Toyota recalls double Company blames tougher reporting standards. By Ken Thomas ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, December 02, 2005 Toyota Motor Corp., which is close to overtaking General Motors Corp. as the world's largest automaker, saw its number of recalled vehicles in the United States double so far in 2005, according to government records. Toyota's increase came as the number of autos ordered to be returned to dealerships for repairs fell considerably this year. Recalls dropped to about 16.6 million through mid-November, compared with a record 30.8 million in 2004. MOST POPULAR STORIES Notebook: Texas will wear road uniforms in Big 12 championship game 2 die from apparent shooting in North Austin Police arrest 16 people in Bull Creek Park sex sting Colorado working to erase rocky image Vaughn, Aniston Pulled Over by Ariz. Police Ford Motor Co. is on pace to have the most recalled vehicles of any automaker this year, with more than 6 million, fueled by the September recall of 3.8 million trucks and sport-utility vehicles. Recalls for DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors have declined this year. Analysts said Toyota's spike in recalls could reflect the company's rapid development. "It's really a factor of the rate of expansion, the speed at which they're growing right now," said Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc., a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based automotive consulting firm. When an auto manufacturer opens new plants and ramps up production, he said, "you open yourself up for some quality issues." But a Toyota spokeswoman also said the federal TREAD Act, enacted in 2000 in response to the recall of more than 10 million Firestone tires, redefined what constitutes a recall, making minor issues part of the reported data. Records compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show Toyota had 2.2 million vehicles recalled through Nov. 17, compared with 1.1 million in 2004. Toyota said its records show 2.4 million vehicles recalled this year. The recalls are the most for Toyota, which often is lauded in customer-satisfaction and dependability surveys, in the U.S. in a single year. The Japanese automaker recalled about 210,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2003. Toyota is close to surpassing GM as the world's biggest automaker. Recent data by CSM Worldwide, an automotive forecasting firm, estimated GM's global production at 8.65 million vehicles in 2005, followed by Toyota at 8.44 million. Toyota is scheduled to open a pickup plant in San Antonio next year that will produce an additional 200,000 vehicles that could help it surpass GM. Toyota spokeswoman Martha Voss, said that with the company's rising sales, "it would be normal to expect that recalls would increase." She noted that one of the recalls dealt with older pickups and SUVs that involved a rod linking the steering wheel and the wheels and did not reflect current production. Toyota also recalled about 75,000 models of its popular Prius gas-electric hybrid from the 2004-05 model years because of stalling engines. Ford saw its recalled vehicles grow by about 1 million over the 5 million of 2004. The bulk of the recalls came when Ford called back 3.8 million trucks and SUVs because of a cruise-control switch suspected of causing engine fires. It was the fifth-largest recall in history. Kristen Kinley, a Ford spokeswoman, said that in some cases, the automaker issued a recall notice based on early testing before the vehicles were shipped to dealerships. "Automakers are becoming more aggressive about doing recalls and doing them much quicker," Kinley said. Recalls have become more common in the aftermath of the TREAD Act and have also been driven by fear of litigation and the launching of new vehicles, said Chance Parker of J.D. Power and Associates, which tracks vehicle quality and dependability. Parker said his firm has not seen a direct link between increased recalls and reduced vehicle quality by a manufacturer. "In some cases, if a recall is handled really well, we've had some customers becoming more satisfied because of the way the recall was handled," Parker said. GM has recalled about 4 million vehicles this year, down from more than 10 million in 2004. DaimlerChrysler saw a major drop — about 750,000 vehicles in 2005 compared with 5.8 million in 2004.

Toyota recalls double
Company blames tougher reporting standards.

[post="52132"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

It's really never their fault. :rolleyes:

It's really never their fault.  :rolleyes:

[post="52194"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

go figure...

I was also very amused when I read that line.