IMI Magazine

Vehicle Recalls

Its corporate slogan is famously 'Today Tomorrow Toyota', but company chief Akio Toyoda must be wishing that he could turn the clock back to Yesterday.

Being one of the lead stories on virtually every TV and radio bulletin because of three massive recalls is a PR nightmare. Toyota GB's communications boss wrote on a social networking website that he'd "been on the BBC more than Jonathan Ross".

In case you've been on Mars, here are the nuts and bolts of 'Throttlegate'. There's a risk that accelerator pedals on seven Toyotas sold in the UK could stick because of a corroding component inside the mechanism. More than 180,000 cars are affected. Separately, a loose floormat problem can interfere with the throttle on some US models, and there's also an issue with brakes on the Prius, which is being investigated in America and Japan. But it's not just Toyota taking flak. Honda has compounded the scare with recalls for defective airbags.

Nothing new
Vehicle recalls to correct faults are going on all the time, but it's only when they are carried out on a massive scale that they attract media attention. VOSA, the Government agency which oversees recalls, reports that 263 were issued in 2008/9 (see table below for some examples). It's hovered around that level for the last five years, but go back a decade and it was only 109. VOSA attributes the increase to a greater willingness by manufacturers to alert the public about safety issues.

But that prompts the question: What's happening during the design, R&D and manufacturing process that's allowing faulty cars to come off the production lines in the first place? There's always pressure to reduce costs, but you can't blame the recession as today's new car was in development five years ago.

Is it a desire to cut development times to get a model to market quicker than a rival, or too many of them so the quality assurance budget is being spread too thinly?

"The core issue is the complexity of the vehicles, and particularly the interface between the traditional mechanical components and the more modern electrical ones," says Dr Peter Wells, a senior researcher at the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School. "While the former have got more reliable, the problem is with the latter, either in terms of hardware or software," he explained. Wells also believes financial pressures on car companies means that if there's a change in component sourcing strategy, mistakes get made. And they don't always become apparent before a new model goes on sale.

"Along with the increase in vehicle sales over the last decade has been a huge growth in the number of models, body styles and variants. It means the market place has become more complex in terms of the variety offered to the consumer. And that in turn means the manufacturing environment has become more complex," argued Wells.

Platform sharing risk
He reckons the increase in platform sharing - where one basic architecture can be spread over, say, four brands, seven models and 30 or more variants - is a factor. So rather than standardisation of parts leading to a decrease in manufacturing faults, it actually works the other way. "If there's a problem, it affects many more vehicles over a number of brands, and each gets its own recall campaign," he said. There's evidence of that now because the Toyota Aygo,  the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 share the same production plant. So one sub-standard part equals three recalls.

Consultancy and research company Frost & Sullivan attributes many of the problems to the continuing rise in electronics to meet demand for fuel efficiency, better driving dynamics and, ironically, safety. Commented Krishnasami Rajagopalan, a Frost & Sullivan expert in chassis, safety and driver assistance systems: "It now remains to be seen whether the recent recalls will lead to stricter enforcement, review and testing of vehicle electronics, and whether any weakening of consumer confidence will lead to a slowdown of 'electronification'.

"Until this problem is sorted out, consumers are likely to sit apprehensively in their cars, surrounded by electronics they no longer trust."

Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, said: "Remember, not every car that has a recall notice is unsafe. It may just need a check as part of a suspect batch. However, the fact that a robust safety net for the unforeseen exists should be a reassurance to motorists," he said.

A recall of a few thousand cars won't dent manufacturer finances too heavily because the likely costs of any remedial work are built into the list price. However, something the size of what Toyota is facing is on a different scale. Estimates run into billions of dollars.

Negative publicity
What about the price paid in terms of negative publicity or unhappiness of owners? Toyota has built its global reputation on offering conservative products that were safe - in every sense of the word - but would run forever. Recalls could result in a sub stantial drop in customers buying the affected product or others from the same brand.

Bob Johnston is a professor at Warwick Business School and an expert in 'service recovery' - the posh name for cleaning up the fan after it gets caked in the brown stuff. He said recalls of any sort, not just automotive, can be seen as an opportunity for a company to demonstrate how serious it is about safety and quality.

"Cars are complicated and I think most people accept that things go wrong," he said. "Companies can get away with this once or twice in a period of time - and I'm not sure how long that period would be - but not more than that. There's no doubt recalls do undermine a brand, but it's not the 'going wrong' per se which can damage an image. It's how the company deals with it, and if it's done quickly and well it can even enhance a reputation."

Johnston said that a fault serious enough to spark a recall wasn't going to stop people buying cars, but could lead them to switch brands. "As a long-standing Subaru driver with no problems, I'm likely to stick with the brand. My two daughters both have Renault Clios, have been affected by recalls, and are significantly less likely to buy one again," he explained.

Richard Yarrow

2009's biggest UK recalls

Fiat Grande Punto
(56,168 units) - steering shaft bolt could sheer, causing steering to fail.

Land Rover Discovery 3/Range Rover Sport
(56,142) - braking problems caused by oil leak.

Peugeot 307 and Expert III
(48,938) - lighting management system could fail, causing lights to switch off.

Toyota Yaris
(45,335) - seat belt pretensioner problems may cause a fire after an accident.

Renault Scenic II and Kangoo II
(34,403) - software problem might cause power assistance on steering to fail.