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August 23, 2006
INDUSTRY LAWYER ARGUES AGAINST RECALL SYSTEM
A VW company attorney has proposed that serious consideration be given to abolishing mandatory vehicle safety-defect recalls. In a "commentary" in the Detroit News, Kevin M. McDonald asserts that evidence "doesn't support that recalls actually improve safety" and, with a dig at Ralph Nader, concludes that the recall system isn’t working. "…hardly a day goes by without a major car company announcing a massive recall to fix some ‘safety’ defect," he writes, and lists a number of allegations in support of abolishing the system, including these:
• "Because of the recall overload, consumers ignore them. More than a quarter of vehicles that are recalled never get repaired."
• "…there is simply no evidence that the vehicles that aren't fixed pose higher risks to the motoring public than those vehicles that do get fixed."
• The costs to industry of recalls – "…automakers probably spent about $3 billion in 2004 to fix safety problems," plus unspecified "indirect costs" for "engineering, tooling and producing the replacement part" and "the loss of market capitalization, market share, and brand damage as a result of a recall."
• Consumer "time and cost of driving to a dealership for a recall fix… just driving to get recalls done translates into 27 million gallons of fuel consumption. At $3 a gallon, the cost to consumers for fuel alone is nearly $82 million."
• Recalls "expose consumers to otherwise avoidable fatalities, injuries, and crashes because of additional travel. The 2004 fatality rate of 1.44 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled means recalls can be expected to kill 4.3 people a year.”
"Considering the surfeit of recalls conducted to fix questionable ‘safety’ defects," the industry attorney concludes, "it is certainly worth asking whether, in the aggregate, recalls risk more lives than they save. Although the costs of recalls are fairly certain, whether any meaningful benefits accrue are not. Considering the burden and risks posed by recalls, it's time NHTSA studies whether the benefits (if any) justify their costs."
Posted by MVHAP at August 23, 2006 09:27 PM