The most recalled car brands

Recalls are a fact of life and often indicate the automaker is proactively addressing a potential fault – even if it may only affect a small number of vehicles.

However, they can be frustrating, especially when owners must heed seemingly dire warnings to get their vehicle to a dealer immediately due to a potential safety issue. Better to be safe than sorry, but it can still be a pain.

With a number of sizable recalls popping up recently, we thought we should look at which brands issue the most recall notices and which recalls the most total number of vehicles. .

Not all recalls are created equal, with some remedial through an over-the-air update. Recalls have also been issued for seemingly insignificant issues such as typographical errors in the owner’s manual or in Toyota HiluxFaulty license plate.

However, we will not act as arbiter of any major fouls. We counted each recall notice with an original publication date in 2021.

We also counted each recall separately, even if the number of vehicles affected was very small. For example, a Audi RSQ8 The recall from 2021 concerns a single vehicle.

In the new year, we will also publish an overview of the 2022 data.

While it would be tempting to look at the number of vehicles recalled against the total number of vehicles sold in a particular year to identify “problematic” brands, many recall notices affect vehicles in period of many years.

Indeed, several recalls issued last year affected vehicles up to the age of 20, such as the 2003-06 recall. Mazda 3s for a crispy horn pad logo.

It is also important to note that the absence of a recall notice does not necessarily mean that there is no problem. Some companies may choose to be more proactive by issuing recalls sooner rather than later.

Analyzing this data, we found several new models coming out in 2021, and each of them resulted in a number of recalls – Kia Carnival, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Outback Subaru – when their manufacturers look to solve teething problems in the first year.

Total number of vehicles recalled

It’s perhaps no surprise to see Mazda, Toyota and Hyundai top the rankings for total vehicle recalls, given that Toyota is consistently the best-selling brand in Australia and Mazda and Hyundai are second and third respectively. last year.

However, Subaru is in 4th place in terms of the number of vehicles recalled but is the 10th best-selling brand, while Mercedes-Benz is in 5th with 12th place on the sales chart.

The largest recall is from Toyota, with 156,838 HiLux vehicles recalled because of the above license plate issue, followed by Mazda with 90,363 recalled vehicles on 2, 3, 6, MX-5, CX-3, CX -5 and CX -9 lines for fuel pump problem.

Total number of recall notices issued

When looking at the total number of recall notices issued, the top five look a bit different. Toyota remained in second place with a total of 13 announcements made, and Hyundai dropped slightly to fifth with eight announcements made.

But Nissan has the fourth largest number of recall notices with nine, even though only 18,436 vehicles are affected – just a tenth of Toyota’s total.

Land Rover has issued 10 recall notices with 2827 affected vehicles, while Mercedes-Benz has a comfortable lead with 42 recall notices issued.

A total of these 11 recalls are for one model line only – sprinter – with seven cho A class and six cho GLA. However, many recalls affect only a small number of vehicles.

Abarth, Chrysler, Citroen, Fiat, Honda, Infiniti, Lexus, McLaren, MG and Renault each issued a single recall notice for 2021.