topic. I was more disgruntled by the poor writing standards of the media. An English professor would give that piece a failing grade.

And on topic, you guys are right on. . . more cars built equate to more cars recalled.

This article doesn't just fail by written standards, it fails by a mathematical one. A GOOD journalist would get the percentages of recalls. . . at the VERY least. A percentage would be a far better indication of the actual changes. In fact, it is quite possible that the percentages have fallen.

 

I was just using the Camry as an example.

Believe it or not, despite the success of the Scion line, it's but a drop in the bucket compared to the total U.S. sales of all Toyota/Lexus. Include total world-wide sales, and you have to dig to even find Scion numbers.

 

I don't know about the writers opinion... but a recall is not a bad thing... a recall means that defects are destined to be repaired...
It's as toyota's spokes person said... with an increase in production, you're going to see an increase in recalls...
And also a lot of those recalls this year are trucks and SUV's that are out of production, and then the Prius recalls which was for units that were already produced and sold... but that makes the reported number go up this year... next year it'll be drastically lower.

 

....keep scion production in Japan , pleassssssssssse

 

Most of the recalled vehicles were built in Japan.