Ford, Chrysler have fewest recalls in 2010

Among the six largest automakers, Ford recalled the fewest vehicles, 581,000, last year. That was way down from 4.5 million in 2009. Chrysler was next, with 1.6 million vehicles, up from 589,000 in 2009.

At the top of the list was Toyota, which recalled 7.1 million vehicles in 19 separate campaigns, a new record. Toyota’s previous record year was 2009, when the company recalled 4.8 million vehicles in nine campaigns. For the period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010, Toyota recalled 11.9 million vehicles, more than Ford and General Motors combined. Negative publicity surrounding the recalls themselves and the record $48.4 million in fines assessed for the company’s handling of them contributed to a 20.5% drop in Toyota sales since the end of 2008 and its drop from second place to third in U.S. sales.

In 2009, Chrysler had the fewest recalls of the major automakers and for the two years from 2009-2010, Chrysler still has the lowest total.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010 recalls totaled 20.3 million vehicles in 648 separate campaigns. The number of recalls was up and represented the third highest number of recalls in history, behind the 30.8 million recalled in 2004 and the 24.6 million in 2000. The number of campaigns was the second-highest on record, behind the 685 issued in 2008.