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 Read the rest of this entry »