I’m glad this Toyota thing is simmering down. I think this whole recall thing has blown so far out of proportion. From my understanding of the numbers and what’s going on, it’s not statistically significant or able to be replicated by the NTSB.
What’s really been annoying is that most don’t realize how common serious automotive recalls really are. They go down all the time for a very wide range of things.
In the myriad of cars in my immediate family has had, there have been recalls for an engine, transmissions, floor mats, emissions sensor, software, etc. None of these ever seen any sort of media coverage.
And if you can learn anything from Fight Club, it’s the formula for automotive recalls.
Take the number of vehicles in the field, (A), and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, (B), then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, (C). A times B times C equals X… If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.
So think about that…
Now take a few other things into account. This whole Toyota thing just happened at a time when it had knocked GM off the top of the mountain in terms of world’s largest car company and just when the federal government became the majority shareholder in GM.
Now let’s think about another recent little situation. Chrysler is currently experiencing problems with crash sensors on their very popular minivan that can cause the airbags not to deploy. They aren’t calling it a recall though. It’s a safety improvement campaign.