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Helping drivers recall vehicle recalls

December 18, 2015 8:45 AM Relaxnews

Thanks to tens of millions of Takata airbags, VW's dishonest diesels and numerous issues with Fiat Chrysler's range, much has been written in the mainstream media about vehicle recalls, particularly in the US, over the past 12 months. And while the scandal surrounding some of the problems will eventually be forgotten, the coverage might help drivers take the subject of recalls more seriously.

The problem is many of these cars will never receive the correction required and are on the road with a potentially life-threatening defect. The NHTSA — the body in charge of coordinating vehicle recalls and taking action when carmakers have been resting on their laurels — says that on average, 70% of cars covered in a recall get the needed fix.

Recent Autotrader research put that figure closer to 60%. However, Yong-Kyun Bae, Ph.D, the Associate Professor, Department of Global Studies at Pusan National University, puts the figure at just 53.4%.

In his most recent study currently under review, "Vehicle Recalls and Corrective Behavior: Information Transmission Mechanisms," Bae finds that consumers respond very differently to a vehicle recall. "The severity of the defect has no statistically significant impact on whether people get their cars fixed or not," he said, "but the language of the recall notification letter does."

What makes Bae's work so crucial is that he is the same researcher who, alongside Hugo Benitez-Silva, published the first empirical studies demonstrating that removing defects from cars reduces accident damage on the roads; in other words, recalled cars are safer for everyone.

Unfortunately, in his latest paper, which analyzed 289 recalls from 2008 and 2012 and the language of the letters sent to owners, finds that when brand-new vehicles and niche recalls are stripped from the equation, there's no guarantee of getting more than 50% of drivers to get their cars fixed. Unless, of course, something is done to change the way that recalls are communicated in the first place. "The content of the letters plays an important role in increasing correction rates to certain owners," said Bae.

If words such as "death" are used in a letter then the recall correction rate can be 10% higher. What's more, the longer the time the car would need to spend at a garage, the more likely a driver is to respond to the recall.

However, for the moment at least, there is no standardized language for recall letters or for communicating seriousness. "This is clearly problematic, especially because it leaves the decision for transmitting a sense of urgency regarding vehicular problems in the hands of manufacturers," said Bae.

The paper also shows that the older the car, the less likely it is to get the fix it needs. And, considering that some of the 34 million cars affected by the current Takata airbag recall were built a decade ago, the chances are that many of these older cars will never see the inside of a repair shop.

Coverage of recalls in the mainstream press is clearly helping to bring the issue to the attention of more drivers, but Bae believes that recall letters need to be regulated and offer clearer information about risks and hazards in order to increase the percentage of cars that receive the necessary corrective measures.