Auto Recalls Climbing Under Federal Pressure

WASHINGTON - Automakers this year are on pace to recall the most vehicles since 2004 as they respond to even borderline safety risks and the federal government presses the industry to react faster, The Detroit News reported.

In the first six months of the year, automakers recalled 10.2 million vehicles, about twice the number recalled during the same period in 2009, according to a Detroit News review of federal data. For all of last year, automakers recalled 16.4 million vehicles. More than half were called back in the second half of the year, when Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. recalled a combined 8.8 million cars and trucks.

For all of 2010, the industry is on track to recall more than 20 million vehicles, a volume not seen since 2004, when the tally reached a record 30.8 million cars and trucks.

The spike this year comes in the wake of a highly publicized series of Toyota recalls. Since November, the Japanese automaker has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles, including 6 million in the United States, to deal with a risk of unintended acceleration and other problems.

But Toyota was fined a record $16.4 million by the U.S. government for failing to recall 2.3 million vehicles quickly enough.

"The auto industry watched the hot spotlight that Toyota faced and has determined the more productive course is to recall vehicles early and often," said Nicole Nason, who was the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2006-08.

NHTSA is taking a harder line with automakers, demanding recalls even if automakers disagree.

Automakers for the most part aren't fighting the efforts, recalling vehicles for issues as minor as engine knocking noises when the wrong grade of gasoline is used.

"Recall numbers have been remarkably high since the mid-'90s when car technology really began getting complicated, but this year they've been far more publicized," said Ray Zhou, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com.

"Drivers are more alert to any potential safety issues and more likely to report any potential flaws and perhaps even pay closer attention to recall news."