Car Recalls: Technocrats and Bureaucrats Need to put Safety First

February 12th, 2010. By Hunter West

 

If the recall troubles of Toyota and now Honda are knocking you out of your comfort zone, better get used to it. As cars become more complicated and sophisticated, recalls are going to be a fact of life. 

In other words, the more automakers do, the more they have to ‘undo.’ 

Tacked onto an MSNBC story about the recent Honda expanded recall for airbags was a comment from Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Kazaka Securities. 

“While the way automakers handle recalls is important, I think people should be careful not to overreact to every single recall,” he said. “Rather, my concern for the auto industry is their earnings for the next financial year, given the absence of the boost they enjoyed from government incentives this year.” 

Other automotive analysts agree that automakers regularly trigger recalls, although some have suggested the media reaction to the Toyota case has been overblown. That latter statement may, or may not be true depending upon one’s perspective. In the Toyota case, the story for decades has been that the Japanese automakers had it all over the domestic cadre in terms of quality. However that’s all changing, and the massive troubles and allegations directed at the mighty Toyota and its quality control comes in tandem with the formerly much-maligned Ford enjoying a renewed surge in sales spurred by a new collection of quality vehicles consumers seem to want. 

That’s why the media is all over Toyota. But the analysts get it right when they say that recalls will continue to be a fact of life for the automotive industry and for consumers. 

We better get used to it.

The reason? Cars are way too complicated. They got that way, in part, due to demands for safer vehicles. There are control systems for air bag deployment and other safety features. Controls for fuel emissions. Controls to decrease fuel consumption. Controls for the highly complex hybrid vehicles. 

Safer (in terms of crash avoidance and protection for occupants), more fuel-efficient, more eco-friendly. Much of this change at the behest of government regulators. But also, it’s the manufacturer’s one-upmanship against one another in an effort to attract tech-savvy buyers with the latest gadgets and gizmos, which add further to the complexity. 

All this has come with a cost. 

“Computers on wheels”…

That’s what veteran Canadian mechanic and columnist Dave Redinger calls cars today. They’re getting way too complicated, he tells the CBC in Canada. Veteran automotive writer Jim Kenzie, while not going so far as to pronounce today’s cars as too complicated, does acknowledge that with the increasing complexity of technology in cars, there is more to go wrong. 

Tom Maibaum, of McMaster University feels that the technology in cars has outpaced the current regulatory environment. Car manufacturers should begin to submit their designs with evidence proving that they are safe, as is the case with the nuclear industry and aviation. 

There may some wisdom in that, because mechanics lamenting the complexity and pining for a simpler time won’t get their way. Environmentalists, technocrats and regulators will not be willing to dial back the clock, even though a ‘getting back-to-basics’ philosophy when it comes to automobiles has merit. 

In other words, the die has been cast and there is no turning back. What’s needed, then, is to match the regulatory framework with the increased technology that is already evident, in place and poised to mushroom. Perhaps a re-think of the use of computers in such vital control systems such as brakes and acceleration, transmission and steering, is in order. 

Beyond that, get used to recalls. It’s the new face of the automotive industry. 

Tags: Automotive, Honda, Honda Recall, Toyota, toyota recall

This was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Defective Products . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.