Number of recalls has increased sixfold in ten years

The number is as surprising as it is shocking: Between 2011 and 2020, 331 million cars had to be unscheduled into workshop in the US – twice as many as were produced during the same period. The situation is hardly better in Europe. The number of safety-related recalls has increased approximately sixfold in a decade. If cars could get sick, we’d be talking about a pandemic.

But what’s wrong with our cars? Professor Stefan Bratzel from the German Center of Automotive Management (CAM) is considered one of the foremost experts in this field. Bratzel sees a number of structural causes for the quality problems:

• Technical complexity has increased enormously in the past twenty years. Comfort functions and safety systems lead to a greater susceptibility to faults.

• The speed of development in the automotive industry has become much faster over the past fifteen years. The high competitive pressure is forcing manufacturers to bring new models or derivatives of existing types onto the market in an increasingly shorter period of time.

• The shift of component development and production to global suppliers makes it more difficult for car manufacturers to control the quality of processes.

• The increased cost pressure, which is passed on to suppliers to the automotive industry, entails the risk that the quality of the products decreases.

• Modular parts strategies lead to defects in millions of cars. Recalls are expensive and cost car manufacturers many billions of euros.

Yet it is often parts of a few cents that do not work properly, so that replacement is necessary. For example, Opel is recalling 93,000 copies of the Corsa and Corsa-e produced between 2019 and 2021 worldwide, because a ground connection can fail. The possible consequence: the side airbags deploy for no reason. We’re getting a sense of déjà vu, as in 1995 Opel had to replace a simple grounding ring on the doors of 2.3 million Astras due to a fire hazard – it was the largest recall in the brand’s history.

Even at Mercedes, small problems have major consequences. The manufacturer is currently recalling 19,000 EQCs to the workshop because water can enter a control unit. This can cause the power steering to fail, which is no fun with a car that weighs more than 2.5 tons.

mock lock

The Volkswagen Transporter T6.1 also has to contend with water ingress. According to the manufacturer, this can lead to a ‘false locking of the doors’ in frost, which means that they can just open while driving. The recall campaign started in the so-called cold countries, followed by countries with a somewhat more temperate climate and later the southern countries. The reason for such differences in approach per region can be complex parts logistics or cost considerations. Volvo, for example, is recalling 195,000 units of the V70 and XC70 built between 2000 and 2007 due to uncontrolled inflation of airbags that send metal shards flying around. The brand limits the recall in Europe to hot countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey. The problem: If the propellant is exposed to moisture and high temperatures for extended periods of time, it can overreact and destroy the gas generator.

Battery defects

Due to the disappearance of the combustion engine, there will be fewer mechanical parts in cars in the future, but the susceptibility to failure will probably not decrease as a result. On the contrary: “The number of recalls related to battery systems will increase, the number of campaigns due to battery defects has already increased considerably,” says Stefan Bratzel. “At the same time, software-induced defects in control and display systems, networks and driver assistance systems will increase significantly. About half of the manufacturers’ innovations are already taking place in these areas, which will be reflected in all kinds of defects with some delay.”

Niko Ganzer runs the recall portal kfz-rueckrufe.de. He has been cataloging the major and minor flaws of our cars for years. “Since the beginning of 2020, there have been about as many recall campaigns related to the electronics as to the bodywork and occupant protection, i.e. active and passive safety systems,” he says. “There will be plenty of recalls for electric cars in the future.”

Recalls caused by fire hazards are expected to shift from the fuel system to the drive battery. In addition, there will be an increase in recalls for automated or autonomous safety assistants, it is expected. We can hope that driving will take place without long-term lockdowns for our cars in the coming years.

It’s time for automakers to learn from past mistakes. The quality guarantee deserves a much higher priority, to prevent faulty cars being delivered to ignorant customers. Over-the-air software updates can prevent workshop visits – but at the same time they can lead to the delivery of underdeveloped products.