## 2010/ The Truth about (car) recalls

**200,000 recalls at one car manufacturer! 1 million at another! We've been hearing some colossal figures lately, which might lead us to think that we don't know how to build cars any more and that manufacturers who recall cars are not serious. But on the contrary, the recall procedure is the culmination of a process whose sole aim is customer safety and satisfaction. How does it work?**

In this article, I'm obviously going to deal with a general case, the subtleties differing from one car manufacturer to another. But let's start with the «manufacture» of the car you're buying.

### Building the car

Initially, the car is an assembly of parts from various suppliers, some of which are manufactured by the manufacturer in other plants than the final assembly plant. All these parts come from all over the world, but they try to manufacture them close to the final factory to limit the risks and costs of transport. The parts therefore arrive in batches at the factory, with batch numbers and full traceability specific to the manufacturer and its subcontractor. We can therefore tell for each type of part how many have arrived per week, month or year.

Checks are carried out on these batches and throughout the vehicle assembly process, by sampling. These checks are themselves imposed by the manufacturers on the basis of feedback. A manufacturing stoppage can therefore occur during these detections and be corrected. But let's come to the end of vehicle assembly.

### The delivery

The car, assembled to the customer's order, is loaded onto the means of transport that will take it to the seller of the vehicle and then to the customer. The transporter is responsible for the car and any damage to it. The salesperson takes the car in hand with the customer, explaining how it works and, if possible, the subtleties of the vehicle (e.g. cruise control, multimedia device...). Sometimes the customer is asked about his or her satisfaction on delivery, then comes the time for the first service, an opportunity to get feedback from customers. And finally comes the life of the vehicle, with its ups and downs and wear and tear. Unhappy customers will come to their garage and express their dissatisfaction, describing their breakdown....And we can hope that the garage will make a feedback to the quality service of the brand.

### After Sales

At this point, there can be a number of different scenarios. Remember that the garage is often a private company, independent of the manufacturer. It is part of a network and must therefore comply with standards, know the vehicle and report problems to the manufacturer, which can lead to more or less discreet changes throughout the vehicle's 'production' life. Sometimes, the car of the customer will be sent to the R&D site of the manufacturer to investigate. But the customer who has a breakdown doesn't see all this. When a breakdown occurs, the garage obviously tries to repair the vehicle and minimise the cost to the customer by intervening quickly and efficiently...and also to get money from that. The information is more or less passed on to the manufacturer via the after-sales information systems. To bring the warranty into play, there is a validation and "credit" system, which the garage may consider to be too long and could lead to poor repairs if they don't play the game. This is because it is the garag
e that will have to incur costs that will then be reimbursed by the manufacturer under the warranty.

### Quality Issue management

But let's come to the case of a vehicle defect. Abnormal wear of a safety component is detected on one, then two, then three....vehicles. The alert threshold is reached and the manufacturer's quality department starts to investigate. It alerts the network to obtain feedback. It also tries to identify the technical problem and how to remedy it. This remedy has a cost C per vehicle. You need to know how many vehicles may be affected. The manufacturer will therefore try to define a time window during which a number N of vehicles have been delivered. This gives an overall cost C x N.

In addition to this cost, there is the risk factor, the cost that this may generate through legal proceedings, targeted action on vehicles going in for overhaul, and also the involvement of the subcontractor in the defect: manufacturing or design. The manufacturer will be able to make the subcontractor contribute to the costs if its role in the defect is identified. At this point, the decision to recall the vehicle will be taken, along with a communications policy.

In Europe, recalls of models older than 5 years and on such large scales are rare...for the moment. This is not to say that there are no problems, but the Western European networks are sometimes better structured and more respectful of the standards of certain brands, which leads to more discreet corrective action. When it comes to safety bodies, on the other hand, there is less hesitation.

Recent cases and the strengthening of quality controls at all levels are not necessarily going to curb recalls. Customers are increasingly demanding, especially in the premium ranges. But this is also an opportunity for the competitor to take advantage of the flaw, with a share of the risk. In the case of the Prius 3 problems, for example, we saw fake problems appear mysteriously, affecting only the United States, at a time when US manufacturers were in trouble. Similar problems with American brands a few years earlier were completely forgotten by the media. Renault's speed limiters also suffered their share of setbacks for a short period before the problem disappeared, with a touch-up and explanations to drivers, but much damage was done to the manufacturer's quality image on the models concerned.

On the other hand, there may be genuine design or manufacturing problems that do not affect safety components, where the manufacturer knowingly decides not to invoke the warranty or technical recall. In this case, the consumer can only try to join forces with other victims of the defect to obtain a guarantee or, if the defect is widely publicized, a recall. For example, there have been problems with Bosch injectors affecting several German and even French makes, without the manufacturers reacting immediately with a recall. Let's not fool ourselves: in some areas, technical solutions can be found from one manufacturer to another, and the defect can spread.

A recall is therefore as much proof that customer satisfaction and safety have been taken into account as it is the sign of a proven problem, whether caused by the supplier or the designer of the part. All manufacturers are aware of these problems, and their recall policies vary from country to country. As the legal risks are greater in Anglo-Saxon countries, recalls are all the more important. But it's changing and the role of the media is important. 

But what counts above all is that your vehicle continues to take you where you want to go, in complete safety and with a good quality of reception during servicing and complaints. And finally, a recall is more likely to reassure me than the other way round. With my Experience now, I can see manufacturers with rare recalls and that mans many things for me...For example, in Europe the main recalls come from Mercedes, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Toyota. At the bottom, you will find brands like Fiat....

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