William Maley
Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com
January 6, 2012

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released their numbers of recalls done by automakers in 2011. The total for 2011 stands at 15.5 million vehicles and 593 recall campaigns. The numbers are less than 2010 totals of 20.1 million vehicles and 648 campaigns.

Honda was the top automaker in recalls with 3.9 million vehicles recalled during 2011. Honda initially disputed the number put out by NHTSA, but later said it agreed to the number.

Honda spokesman Chris Martin said the majority of Honda's recalls were to find a small number of faulty parts.

"We're playing it safe. We want to make sure we find all of these parts," Martin told The Detroit News.

Following behind Honda was Toyota with 3.5 million vehicles recalled in 13 campaigns. Toyota hasn't had any pending investgations for five months.

"We're really just moving forward and working to satisfy our customers," said Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons.

Third place went to Ford with 3.3 million vehicles recalled in 13 campaigns. Most of Ford's recalls dealt with older vehicles.

"Ford is committed to providing our customers with top-quality vehicles. Part of this commitment includes addressing any issues quickly and responsibly. We don't focus on numbers as much as we focus on making sure we deliver safe and high-quality products to our customers," said Ford spokesman Daniel Pierce.

NHTSA spokeswoman Lynda Tran said the numbers should be put into context.

"There are a host of reasons why a manufacturer could have more or fewer recalls in a given year or over time, including its barometer for measuring risk which could be more conservative or liberal as contrasted to other manufacturers or the industry as a whole. Since these summary numbers do not factor in or weight averages based on production, the largest OEMs tend to top the list each year."

Source: The Detroit News